Which store cards are bankruptcy friendly?

[angie204]

I'm closing on my house next week, two years after a bankruptcy.

Once the house is closed I plan to open some revolving credit.  One card will be through my CU, possibly secured, but maybe not, as they have already granted me a $5k signature loan last year.

I'd like to do one or two store cards.  I'm most interested in Sears and Home Depot.  Do you know if either of these are bankruptcy friendly?  I previously had paid as agreed accounts with both of these, but they were closed by me years ago (didn't know much about FICO scoring back then).

I have no collections on my reports (those were successfuly removed due to incorrect info).

I have one inquiry on all three of my reports from my mortgage app.  One agency also has a credit check for a lease.  Other than that I applied for a car loan on Oct 4, 2008...six inquiries in the same day.  I assume those will fall off on the 5th (tomorrow), or maybe the end of the month?

If not Sears or Home Depot, what store cards should I look at? I don't want to do too many inquiries.

Thanks!

[creditwherecreditisdue]

Your INQ's will stop counting in the FICO scoring formula after one year. However, they will continue reporting on your CBR's for two years.

[angie204]

Ok, so the inquiries will still report but just won't be counted in my FICO score?  Therefore I will have 7 inquiries reporting for the next year, and anyone that pulls the report is likely to decline due to too many inq?  I thought we were supposed to be encouraged to shop around.  If they still ding against you, then it doesn't really pay to shop around.

So, which cards are BK friendly, inquiry issue aside?

Thanks so much!

Angie

[granny031350]

I have had little trouble getting store cards after my bk, except for the stores that were included.

I currently have Walmart, Kohls, JC Penny, Lowes, Super Speedway, Target (and Target Visa), Best Buy (through HSBC) and Kays.

However, other than Kays and JC Penny, none have increased my limit and Best Buy told me that I was at my max (600.00) for them.  But I am not complaining about that at all and just glad to have them in the fold.

[Anonymous]

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@angie204 wrote:

Ok, so the inquiries will still report but just won't be counted in my FICO score?  Therefore I will have 7 inquiries reporting for the next year, and anyone that pulls the report is likely to decline due to too many inq?  I thought we were supposed to be encouraged to shop around.  If they still ding against you, then it doesn't really pay to shop around.

So, which cards are BK friendly, inquiry issue aside?

Thanks so much!

Angie

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Regarding the inquiries, I may be wrong but it has always been my understanding that lenders view all inquiries made to Automobile Dealers and Mortgage lenders within a 30 day period as only 1 inquiry, knowing people shop around.

[MarineVietVet]

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@angie204 wrote:

I'm closing on my house next week, two years after a bankruptcy.

Once the house is closed I plan to open some revolving credit.  One card will be through my CU, possibly secured, but maybe not, as they have already granted me a $5k signature loan last year.

I'd like to do one or two store cards.  I'm most interested in Sears and Home Depot.  Do you know if either of these are bankruptcy friendly?  I previously had paid as agreed accounts with both of these, but they were closed by me years ago (didn't know much about FICO scoring back then).

I have no collections on my reports (those were successfuly removed due to incorrect info).

I have one inquiry on all three of my reports from my mortgage app.  One agency also has a credit check for a lease.  Other than that I applied for a car loan on Oct 4, 2008...six inquiries in the same day.  I assume those will fall off on the 5th (tomorrow), or maybe the end of the month?

If not Sears or Home Depot, what store cards should I look at? I don't want to do too many inquiries.

Thanks!

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I only count one, possibly two inquiries that will show. All the hits from October, 2008 will stop being a negative although they will remain on your reports for another year.

The inquiries for the mortgage app only count as one on each report. The credit check for the lease may be a soft hit which doesn't affect your score at all. Even if it's a hard hit that only gives you a total of two hard hits which could have a negative impact.

Unless I'm missing something. Which is quite possible. 

[creditwherecreditisdue]

FICO combines individual inquiries under certain circumstances for scoring purposes. Further information may be found here:

     http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/CreditInquiries.aspx

The individuals inquires continue to report for two years and may be counted by anything other than a FICO scoring algorithm any way it wants to. If you are denied credit due to too many inquiries it may be necessary to recon and explain the INQ's during an MR.

[angie204]

Regarding the inquiries, I pulled both TU and EQ this morning.  The auto loan inquiries did drop off of the scoring factors.  My TU bumped up by 10 points, EQ by only 1.  I have not actually requested a credit card yet, nor been declined due to too many inquiries.  I was only asking about the inquiries because I notice that others have said they were declined for too many inquiries.

So does anyone else know of BK friendly store cards?  Anyone else here obtained store credit after bankruptcy?  Perhaps I should ask on the BK board.

Thanks!  Hope everyone has a great week.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about Home Depot or Sears, but I just got a JCPenney card last month, which is about 3 years out of my bankruptcy. They gave me a $400 limit, it was a little lower than I had expected, but it will go up