topic Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure. in Credit Cards

Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 05:28:47 GMT

Hello,everyone.My first post here,although I was reading a lot for few months.Best forum ever,IMHO.

Here is my case.I have about 20 derogs on my report. One is foreclosure .All of them happened in 2009.

After foreclosure I just stopped paying to all my creditors,except my car loan. I thought I would Never get any credit in the future.

But in July of 2011 I filed for bankruptcy.

To my big surprise in November of 2011 I've got an offer from Capital 1.

I applied for a credit and got a Platinum card with $300 limit.After few months they raised it to $500.

In May of 2012 I got a Cap1 secured card with $200 CL. Added another $1000 of my own.I keep utility under 10%.

My Fako scores as of today through USAA Credit Check Monitoring are Exp-647,EQ-646,TU-638.

My FICO score in April was like 670-ish when I was enrolled in 10 days free (or whatever) programm. But it was

before my app for secured card.(I guess it took some hit after that.)

Now. I have recevied couple "pre-approved" letters from Barclay with an offer of MC with double reward points for gas and utility bills and one point for everything else.

I Really want this card cos Barclay is almost a Prime lender as I have read on this forum. Never had any relations with them,while almost all other prime creditors were included in BK.So I won't have any offers from Chase,Discover and others.That is also why I feel like if I will get this one I can go gardening for years easily.

Sorry for the long post , and thanks in advance for your advices.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

trumpet-205 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 05:52:07 GMT

Preapproval is meaningless, for you can still get denied. With 20 derogs, I'm not sure you can get into Barclays.

Can you tell us about these 20 derogs? What are they? Lates? Collection?

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 06:28:15 GMT

Like I said above after I realized that I can't pay my mortgage I just stoped to pay not only for mortgage but to all of my creditors.Yes they were lates,then became collections,then they were discharged after I filed for BK.

I understand that 20 derogs are a lot,but having a score in mid 600's is little surprising and encouraging for me.

I'm just going to check my real FICO right now and post it here.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

LS2982 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 11:41:48 GMT

I wouldn't waste the INQ with all of those derogs still being recent and a recent BK. Gain positive history on the Cap1 cards for a year or so then try it. I still think the BK would be a dealbreaker with Barclays for quite awhile.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

StartingOver10 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:37:20 GMT

I was able to get a Barclay's I-Tunes card after my BK.

However, I did have to call the number to recon and I had a history of on time payments on 5 new tradelines since the BK, 4 cc's and 1 vehicle loan.

Orignially they were reluctant because they said I didn't have enough history since the BK. The BK discharge was Jan 09 and the first cc was May 09. Barclay's gave me an approval for a low limit originally of $1100 in Nov 2011. So they will approve after a BK. But you have to have enough history to show you have begun to re-establish yourself. They do give good CLI's after 6 months they doubled my CL.

So I would say the others are right^^^^ about waiting a bit to prove yourself. You will probably have to call the backdoor number anyway so you want to have everything in order and it seems that AAoA is one of the factors they review (at least when I had to recon my app).

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:58:41 GMT

I will definitely stay away for another year.I was just probably got too excited about this approved offer from non Cap1 or Orchard club.

Thanks for dragging me back to reality.When I will pay off my auto loan in January (20,000 for 60 months) is that going to boost my score?

And do I need to open another credit card lets say in 5-6 months,something easier to get than Barclays?

Thanks again for your advices!

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:01:48 GMT

I meant to say "pre-approved" offer above...

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:07:30 GMT

By the way, Barclays is a prime lender. They just have a less strict under writing criteria, but then again, as of late, a lot of prime banks have relaxed there under writing criteria, i.e., Chase, Amex and Discover etc...

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

LS2982 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:24:15 GMT

How many card do you have total OP?

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 23:54:17 GMT

@LS2982 wrote:
How many card do you have total OP?

I only have Cap1 $500,Cap 1 secured $1200 limit,and car loan that I got almost 5 years ago and will be paid off this coming january.That is all.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Repo-ed — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:09:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:
How many card do you have total OP?
I only have Cap1 $500,Cap 1 secured $1200 limit,and car loan that I got almost 5 years ago and will be paid off this coming january.That is all.

That's actually a decent mix.

Keep the util% down, and all 3 free of any derogs (30 days, etc..) and in a year you will be in a MUCH better position.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

OptimalFICO — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:13:12 GMT

TriState, don't fret you don't need the Barclay's card.

You can end up shorting your FICO score 15-20 points by failing to have an active revolving account with a "bank or national credit card company," considered prime lenders. Banks are depository institutions that operate checking and savings accounts and offer loans to their customers (most have "Bank" in their name). National credit card companies are lending institutions whose primary operation is offering credit cards (AmEx, Capital One, Discover, etc.). They hold equal value to a bank institution in the FICO lender classification model. You receive most of the benefit to your FICO scores when you have at least one. Having more than one can be a factor with EQ and EX, but it is a relatively minor FICO factor once you have one.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:32:53 GMT

Yea.Almost got carried away with this "pre-approved" thing from prime lender.

Thanks to this community , just saved myself from unnecessary INQ and denial.Will wait another year and then try.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:39:28 GMT

@OptimalFICO wrote:
TriState, don't fret you don't need the Barclay's card.

You can end up shorting your FICO score 15-20 points by failing to have an active revolving account with a "bank or national credit card company," considered prime lenders. Banks are depository institutions that operate checking and savings accounts and offer loans to their customers (most have "Bank" in their name). National credit card companies are lending institutions whose primary operation is offering credit cards (AmEx, Capital One, Discover, etc.). They hold equal value to a bank institution in the FICO lender classification model. You receive most of the benefit to your FICO scores when you have at least one. Having more than one can be a factor with EQ and EX, but it is a relatively minor FICO factor once you have one.

I didn't get this clear...So what you are saying is that it doesn't really matter how many credit lines i have and from whom , for my FICO score?

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

OptimalFICO — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:31:05 GMT

My understanding regarding the magic number of revolving lines of credit for FICO scoring is three. I've also heard that FICO doesn't like to see more than one revolving balance reporting at a time. There is some dispute about this one (from MarineVietVet), but another user posted that they have tested it in the past and it seemed to be true.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

jamesdwi — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:22:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I will definitely stay away for another year.I was just probably got too excited about this approved offer from non Cap1 or Orchard club.
Thanks for dragging me back to reality.When I will pay off my auto loan in January (20,000 for 60 months) is that going to boost my score?
And do I need to open another credit card lets say in 5-6 months,something easier to get than Barclays?
Thanks again for your advices!

nope, no boost from paying off your autoloan. Welcome to the backward world of credit, they like a mix of credit. By not having a mix of credit cards and other loans you get a lower score, on the other hand its great not to have the payment and you can potentially save the money or put it into your secured card. it may help you improve your credit in other ways your debt to income decreases which help in some credit scoring systems, though FICO doesn't count it, with a manual credit review it may help in some boarderline cases.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

OptimalFICO — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 04:36:44 GMT

I learned this the hard way, paid off my fiancee's auto loan early and it stopped improving the FICO scores. As james mentioned, FICO likes to see a mix credit types: mortgage, installment loan and revolving credit. If you have another installment loan (such as a student loan), that works too.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

trumpet-205 — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:17:22 GMT

@OptimalFICO wrote:
I learned this the hard way, paid off my fiancee's auto loan early and it stopped improving the FICO scores. As james mentioned, FICO likes to see a mix credit types: mortgage, installment loan and revolving credit. If you have another installment loan (such as a student loan), that works too.

You should always save money whenever possible. Paying off a loan early IS a good thing. You should not for the sake of FICO score to defer the loan or to apply a loan you don't need.

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Tristate — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 21:33:34 GMT

What do you guys think about this idea:Barclays offers online savings and online CD's,if I will open a saving account with them now and apply for the credit card (of my dream a year from now? Will that help my chances? Or savings has nothing to do with credit accounts even within the same bank?

I've just read a lot about "getting in relationship" with certain banks. Thanks!

Re: Really want to apply for Barclays but not 100% sure.

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:38:59 GMT

I was thinking that I got denied by Barclay's in Feb of this year but it was actually Webbank/DFS (Dell). Now that I know this, I think this will be one of the cards that I go for when I do a mini app spree in a few weeks. My BK was discharged in Jan of '10. One of my Cap1 cards is about 2 years old ($300. limit) and the other Cap1 and Orchard are each 1 year old next month with a $750. limit. Car loan 1 year next month also. No lates since the BK. I think I might have a chance...