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My scores are now in my signature.
As you can see I've come a long way and am real happy with where I'm at. I've really been diligent and worked hard to get my scores back to a good place considering the BK. So let me be a support and hope for anyone in the early stages or even considering BK that there is life and CREDIT CARDS after BK. I started about 6 months or so out of BK with a couple of low profile, low credit limit and annual fee cards from HSBC. They were at least unsecured though! I caught a huge break in 2007 and got a no annual fee WAMU MC with a remarkable $12000 limit. I believe it was because they were not a bank I owed anything in my BK with and I had just opened up a checkings and savings account with them. Now I did get scared to death when CHASE bought them as I actually had a couple of Chase cards in my BK but they honored the card (they did lower my limit to $9400 but that's still plenty). Used those cards super dilgently always paying on time and then "gardened" mostly out of fear that I was going to press my luck too much. Then I came to this board again and read and got educated on BK friendly cards/banks and in the last month took the plunge and applied for the Target Red Card and the Barclay's Travelocity AMEX. I'm happy and proud to report I got approved for both INSTANTLY! That 10 seconds waiting at the Target check out was excruciating but got approved with a $1000 limit! From what I hear, that's a very good starting credit limit for a Target Red Card. Confidence running high, badly wanted an AMEX to purchase items at COSTCO and you can't deny there's a little extra status when it comes to AMEX. Read here that bank branded AMEX cards like the Barclay's Travelocity were a little easier to get, plus I had no Barclay's accounts in my BK but had like 3 AMEX cards. So went to the Barclay's website and applied. Instant approval for $4000! I even got the NO ANNUAL FEE one! I'm sky high right now! I'm back in the AMEX world! I'm going to garden for a while but that's purely by choice and strategy this time!
My next big day is going to be October of this year when it will have been 7 years since my BK. That should mean that minus the BK showing on the "Public Records" page on my CC reports, all the other late payments, negatives and "derogatory descriptions" from the BK should fall off. We'll see and I'm as curious as all of you to see what kind of boost that gives my scores. Can I dream all of them in the 710 to 720 range maybe? I'm hoping 2012 is going to be magical!
Anyways, in my first attempt to offer support, I can share with you that the Barclay AMEX pulled my TU report. That hard pull dropped me from 697 to 693.
My next tidbit is that I'm able to get my Experian Fico score because I bank with Chase/WAMU and at least when I signed up they ran a offer that allowed you to get your Experian FICO score free every month or so BUT it only gives you a 10 point range and it is from 2 or 3 months behind. So my Experian fico score was for/from November 2011.
My last piece of info today is that obviously I had very good success with credit cards from banks that I had no history with in my BK.
HSBC no accounts from my BK - Approved for 2 cards - (1) Best Buy branded MC $1700 CL and (2) standard HSBC platinum MC $2K CL
WAMU no accounts from my BK - Approved for Platinum Rewards MC with $12K CL (Now converted to a Chase Rewards MC with a $9,400 CL)
BARCLAY no accounts from my BK - Approved for Travelocity AMEX with $4K CL
TARGET RED CARD no account from my BK - Approved for $1000
I'm not sure it's a rule but it was a formula that worked well for me.
If I could be of any help to you in the BK/Credit Card world, PM me or post, I owe this website and forum a lot so it's the least I can do. I don't post a lot, but I've read and researched a ton. My stats are like 5 post and 1000 posts read!
Did you have to do anything to get your score to jump almost 200 points? It's been about 2 months for me and my score only moved about 40 points.
Did they fall off by themselves. I still have old accounts and two judgements that haven't dropped from my credit report. I was told that my credit would be cleared and everything would be removed, but that has not been the case. Any suggestions?
@ladydmcqueen wrote:Did they fall off by themselves. I still have old accounts and two judgements that haven't dropped from my credit report. I was told that my credit would be cleared and everything would be removed, but that has not been the case. Any suggestions?
When did you file/was your discharge?
Derogatory accounts usually stay on file for 7 1/2 years from their date of first delinquency (DOFD) and judgments stay on file for 7 years after they were recorded.
Thank you. That was not what I was told. My discharg was in October 2011.
@ladydmcqueen wrote:Thank you. That was not what I was told. My discharg was in October 2011.
Yeah, unfortunately, only the balances are updated to $0 and the status reported as IIB. The derogatory tradelines, however, stay.
Thanks, this give me something to work with.
My bankrutpcy will be three years post discharge in about ten day. My chapter 7 was discharged May 7th, 2009.
Current scores are 650 Equifax and 655 Transunion, but, my utility wasn't ideal yet.
Unfortunately I couldn't tell you what my starting point was. I didn't check my credit score at all before filling or after filing until February of this year. That would be my starting scores in my signature.
It looks like the top out is somewhere around 700 with a bankrutpcy still reporting, so, we'll see. Score simulator says I can get it up to as high as 734 if I I have better utilization, but that sounds high to me. I'll probably pull my credit score again in 6 months or so and update.
Current Cards: Cap 1 Journey $3000, Cap 1 Playstation $2250, WFNNB Store Cards $2450 combined, Target $700, CareCredit $1700, Barclay Rewards Plat. Mastercard $1800, Old Navy $300, DCU Platinum Rewards Visa $2000, Swagbucks Rewards Visa $1000
Starting Score: 615 EQ (03-15-2012) 600 TU (03-21-2012 Barclays app) ) Ch.7 discharged 5/2009
Current Score: 671 EQ (09-27-2014 DCU) 660 TU (9/26/14 Barclays) Ex 688 (10/07/2014 Swagbucks)
Gardening since 9/22/2014
@aussiesareforever wrote:670 EQ, 672 TU, almost 4 years post BK
Looks like my scores have come up some since December. 730 TU (pulled by Barclays after I applied for the Apple card), 708 EQ on MyFICO.
I'm not too eager to check my scores anytime soon. I'll do that once I pay down the 0% interest balance I have on the Apple card.