Do lenders (Chase) blacklist customers if you put THEIR card into credit counseling?

[Anonymous]

Three years ago I had 17 different store and charge cards with balances, but had a perfect payment history right up until I lost my job. While I quickly found a new one, the pay was substantially lower and my credit cards quickly fell behind. Among these were three different Chase cards. I quickly signed up for a nonprofit credit counseling service that put me on a four year repayment plan and lowered all of my payments to something I could afford on the new budget. I was never late on those payments. 

Last January I came into a bit of money, and paid off the remaining $18,000 on my cards. That ended our credit counseling and zeroed out all of our remaining credit cards, including our three Chase cards. Only our mortgage remained as debt, but we had absolutely no credit lines. All 17 of my cards were closed when we went into counseling, and we could not get any new ones issued while we were on the program. Last month we completed refinancing my house to shorten the mortgage term and lower interest and my credit score was reported at 682, with my wifes at 710. We have a combined income of about $90k.

We've already decided that we're not going down the rabbit hole with all of our credit cards again, and that we're only going to have ONE credit card in the future. After spending all that time paying down debt, the last thing I want is a pile of new debt. Looking over the various card options available to us with our credit scores, the Chase Freedom card seems to be the best choice overall. Does anyone know how companies like Chase respond to applications from people who have had previous accounts WITH THEIR COMPANY go into credit counseling? With my debt ratio, credit score, and income I'm sure I can get a decent card somewhere, but I don't know if I'm automatically locked out of any of the companies that I had accounts with in counseling. Because my list contained many major credit companies (AmEx, Discover, Citi, Chase, Capital One to name a few), that would severely limit my options.

Before I start peppering my credit report with inquiries for failed credit applications, I thought I'd ask this here. Anyone have any insight? Any suggestions on where to start?

[Anonymous]

I've found that some do, while others do not hold past delinquencies, charge offs, bankruptcy, etc... against you. It definitely seems like the higher tier creditors, such as AMEX, do hold it against you. I had similar issues as yourself and my credit scores are the same as yours, 670ish. I cannot get approved by Discover, yet Cap One, who I still have a 2K judgment from 7 years ago just approved me for a Quicksilver Rewards w/5K CL, zero annual fee and 17.9 APR. Certainly not the best, but alot better than anyone else would offer me. I would say Cap One would be your best bet for an approval, way more than Chase. Go on their prequel (Cap One, Chase, etc....) websites and see what comes up. They won't hurt your credit as they are all soft pulls. They are also not a guarantee, but they give you an idea if you might get something. Make sure you prequal on the actual credit card companies website and not on some generic credit card website as those seem to get paid for "steering" people to their companies, therefore they want to send as many as possible.

[stellar]

I would just online chat with each of them and see what they say.

[Anonymous]

Presumably, you paid back the entire balances, albeit at a lower interest rate. I doubt you'll have much issue given your payment history and income level. Contact Chase and/or others you'd like to get back in with. And/or apply. If denied, call them to reconsider (recon) the app - often a denial can become an approval on recon.

It's understandable you seek to avoid a repeat, but only having one credit card is too limiting. Traveling with one card is too risky. Even making routine purchases can be problematic, since there's always a chance of a random decline - good to always carry at least two or more cards just in case.

The additional one(s) could be a secured card, which would mitigate the risk of taking on more debt. However, if doing that, go with OpenSky (cinch to apply for with reasonable annual fee; reports as a regular card to the bureaus) or similar that don't graduate to unsecured, which could lead to taking on more debt.

[tomfromrictmame]

@Anonymous wrote:

Three years ago I had 17 different store and charge cards with balances, but had a perfect payment history right up until I lost my job. While I quickly found a new one, the pay was substantially lower and my credit cards quickly fell behind. Among these were three different Chase cards. I quickly signed up for a nonprofit credit counseling service that put me on a four year repayment plan and lowered all of my payments to something I could afford on the new budget. I was never late on those payments. 

Last January I came into a bit of money, and paid off the remaining $18,000 on my cards. That ended our credit counseling and zeroed out all of our remaining credit cards, including our three Chase cards. Only our mortgage remained as debt, but we had absolutely no credit lines. All 17 of my cards were closed when we went into counseling, and we could not get any new ones issued while we were on the program. Last month we completed refinancing my house to shorten the mortgage term and lower interest and my credit score was reported at 682, with my wifes at 710. We have a combined income of about $90k.

We've already decided that we're not going down the rabbit hole with all of our credit cards again, and that we're only going to have ONE credit card in the future. After spending all that time paying down debt, the last thing I want is a pile of new debt. Looking over the various card options available to us with our credit scores, the Chase Freedom card seems to be the best choice overall. Does anyone know how companies like Chase respond to applications from people who have had previous accounts WITH THEIR COMPANY go into credit counseling? With my debt ratio, credit score, and income I'm sure I can get a decent card somewhere, but I don't know if I'm automatically locked out of any of the companies that I had accounts with in counseling. Because my list contained many major credit companies (AmEx, Discover, Citi, Chase, Capital One to name a few), that would severely limit my options.

Before I start peppering my credit report with inquiries for failed credit applications, I thought I'd ask this here. Anyone have any insight? Any suggestions on where to start?

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Chase definitely blacklists.  If you still havederog TL's from Chase on your CR's, getting a newTL may be tough.  I would reach out to the office of the CEO at Chase to explain your situation.