@icyhot wrote:
But wait, what if I need to get a hotel room or rent a card? Even if I pay cash, I'll need to use a credit card? Am I able to be added as an AU on someone else's account during the proceedings?
While this has already been answered, I wanted to reinforce it, since I've been in this exact same position. If you reserve a hotel room or rent a car with a debit card, you'll be required to put down a deposit (the amount will vary by company) and probably to provide proof of income as well. The deposit will be refunded to you when you check out or return the car.
Also, if you're considering getting Synchrony or Comenity store cards post-BK, I strongly recommend that you get only the cards that you actually expect to use regularly. The much-talked-about "shopping cart trick" is good for acquiring a lot of cards very quickly, but it has some serious problems of its own, for instance that if you get too many store cards and/or don't use most of the cards you get, or inflate your cards' credit lines to an unrealistic level via credit-line-increase (CLI) requests, you open yourself up to adverse action by the lenders which can go all the way to closing a lot of those shiny new store cards. Personally, I echo the previous suggestion about paying Paypal Credit off pre-BK, which will significantly improve your position with Comenity Bank (the lender which handles Paypal Credit) when you go to open a new account post-BK; Paypal Credit is accepted by a wide variety of merchants so I'd make reopening that one card a priority over getting a whole bunch of store cards that you might or might not use regularly. Amazon Store Card is another good one to have, IMO - I don't remember if you have an account with them, but if you do, try to pay it off pre-BK if you can for the same reason you pay off Paypal Credit - because they sell just about everything, they're fixing to expand into brick-and-mortar stores (at which, once they open, the Amazon Store Card will presumably also be accepted; currently it's an online-only card) and their prices are very good, much better than (say) Overstock. The thing about having one or two cards with each lender (Synchrony and Comenity) is that it both broadens your portfolio and reduces your overall dependence on one creditor, so that if one should AA you, you still have the other to fall back on. (I'm gardening right now but I'm going to match deed to word in the fall and try for Paypal Credit.)
