Keeping a card through BK (BarclayCard)

[simi_go]

So I filed BK7 on 4/1, today I log into my accounts to see which ones have been closed and which ones have not.  And amazingly my Barclay card got a 150% CLI from $500 to $1250.  I know that they are not going to like the bankruptcy but is there any chance that they will let me keep the card, and keep the history if I agree to pay the balance?  It was only $375 at the time of the BK, and I will gladly pay it to be able to keep a CC during my rebuild....Any advice?

[CWESTL]

Typically creditors listed in the bankruptcy filing and accounts with balances reported on one's CR are sent notices informing them of the chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. This often results in the immediate closing of these accounts. You have a chance of maintaining an account through chapter 7 bankruptcy if the account has a zero balance, and you specifically make sure your attorney does not notify them of the bankruptcy filing. Additionally, I would not charge anything on the accounts you are attempting to maintain until receipt of the discharge.  

[simi_go]

Well it looks like my lawyer took the shogun approach and blasted everything, including the cards with a 0 balance, just noticed that my Walmart and Amazon cards were closed and they both had 0 balances, so I am sure Barclays has no chance.  Oh well, have to start from scratch, but won't be the first time.

[BobbyJ]

Hi Simi,

Sorry to hear those cards got closed.

8 credit cards out of my 22 accounts were not included in my Chapter 7 Bk by my lawyer because they all had zero balances.  I filed on 10/9/13 and was discharged on 1/14/14 and all accounts are still open and reporting to this day.  It has helped a great deal to keep the history and accounts for my credit profile. The only new card that was opened after discharge was my Cap 1 Quicksilver Plat MC.

See my signuatre for cards still open.

[policebox]

This is a lesson for others contemplating bankruptcy. If you have any $0 balance accounts, be sure to close them yourself before you file bankruptcy. That way they will be closed in a postiive status and will continue to report as positive on your credit reports for 10 years. Otherwise, they will be listed as included in bankruptcy and therefore seen as negative tradelines.

[ezdriver]

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@simi_go wrote:

Well it looks like my lawyer took the shogun approach and blasted everything, including the cards with a 0 balance, just noticed that my Walmart and Amazon cards were closed and they both had 0 balances, so I am sure Barclays has no chance.  Oh well, have to start from scratch, but won't be the first time.

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Did you not review the schedule of creditors before signing the bankruptcy petition? Sorry to hear that you were surprised but here's how bankruptcy works. Once you file, every creditor is by law included in that bankruptcy filing ... whether or not they appear on the schedule. Some people choose to not list tradelined that have a zero balance at the time of filing and a few manager to emerge with their zero-balance credit cards still active. That is pure luck. If you listed the creditor, then the tradeline will eventually be reported as IIB, zero balance.

[ezdriver]

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@policebox wrote:

This is a lesson for others contemplating bankruptcy. If you have any $0 balance accounts, be sure to close them yourself before you file bankruptcy. That way they will be closed in a postiive status and will continue to report as positive on your credit reports for 10 years. Otherwise, they will be listed as included in bankruptcy and therefore seen as negative tradelines.

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I fully agree with that recommendation. Unfortunately, some folks would rather gamble that they will get away with not listing the creditor or proactively closing the tradeline ... and that of course is not a wise course of action ... in my opinion anyway.

[Creditaddict]

It doesn't matter if the creditor is not listed in the BK (many times the accounts that are $0 or your AU on etc. are not listed on the BK as being filed on BUT EVERYONE GETS LETTERS!! When I filed BK I was AU on a couple store cards of my friend, cards in my parents name... they ALL got letters regarding me and there account letting them know what I did so they could decide rather to keep me on there account I guess (it did not effect the account since I did not own it but just because it's not listed in the bk, if it's on your credit reports, it's getting a letter!

[0REDSOX7]

Walmart and Amazon store cards are issued by GECRB.  If you had any other cards issued by GECRB that had a balance, then they would have closed all of your accounts.