Filing for BK 7 this week - How to keep one credit card?

[Anonymous]

I am filing for Ch 7 this week (oe meeting with lawyer to file). I keep seeing threads that state "i kept one card out of bankruptcy". How do I go about doing this. All of my cards have a balance, but good payment history. I would like to keep one card for emergency or to keep some history.  Is this really possible? My attorney stated I had to supply all my debt on the filing application. 

Note my BK is due to an old debt in the amount of $17.998 its a long story but I have to file in order to get our from under this obligation. Otherwise all of my debt is paid on time, yet I cannot get above a 620 score with that high balance still due. As much as it hurts the BK is the best option after speaking with 3 reputable attorneys this is my only option. If i start to make payments on the debt, the creditor can sue me for the original debt (statue of time to sue has passed). 

[DaveInAZ]

"All of my cards have a balance" is the key here - your attorney is correct, and & all debt has to be listed when filing BK. The only way to keep a car through BK is for it to have a $0 balance, and you can't pay off a card, especially this close to filing, as that is preferencial treatment and not allowed.

Even if a card had a $0 balance is is pretty iffy that they would keep it open, most banks check their records when they see a BK filing and even if has a $0 balance they usually close it. When I filed CH7 BK in 2010 I had 2 credit accounts with $0 balance, One was a Lowe's store card issued by Synchrony, I had other Synchrony accounts with balances and included in BK, so as soon as they were informed of those they closed the Lowe's card. The other was PayPal Credit, issued by Commenity Bank. I had no other accounts with Commenity and they didn't learn of my BK filing and kept it open, I actually still have it today. But it's rare for a $0 balance credit account to survive BK.

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

"All of my cards have a balance" is the key here - your attorney is correct, and & all debt has to be listed when filing BK. The only way to keep a car through BK is for it to have a $0 balance, and you can't pay off a card, especially this close to filing, as that is preferencial treatment and not allowed.

Even if a card had a $0 balance is is pretty iffy that they would keep it open, most banks check their records when they see a BK filing and even if has a $0 balance they usually close it. When I filed CH7 BK in 2010 I had 2 credit accounts with $0 balance, One was a Lowe's store card issued by Synchrony, I had other Synchrony accounts with balances and included in BK, so as soon as they were informed of those they closed the Lowe's card. The other was PayPal Credit, issued by Commenity Bank. I had no other accounts with Commenity and they didn't learn of my BK filing and kept it open, I actually still have it today. But it's rare for a $0 balance credit account to survive BK.

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Excellent response above. Everything goes in a BK7. Your best bet would be after filing to look at a secured card through OpenSky or someplace else. After your discharge, you may find that you will qualify for some unsecured cards rather quickly. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm confused. You are going to file bk for $17k in debt that is past the SOL to file a judgement against you? Exactly how old is this debt?

If you can't be sued, it will fall off your reports at the 7 year mark - when was the DoFD?

Attorneys get paid when they file for you, but they have no vested interest in your financial health. The bk is going to be a black mark for 10 years. That's a long time! I guess there's not a lot of information in your post to go off, but everything will be wiped out, your current creditors will take a hit and you're going to have to rebuild from scratch. Its a long journey to recover.

[Anonymous]

I can tell you right now, you are going to have to close all your credit cards as i went through it last year. You can not keep any credit cards. If you have a debit card that is attached to a checking account and that checking account is used for direct deposit for government funds to be deposited like SS or SSDI, they may let you keep that debit card. You will have to speak to an attorney.