topic Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts in Credit Cards

Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 02:26:31 GMT

Hello All,

I am 3.5 years post Chapter 7 discharge. I have been reestablishing myself with various Auto Loans, a boat loan, different unsecured loans, and have 98% paid on time. I do have a 30 day late on 2 cards that I will try ad Goodwill.

My Credit cards are

Capital One Spark Business-$1000

Capital One Quicksilver One-$750

Mission Lane Card-$500

Merrick Bank-$600

Chase Freedom-$1000

Synchrony Paypal-$250

Synchrony Amazon-$560

Discover Secured-$200

As you see some of these cards are sub prime I guess. My limits are not really where I want. I get denied on CLI because of Bankruptcy although these cards have been gained AFTER bankruptcy. I dont get it. So I was lookiong in Credit Karma and it says preapproved for some Mercury Card. I pulled the trigger tonight and was approved for:

Mercury Master Card-$2500.

Seems I'm all over the place and going about this journbey wrong.. Any advice on anything? I really would like my Disco to unsecure and my Chase Freedom to raise the CLI. Ive done the Recon and all and been DENIED!!! Should i keep all the cards, or close the trashy ones. They are all lest than 3% Utilization combined whereas some do not carry a balance at all.

Scores are 657 Efx. 667 TU. 682 EXP.

Do I garden and wait 3 months.. Do I give up until my BK falls off of my credit (2023)

Thanks!!!!!

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

dogmeat — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 02:44:39 GMT

>> Any advice on anything?

My main advice would be to get to 100% paid on time and stay there, forever. "98% paid on time" is a really clever way to say it though, I grant you that - I've never heard payment history stated in quite that way.

Questions:

How old is the Freedom?

How old is the secured Discover?

How many inquiries?

And, what are your expectations? i.e., do you feel 98% on-time payments 3.5yrs post-BK7 deserves something more than what you have?

From my perspective, with the exception of the 2 30-day lates which are decidedly not-good, it looks like you're doing great. Keep it up. Use your cards, pay in full, on-time. If you can afford to keep cards open that charge a monthly/annual fee, to pad your util or thicken your file, keep them. Or, close them if you want. You have enough cards that don't charge a fee that it'd probably be no penalty to close those that do.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 08:16:24 GMT

Yeah getting your payment history right should shape you all the way up.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

BmoreBull — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 09:00:10 GMT

Honestly, I would slow down. You have enough cards. Apping for new cards isn't going to get you higher limits. It's going to get you mire inquiries, more junk cards/limits, and probably more denials. Garden for six months to a year. Start a goodwill campaign while you are in the garden to try and get those lates removed. You'll probably have to send tons of letters, and then it still might not be successful. Two 30 day lates after a bankruptcy is just showing creditors that you are headed down the same path you were on before. All of that credit seeking just seems like you're looking to go back into debt. If you've been late on cards with smaller limits, how do you expect someone to trust you with larger limits. It's a marathon not a sprint. Rebuilding is a slow and calculated process most of the time. Also, Credit Karma gets paid from those links, that's why they suggest them for you. They're not trying to help you, just make a profit off of you. I hope I don't come off as harsh, but this is the truth. If you don't take your time, you'll end up right back with the same problems that led to the bk. Good luck.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 11:12:33 GMT

I would also lay off on the loans. Only one is needed to fulfill the "credit mix" factor in scoring. Having multiple other loans increases DTI and shows lenders that you have a lot of places you have to pay already and especially with everything going on with the virus (which has made many lenders gun-shy), that maybe extending or increasing credit to you is a risk. The "98% on time" is a fluffy way to say that you have missed payments. It's not a good thing. The agreement entered when opening a credit account is that you pay the stated obligation on time every time, no lapses. Payment history is binary - it's either 100% on time (good) or not (poor). There's no middle ground.

One loan, three good cards, and perfect management over time are all you need to successfully rebuild. Don't spend on a credit card what you can't pay for in cash. No late or missed payments ever, for any reason, no matter what. Low reported utilization. Minimal inquiries. Those are your keys to a rebuild.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Credit4Growth — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 11:51:11 GMT

By the way, Congrats on the $2.5K approval! 👍

You have been given blunt yet very, very good advice thus far - which most of us had to follow for ourselves.

(1.Payment history, 2.Low Util, 3.DTI and 4.Scores)

I would tell myself to spend 1yr working on those.

If you could manage that for at least 9 months then you will see those first two listed above will begin to help the last 2.

Then eventually some inquiries will also fall off at which point you will probably be in the position which you expected your profile to reflect today.

Slow down for now.

Start jogging - this is akin to running a marathon.

Good luck!

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

BmoreBull — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 12:16:42 GMT

@Credit4Growth wrote:
By the way, Congrats on the $2.5K approval! 👍

You have been given blunt yet very, very good advice thus far - which most of us had to follow for ourselves.

(1.Payment history, 2.Low Util, 3.DTI and 4.Scores)

I would tell myself to spend 1yr working on those.

If you could manage that for at least 9 months then you will see those first two listed above will begin to help the last 2.

Then eventually some inquiries will also fall off at which point you will probably be in the position which you expected your profile to reflect today.

Slow down for now.
Start jogging - this is akin to running a marathon.

Good luck!

My apologies if I came off as blunt or rude. I did not mean to sound that way. We all make mistakes in our rebuilding. Look at the two store cards in sig for an example of such mistakes. Luckily I didn't take a hard pull for either one. However, if I was starting fresh, I would completely skip those two cards. The cards report positively every month, but are taking up spaces that could have been used for more useful (to me) cards. It's a learning experience. Patience is also something that develops over time and is of upmost importance when rebuilding. Gardening is not easy. Especially if you frequent this forum and constantly read about amazing approvals. Realizing that everyone's profile and current situation are different, is important also. You can not judge where you are as compared to someone else. Even if the scores are the same. OP take pride in what you have accomplished this far after your bk. Give yourself time to grow and nurture your current accounts. You'll be happy that you did.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

importxpresions — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 12:28:43 GMT

@BmoreBull wrote:
Honestly, I would slow down. You have enough cards. Apping for new cards isn't going to get you higher limits. It's going to get you mire inquiries, more junk cards/limits, and probably more denials. Garden for six months to a year. Start a goodwill campaign while you are in the garden to try and get those lates removed. You'll probably have to send tons of letters, and then it still might not be successful. Two 30 day lates after a bankruptcy is just showing creditors that you are headed down the same path you were on before. All of that credit seeking just seems like you're looking to go back into debt. If you've been late on cards with smaller limits, how do you expect someone to trust you with larger limits. It's a marathon not a sprint. Rebuilding is a slow and calculated process most of the time. Also, Credit Karma gets paid from those links, that's why they suggest them for you. They're not trying to help you, just make a profit off of you. I hope I don't come off as harsh, but this is the truth. If you don't take your time, you'll end up right back with the same problems that led to the bk. Good luck.

This ^^^ . If they see you are already having late payments regardless of how much after a BK they're going to think nothing has changed. It's easy to let emotions and personal biases get involved in a process that takes years. So take those out and just look at the facts. It takes time and you're on your way, it's the quality of a credit report not the quantity of credit on it.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Credit4Growth — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 12:50:12 GMT

@BmoreBull wrote:
@Credit4Growth wrote:
By the way, Congrats on the $2.5K approval! 👍

You have been given blunt yet very, very good advice thus far - which most of us had to follow for ourselves.

(1.Payment history, 2.Low Util, 3.DTI and 4.Scores)

I would tell myself to spend 1yr working on those.

If you could manage that for at least 9 months then you will see those first two listed above will begin to help the last 2.

Then eventually some inquiries will also fall off at which point you will probably be in the position which you expected your profile to reflect today.

Slow down for now.
Start jogging - this is akin to running a marathon.

Good luck!

My apologies if I came off as blunt or rude. I did not mean to sound that way. We all make mistakes in our rebuilding. Look at the two store cards in sig for an example of such mistakes. Luckily I didn't take a hard pull for either one. However, if I was starting fresh, I would completely skip those two cards. The cards report positively every month, but are taking up spaces that could have been used for more useful (to me) cards. It's a learning experience. Patience is also something that develops over time and is of upmost importance when rebuilding. Gardening is not easy. Especially if you frequent this forum and constantly read about amazing approvals. Realizing that everyone's profile and current situation are different, is important also. You can not judge where you are as compared to someone else. Even if the scores are the same. OP take pride in what you have accomplished this far after your bk. Give yourself time to grow and nurture your current accounts. You'll be happy that you did.

I honestly did not intent negativity from the use of the word Blunt

Also, I am not eloquent with my words.

I had only hoped by using the word 'blunt' vs honest or any other word, that the advice given up to this point would been seen as "direct".

I know I had to have a good understanding of as well as put the advice into practice to get where I am verses 1.5 years ago. - Garden and let your lines mature some more.

That is all.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Rogue46 — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:37:16 GMT

You stated your bk is due to fall off in 2023? That would put it at 6.5 yrs. It normally would stay on longer then that upwards of 10 yrs.

Either way it's a waiting game.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:14:35 GMT

Yep, you need 100% payment history before talking 'bout any breakthrough. Did you get your Chase Freedom before the new lates?

I am not familiar with the 3 M cards (and hopefully never will be) but your Chase Freedom, Disco and Sync cards are all pretty good rewards cards and have good potential. Cap 1 is bipolar with limits and I suspect that QS1 won't grow anywhere fast.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 22:32:42 GMT

Your response is spot on. I appreciate it. I would have responded sooner but i had NO idea that there were these responses. I neglected to hit the "Email me when someone responds". I can take blunt and harsh.. I function better that way. I understand exactly what has been said. My lates that I have were because of too many cards and too many due dates and the such.. I have them all on auto pay now. I will sock drawer the cards and let them roll while Goodwilling my lates. A year would be good. Let me ask you.. out of the cards that i do have.. I hear that I should use and pay off. DO I just pick one or two and use it for utlities and gas so to speak???

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 22:34:35 GMT

Filed in 10/2013. Comes off 10/2023.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 22:37:01 GMT

Yes. Chase came in 2017. prior to any lates. Lates came based on carelessness in 2019. One I mistakenly paid $1 instead of $10. One I paid out of the a closed checking account and immediately sent it in correctly... Disputing that one.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 22:48:55 GMT

Lol. I can't take credit fo rhte 98%. That is all Credit Karma saying 98% paid on time on Revolving Accounts.

Freedom is 2017

Discover is 2016-WOW!!! Didnt know it was that long and still secured.

TU-1 EFX-8 EXP-10 inquiries.

I have many many lines that are all paid on time 100%. Over 60 since BK and 2 that have recent 30 day lates based on my lack of organization. With my income and the work i have put in, I expected to at least have the Freedom CLI increased and the Disco graduated. I do not need the credit by no means, but it would be a pat on the back.. BUT, if the 30 day lates are killing me,,,then I need to work and Goodwill the life out of those two creditors (Bank of America, Mission Lane).

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

ChargedUp — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 00:09:38 GMT

@UpAndComing74 wrote:
Lol. I can't take credit fo rhte 98%. That is all Credit Karma saying 98% paid on time on Revolving Accounts.

Freedom is 2017

Discover is 2016-WOW!!! Didnt know it was that long and still secured.

TU-1 EFX-8 EXP-10 inquiries.

I have many many lines that are all paid on time 100%. Over 60 since BK and 2 that have recent 30 day lates based on my lack of organization. With my income and the work i have put in, I expected to at least have the Freedom CLI increased and the Disco graduated. I do not need the credit by no means, but it would be a pat on the back.. BUT, if the 30 day lates are killing me,,,then I need to work and Goodwill the life out of those two creditors (Bank of America, Mission Lane).

Everything that's been said here is the truth. Do your best to GW the 30DL's away and be certain to at least make your minimums timely. Go through your accounts and be certain to delete info from closed checking accounts to help prevent future accidents. (Lenders HATE returned payments!) One thing I do that may help is I follow my statement cut dates. As I usually PIF, I pay just before the statement cut dates to keep my reported usage to a minimum. If I'm going to carry a balance, I make the payment right after the statement cuts. Most everyone pops up a screen essentially saying "Does everything look ok?" before the final click for a payment (BoA being an exception here). I've caught a couple mistypes here, it's prudent to take a good look. Paying just after the statement cuts gives you time to fix something before the actual due date if necessary.

I always sign into my bank account before sending payments off to make sure nothing funny is going on in my checking before I promise a payment to anyone. When I authorize a payment, I know for certain the cash is there to back it up.

I emphasize all of this as payment history is the #1 factor in credit scoring. Should you be successful in losing the lates, you should see some good things happen in your scores. This, along with at least 12-18 months in the garden should set you up for a decent chance at some CLI's on your existing accounts and hopefully graduating your Discover card.

At that point, I'd lose the Mission Lane, Merrick (and possibly QS1... 99% odds it's bucketed and the AF will never go away). The Mercury card later on once you have credit lines meeting and exceeding it. Maybe attempt 1-2 new bank cards at this time. I'd strongly recommend looking into a couple credit unions that are available to you for one of these. The right ones can be very BK friendly.

Keep up with solid payment history and the more your BK ages, the less it will affect your profile. Once the BK is completely gone (and hopefully the economy is much better by then!) Your profile will be solid and you should be able to get most any card (from lenders not involved in the BK. They have their own internal memories which can last for a looong time. But most of them will even open up after a decade or so.)

Best of luck and welcome to MyFico!

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 01:02:12 GMT

Impressive answer. I really appreciate your help! I will def keep payments on time and garden (after I search some BK Credit unions and/ banks). Question.. How do I dertermine without a host of new inquiries who will let me in regarding CU and Banks... I wish i could have you as my wingman fo rthe journey. I find your answer to informative. Can you clarify this statement: "At that point, I'd lose the Mission Lane, Merrick (and possibly QS1... 99% odds it's bucketed and the AF will never go away)"" Should I cancel them and take a possible hit on AAoA. It may not make a huge hit since they were only opened in 2017. What do you mean by bucketed and "AF" never going away? Wonder if I could convince Cap1 to add the QS1 limit to my Cap1 Spark business card? Looking forward to my IIB accounts falling off this October.. Then only hte Public record remains until 2023.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

ChargedUp — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 04:52:23 GMT

@UpAndComing74 wrote:
Impressive answer. I really appreciate your help! I will def keep payments on time and garden (after I search some BK Credit unions and/ banks). Question.. How do I dertermine without a host of new inquiries who will let me in regarding CU and Banks... I wish i could have you as my wingman fo rthe journey. I find your answer to informative. Can you clarify this statement: "At that point, I'd lose the Mission Lane, Merrick (and possibly QS1... 99% odds it's bucketed and the AF will never go away)"" Should I cancel them and take a possible hit on AAoA. It may not make a huge hit since they were only opened in 2017. What do you mean by bucketed and "AF" never going away? Wonder if I could convince Cap1 to add the QS1 limit to my Cap1 Spark business card? Looking forward to my IIB accounts falling off this October.. Then only hte Public record remains until 2023.

No problem! For finding BK friendly lenders, one of the easiest ways is to do a search on the "credit card approvals" forum using the terms "BK", "Bankruptcy" and/or "Post-Bankruptcy" (and any other variations you can think of). Compare your own data points to these approvals and look for patterns. While nothing is guaranteed, it'll definitely provide you with info where you'd be more likely to at least get your foot in the door. Another way is check out your local credit unions and simply tell them you're rebuilding and ask if having a BK present in your reports would be an automatic disqualifier. Some smaller CU's will actually let you speak to an underwriter either face to face, or be willing to divulge some of their UW criteria.

Can you clarify this statement: "At that point, I'd lose the Mission Lane, Merrick (and possibly QS1... 99% odds it's bucketed and the AF will never go away)"

Keep your cards as they are for the next 12 or so months. After this period of time, (and hopeful deletion of the 2-30DL's) you will have some better history built up in your profile and your current inquiries will no longer be scoreable. This is when you should apply for a couple new cards with a BK friendly lender and ditch the sub-prime cards. When Capital One approves a card, it's backed by a certain investor risk category. These categories essentially "bucket" your card into a certain criteria where CLI's are minimal once you hit a certain limit ($3K comes to mind as the most I've seen.) and you'll always be stuck with the $39 "AF" (annual fee), no matter what card you PC to. Cap One no longer combines accounts, so this isn't an option. Some people around here have busted out of the "bucket", but it's pretty rare and usually takes years to accomplish. Much easier to just shut it down and pick up a no AF 1.5% card from one of many lenders that offer them (or 2% with Synch, Citi, etc.) which are much more likely to grow with your file and spending than Cap One will. As far as the Spark card... While it *is* technically a business card, it still reports its use to your personal credit files. This isn't necessarily a bad thing right now as it's providing positive history to your reports, but once your file is in better shape, I'd look elsewhere for a business card for true business spend. Chase, Amex, USBank, etc all have business cards which report to the business bureaus instead of your personal reports (unless something derogatory happens, then your personal reports will almost always take the hit as well.)

As far as the Mercury card, that has your highest CL... I'd hold onto it until you have at least one or two cards with limits higher than $2500 to replace it. Higher limits on your report can entice higher limits from your future lenders.

For age of accounts, your credit reports will still show the history from all the cards you have for 10 years after they are closed and are still figured into you AAoA for that period. After a decade, you should have much better cards reporting to take the place of those accounts as they fall off your reports.

Keep in mind that lenders that were included in your BK will have their own internal memory above what your reports show. Some lenders forgive pretty quick (Cap One, Synchrony, Comenity, etc.) and some remember foreeeeverr! (Chase, Barclays, USBank, Discover, BoA, etc.) Some may be willing to forgive faster if you pay them back for what they lost in the BK, but 1) there's no guarantee that this will make a substantial difference in approval. 2) You no longer owe that money per the BK court, so you'd *really* have to want that particular card bad if this is any type of substantial amount. The only place where this seems to get you back in the door regularly is Amex, and with the current state of the financial world, even that's up in the air. Likely best to start fresh with some of the hundreds of other lenders out there!

PS: All the advice I've given here was learned from reading the various pages of the MyFico forums. The amount of knowledge in these pages are a treasure trove of financial information and advice. Please feel free to read, learn and interact throughout the forum and as always, come share some laughs with us in "The Garden" under Personal Finance. This is kind of the "hangout" where most anything goes (as long as it's FSR (Friendly, Supportive, Respectful)) that doesn't involve new accounts or hard pulls. (Soft pull talk is fine!)

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

Doodlebug30 — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 11:17:14 GMT

@UpAndComing74 I think the two things you need to do would be GARDEN. For awhile. Idk how new these cards you have are but I wouldn't apply for anything for ATLEAST 6 MONTHS, EVEN BETTER IS 1 year. In the meantime if your bored, start your goodwill campaign on those lates. You being denied for CLIs etc is lenders telling you your not there yet. Unfortunately credit repair takes time & a massive reserve of patience. But a bit of time in the garden does everyone well.

Re: Credit Card Breakthrough Attempts

UpAndComing74 — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 13:30:00 GMT

I will definitely Garden! I need to hop on over to the Gardening forum and join. In the meantime like you suggest I will start a campaign on my 30 day lates. 6 months puts me at New Years and IIB accounts will have fallen off. Thanks for your advice!