Hello guys and gals,
In October 2021, my bankruptcy was discharged. About a month after it was discharged - I hit the ground running and had a plan. The name of the game was to obtain credit and to do so with minimal inquiries on my credit report. The good news was that as soon as the creditors on my credit report got the notification that I was filing bankruptcy they all fell off of my credit report - which boosted my score into the 600s. Even post discharge my score took a minimal hit surprisingly.
The first card I obtained was a Credit One card with a low limit. The only reason I even obtained this card is because I was pre-approved per the Experian app. About a month later, Capital One began waving at me - despite me burning them on two cards with my bankruptcy. Now anyone who has seen Forrest Gump - think about the part where Forest sees lieutenant Dan sitting on the dock waving at him and Forrest begins waving back at in frantically with excitement. Now just switch out the characters and put me as Forrest Gump and Capital One is lieutenant Dan LOL. The first Capital One card I obtained was a pre-approval through CO for the Walmart store card - it was low limit but it was a start. About 3 months later, I did the pre-qualification on CO's website and found I was pre-qualified for the Quicksilver card - pulled the trigger and was approved. CO was nice enough to give me a gift to remember them by in the form of a hard inquiry on each of my credit reports. Then about 3 months later I found a pre-qualification link on the Menards website for the Capital One Menards card. So again I pulled the trigger, got my three souvenirs, and was approved with a $750 credit limit.
Now, it's worth mentioning that I was able to obtain credit in the form of retail credit cards by using the shopping cart trick. In doing so, I was able to obtain cards for Overstock, Appliances Connection, Express, and JCrew. I bought a couple things with Overstock and Express 0 but the j crew and Appliances Connection card just sit and help add some padding to my overall credit utilization, which is low btw. The padding was very important to me because I wanted to be able to have enough credit that should I need to use a large portion of say my Menards card or my Quicksilver card - I could do so without killing my utilization. Most recently though I got notified by community that I was pre-approved for the Victoria's secret MasterCard as well as the Buckle card. I accepted the Victoria's secret MasterCard in the buckle pre-approval went in the trash. Now, it's worth stating as well that these cards were slowly obtained over a period I'm about 13 to 14 months and they are cards that I will use periodically. So when it comes to Comenity cards -that's it for me. I know it's not a good thing to draw a lot of attention to yourself and put yourself on Comenity's radar and in terms of establishing credit, which was my goal, mission accomplished.
Throughout that 13 to 14 month time period, I am able to post a perfect payment history and low utilization on my overall available credit. Now, on to the auto loan. My vehicle was bought about 3 years ago through a buy here pay here form of a 2012 Chevy equinox. While this car has been more than faithful and sits at 145,000 miles - it's time for her to move on and retire. I decided to start looking at vehicles and obtained a pre-approval prior to going to the dealership due to knowing that dealerships love to load your credit into that gun and fire it to whoever they can hit in the form of buckshot. I'm still being careful with the inquiries as I don't want too many. Well, I applied at my local Credit Union over the phone and within 5 minutes they called me back and approved me for a 2020 Chevy Trax with only 15,000 miles on it and zero money down. I got a rate of 12% which I expected would be a little high due to the recent bankruptcy discharge but overall was much better than what I expected which was in the 14% range. I am so glad I did my homework and my due diligence because initially I was doing pre-qualifications through CarMax and carvana and getting approved with no money down but 18 to 20% interest rate - which is absolutely asinine.
Moreover, I'm really proud of myself and loving having this feeling back again after about a 6 year hiatus with bad credit. It goes to show you that if you stick with the plan, exercise patience, and stay fiscally responsible, that you will only benefit.
I can't take 100% of the credit without doling out credit where credit is due (no pun intended). I wanted to send out a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to every single one of you who post, respond, and contribute to the MyFico forums - be it periodically or consistently. For lack of a better term, I lurk through these boards while researching and educating myself I'm just about every situation that someone could post about credit wise and I have to say this is one of the most professional forums I have ever seen. Sure every once in a while I see a troll respond to something, but other than that, the wealth of information that you all selflessly educate others, me included, and for free is commendable and upstanding. So again thank you . All the best.
Starting Score: 570
Congratulations, OP!
Thank you so much - loving this new car
Thank you very much :->
@Legally_Speaking2512 wrote:Hello guys and gals,
In October 2021, my bankruptcy was discharged. About a month after it was discharged - I hit the ground running and had a plan. The name of the game was to obtain credit and to do so with minimal inquiries on my credit report. The good news was that as soon as the creditors on my credit report got the notification that I was filing bankruptcy they all fell off of my credit report - which boosted my score into the 600s. Even post discharge my score took a minimal hit surprisingly.
The first card I obtained was a Credit One card with a low limit. The only reason I even obtained this card is because I was pre-approved per the Experian app. About a month later, Capital One began waving at me - despite me burning them on two cards with my bankruptcy. Now anyone who has seen Forrest Gump - think about the part where Forest sees lieutenant Dan sitting on the dock waving at him and Forrest begins waving back at in frantically with excitement. Now just switch out the characters and put me as Forrest Gump and Capital One is lieutenant Dan LOL. The first Capital One card I obtained was a pre-approval through CO for the Walmart store card - it was low limit but it was a start. About 3 months later, I did the pre-qualification on CO's website and found I was pre-qualified for the Quicksilver card - pulled the trigger and was approved. CO was nice enough to give me a gift to remember them by in the form of a hard inquiry on each of my credit reports. Then about 3 months later I found a pre-qualification link on the Menards website for the Capital One Menards card. So again I pulled the trigger, got my three souvenirs, and was approved with a $750 credit limit.
Now, it's worth mentioning that I was able to obtain credit in the form of retail credit cards by using the shopping cart trick. In doing so, I was able to obtain cards for Overstock, Appliances Connection, Express, and JCrew. I bought a couple things with Overstock and Express 0 but the j crew and Appliances Connection card just sit and help add some padding to my overall credit utilization, which is low btw. The padding was very important to me because I wanted to be able to have enough credit that should I need to use a large portion of say my Menards card or my Quicksilver card - I could do so without killing my utilization. Most recently though I got notified by community that I was pre-approved for the Victoria's secret MasterCard as well as the Buckle card. I accepted the Victoria's secret MasterCard in the buckle pre-approval went in the trash. Now, it's worth stating as well that these cards were slowly obtained over a period I'm about 13 to 14 months and they are cards that I will use periodically. So when it comes to Comenity cards -that's it for me. I know it's not a good thing to draw a lot of attention to yourself and put yourself on Comenity's radar and in terms of establishing credit, which was my goal, mission accomplished.
Throughout that 13 to 14 month time period, I am able to post a perfect payment history and low utilization on my overall available credit. Now, on to the auto loan. My vehicle was bought about 3 years ago through a buy here pay here form of a 2012 Chevy equinox. While this car has been more than faithful and sits at 145,000 miles - it's time for her to move on and retire. I decided to start looking at vehicles and obtained a pre-approval prior to going to the dealership due to knowing that dealerships love to load your credit into that gun and fire it to whoever they can hit in the form of buckshot. I'm still being careful with the inquiries as I don't want too many. Well, I applied at my local Credit Union over the phone and within 5 minutes they called me back and approved me for a 2020 Chevy Trax with only 15,000 miles on it and zero money down. I got a rate of 12% which I expected would be a little high due to the recent bankruptcy discharge but overall was much better than what I expected which was in the 14% range. I am so glad I did my homework and my due diligence because initially I was doing pre-qualifications through CarMax and carvana and getting approved with no money down but 18 to 20% interest rate - which is absolutely asinine.
Moreover, I'm really proud of myself and loving having this feeling back again after about a 6 year hiatus with bad credit. It goes to show you that if you stick with the plan, exercise patience, and stay fiscally responsible, that you will only benefit.
I can't take 100% of the credit without doling out credit where credit is due (no pun intended). I wanted to send out a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to every single one of you who post, respond, and contribute to the MyFico forums - be it periodically or consistently. For lack of a better term, I lurk through these boards while researching and educating myself I'm just about every situation that someone could post about credit wise and I have to say this is one of the most professional forums I have ever seen. Sure every once in a while I see a troll respond to something, but other than that, the wealth of information that you all selflessly educate others, me included, and for free is commendable and upstanding. So again thank you . All the best.
Congratulations on the rebuild - and the new car!
Thank you for sharing your story, rich with many DPs which help others to learn from your experiences. It sounds like you're making good progress.
May you continue to keep up the steady progress!
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