@tnvols wrote:So here is the catch. If you request permission to acquire a secured card, they will ask where the funds are coming from. The Chp 13 plan is supposed to take all of your income above your standard household expenses therefore you shouldn't have an extra $500 laying around for a deposit. If you do, then you should be paying more each month to your creditors. Tread very lightly. I suggest being patient, cleaning up your credit files in the meantime, and don't worry about the scores for now. They should already be in the tank and they will stay there thanks to the filing so it's no rush.
To be fair, there is plenty of people on the board who have obtained permission to start rebuilding while in a Chapter 13. I would assume someone would budget for medical and/or auto repair costs etc, why couldn't someone take money from that to open a secured card? I agree with being careful and to not "raise any flags", but I don't think you should sit on your hands for 5 years waiting for discharge. Think of what just ONE revolver with 5 years of on time payments would do for a FICO 
@tnvols wrote:I agree 100%, just relaying what our experience was when we asked our attorney and trustee about credit cards. Both said the same thing. However, we didn't sit on our hands, we cleaned up our reports, we saved, and we got permission to buy a new car in our 4th year, which has been a good start on the rebuild as we now have 11 months of 100% payments so far on a new installment TL. Our credit union in FL was very helpful and offered us a 6.5% rate for 72 months with 20% down due to our long history with them.
I would have 4 or 5 secured cards by now if we had been given permission without causing a review of our plan and incomes. Each state and each trustee may have different rules. Because our incomes went up quite a bit over the past 5 years, we played it ultra conservative and avoided opening that can of worms. We should be getting our DC paperwork in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I have just transferred some funds to my new NFCU savings acct so we are ready to pull the trigger on the secured card once the DC hits the credit reports.
Sounds like you have a special situation here I would have played things safe as well. What I will say is don't go straight to secured with NFCU, give an unsecured card a shot first. Especially with 5 years of good payment history on an installment account. Good luck!
Btw, I hear FL is the toughest on BK's