Rebuilding after BK advice needed!

[cirrus00]

Hello all,

I was discharged from Chapter 7 April 1, 2014. Capital one, credit one, and first premier were all IIB. I tried following the 700 plan, but could not get any of the cards recommended. I was able to get an Express card via the shopping cart trick, a Fingerhut card, and a new auto loan. But Im not sure where to go now. All my reports are reporting accurately but my scores are only around 590's. Not really sure why they are so low, maybe the new credit. But Im not sure if what I have now is enough and wait for my scores to improve, or if I need to get a secured card (even though I wanted to avoid that).

I would appreciate any advice you can give! Thanks!

[0REDSOX7]

Me personally, I would just use what you have for right now - and leave it at that.  Use one card and let it report with a balance less than 9% of your total credit limit.

If you want a secured card, you can go that route - this way you'll have a Visa or Mastercard - and not just store cards which can actually lower your score (if that's all you have).

[RBFool]

From what I've learned on here so far is that you have to let things settle. If you have the auto loan and the other shopping cards you should probably use them for 3-6 months and then apply for something like the Cap One QuickSilver card or another unsecured card. If you cannot wait, I suggest doing the Cap One Secured card. I know you said you wanted to avoid it, but more than likely it would at least be a step in the right direction as far as credit cards.

... After reading your post again you said you had IIB Cap One. I suggest NOT trying BOA for a secured card as your bankruptcy is recent.... They told me that's why I cannot get one right now. I claimed Cap One on my Chapter 7 and they granted me a secured card with a $49 deposit.

I hope my advice helps you in some way. This is just my personal advice from what I've learned on here and what I'm going through.

[cirrus00]

Thanks for your advice! I tried to get capital one secured & was denied. I was thinking I should get a different secured card since I only have the two store cards (I didn't want those, but couldn't get anything else!) maybe I will get a secured card & wait a few months and try capital one again.

[RBFool]

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@cirrus00 wrote:
Thanks for your advice! I tried to get capital one secured & was denied. I was thinking I should get a different secured card since I only have the two store cards (I didn't want those, but couldn't get anything else!) maybe I will get a secured card & wait a few months and try capital one again.

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If you've already tried, I'd stop right now. Wait 6 months or so and try again. No sense in causing a lot of hard pulls when you can help it.

[Delia72]

You could try to join a credit union and get a secured card from it.

[cirrus00]

@Delia72, I tried that! I joined DCU and they turned me down for the secured I am starting to feel as if Im never going to get anywhere....and stuck with my measly two store cards forever!

[0REDSOX7]

HAve you tried the CreditOne prequal site again?

[cirrus00]

@0REDSOX7...sure did. Tried again yesterday because charge off date for that account was June 2012, so I thought maybe they would issue a new one since it had been two years. Nope, they had other ideas!

[Delia72]

You may have to try First Progress.