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YES! Don't apply for anything until you are certain all three CRAs have updated your bk to discharged. Go ahead and send out your disputes. You may or may not have to wait until they are all reporting correctly before you apply for anything. Do you know your scores?
Also, do not just apply anywhere. Read these boards a lot to find out who is likely to approve you. A lot of creditors are not bk-friendly and you'll just be wasting inquiries trying to get products from them.
I have a thread here on how to go from BK7 to ~700 in 24 months. If you follow the plan, it's pretty much a cakewalk.
starry1 is right though, the first step is to make sure everything that was IIB reports as such.
-SM
ETA the link: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less/td-...
@reno55 wrote:
I have read that but I have 2 concerns using your method
1) what if orchard doesn't approve unsecured?
2) I don't have a Nevada one cu here where I live. The options for cus here that offer that type of loan are slim to none in this area
Replace orchard with capitalone secured/platinum or creditone. Orchard is not currently accepting new apps. Creditone will cost $75 AF though, ouch!
Talk to your local CU. Ask specifically about their BK policy (time from discharge to approval of products). If you can, get in with NFCU.
That's what prompted me to post this none of the local CU's are very BK friendly here so finding a credit builder loan like mentioned in the above mentioned plan is really hard. They all want minimum $500 down and then you borrow against that......
DCU has credit builder loans. Remember, you don't have to do all your banking with your credit builder loan company, just enough to get / fund the loan.
If you are forced into a secured card, do the double-take for the rebuild. Secure a $1000 loan with $1000 cash, then use the $1000 loan money to open your secured card. Personally, I hate secured cards and advise against them all day / every day. The only exception I make is when they do the Secured Loan / Secured Card double-dip with a bank/credit union that has a solid history of graduating the secured cards.
Here's the thing you need to remember though, that I don't think you're quite getting: You filed a bankruptcy. While this isn't the end of the world, a good rebuild takes time and yeah, you have to "pay your dues" to get back in the good graces of the banks. For me, my dues were a $59 AF on a $300 Orchard card, and a $39 AF on a Cap One card (Note: 2 years from BK and C1 removed the $39 AF permanently and raised my limit from $1250 to $3000).
So, $75 for a Credit One card that's unsecured is really nothing ($16 more than the Orchard would have been). Remember, if you follow the plan, you're killing it @ 11 months anyway.
-SM
@reno55 wrote:That's what prompted me to post this none of the local CU's are very BK friendly here so finding a credit builder loan like mentioned in the above mentioned plan is really hard. They all want minimum $500 down and then you borrow against that......
There's nothing wrong with this. The important thing is will they approve you with a BK? If the answer is yes, consider your 500 a pretty good investment that will pay off big.
FWIW, I was able to get a Cap 1 unsecured $500 CL, about two months from BK discharge (Ficos/Fakos low 600's.) As the others have said, before you app for anything get all 3 credit reports and make sure everything is reporting correctly. I also suggest signing up for a credit monitoring service (worth it for first 6 mos.-year) so you can track your scores and CR updates.
Read as much as you can here, clean up your reports first, then you can start apping with the info you learned. There is credit life after BK.