@Horseshoez- ahh yes, "twirling my fingers like a mad scientist". The good'OLE checks must clear. You are absolutely correct my friend the other "variable". Checks not clearing will definitely hold things up. I"m glad you broke through and looking at your siggy things are looking good for you. thank you for your experience - you've given me a true sample of succes in the right direction.
@SB_F- i'm glad you got through as well. I'm sure that was the longest 6mos post last payment. i kid myself sometimes, what's another few months after 5yrs.....no biggie. (while deep inside i'm screaming gettin the McShivers and rollercoaster of emotions 
@FLLGuy wrote:@Horseshoez- ahh yes, "twirling my fingers like a mad scientist". The good'OLE checks must clear. You are absolutely correct my friend the other "variable". Checks not clearing will definitely hold things up. I"m glad you broke through and looking at your siggy things are looking good for you. thank you for your experience - you've given me a true sample of succes in the right direction.
I completely understand where you are these days, I was there in early March 2020; my discharge had just come through and after not having any credit cards for nearly seven years (I had to stop using them long before I finally filed for my chapter 13), I was over anxious when it came time to start my rebuild. Said another way, I screwed up, BIG TIME.
Under the heading of, "Do as I say, don't do as I did!"...
Following your discharge, wait six weeks, and check all of your credit reports to make sure your accounts are correctly reflecting the discharge and nothing is still reporting as being late. Once you're happy the dust has settled, start your rebuild plan.
What did I do wrong at this stage? The day after my discharge, I applied for an unsecured credit card from CapOne, DENIED! I appealed, denied again. I then applied for a secured card from my bank of many years (BofA), denied again! Still without doing lots of research and going on the say-so of others, I applied for a CapOne secured card (which had a measly $1,000 max limit). Yes, I was approved for that card, but by then I'd already racked up seven hard pulls against my credit. To add insult to injury, the CapOne card with the low limit was totally insufficient for my monthly spend and I ended up closing it after less than seven weeks.
Putting together a better plan...
I found this site, did some research on BK tolerant financial institutions when it came to secured cards; my short list was TDBank, Discover, Navy Federal (NFCU), and First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO); given TDBank was the only one in my area with local branches, I opted to move all of my banking from BofA over to them and open a secured card with a $5,000 limit. This turned out to be the single best move I've made since discharge; the card "cost" me an annual fee (half of which was refunded) of $29, in exchange, TDBank pays interest on the security deposit (not much I'll grant you) and it pays rewards (which were nearly ten times what I ended up paying in the annual fee). Better still, the card graduated to unsecured at exactly six months, and even better still, the card also graduated to a full Signature Visa.
With the above said, in your shoes, I'd shoot for the following:
- Open a relatively high value secured card, there are other financial institutions out there, but TDBank, Navy, Discover, and FNBO all get high remarks here.
- Hit up the CapitalOne pre-approval site, lots of folks have recently reported getting an unsecured Quicksilver card with a $3,000 limit within a couple months of a Chapter 13 discharge.
- Then after a few more months, open an account with a credit union (if you have a secured card with Navy Fed, I'd use a different credit union), such as PenFed, deposit some money in the account, let it age a bit, and then apply for one of their unsecured credit cards.
Had I played it smart and followed the above plan instead of screwing up like I did, I probably could have gotten the three cards I now have in less than six months; instead it took me just over a year.
Quick Update: Bankruptcy Chapter 13 (BK13 / BK 13 / CH13 / CH 13) needle is moving according to both Pacer.Gov and NDC.Org. Hope this is useful to anyone undergoing BK 13 to help manage expectations and most of all "anxiety".
- 7/30/21 - From Pacer.Gov - Order Discharging Debtor (pacer.gov) shows discharged date 7/30/21.
- Pacer Pending Statuses show "Awaiting Closing" since 7/30 and currently 7 days Time in Status.
- 8/2/21 - From NDC - Balance on hand ($1800) reduced to ($0). NDC Case Status (no change) Completed - Pending Final Report
- 8/3/21 - From NDC - Last Disbursement entered as 8/3/21.
- Plan Base, Total Paid into Plan, and Total Paid to all Parties now match.
- 8/4/21 - Trustee Offices, Called on check statuses (32 checks cut / 1 check cleared in 3weeks / 31 more to go)
- 8/5/21 - MyFico alerts both EQ & TU bankruptcy discharged entered (3 point gain) waiting on EX expected to be last advice from forums.
- Cap1 now allows me to prequalify for 3 (Plat, QS1, Secured) - holding off for now. Recently app'd for NFCU secure $200 and added as AU to AMEX Cash Magnet new account $15,000 SL w/3% utilization.
- However, my wife gets Cap1 prequalify for 6 different cards including Savor One and Venture. She app'd Savor w/$1,000 SL sucks but she's happy to accept considering our circumstances glad Cap1 let us back in after burning them over $10K in BK 13.
- 8/6/21 - Received "Order to Discharge" in the mail signed by the judge dated 7/30/21.
Patiently waiting, waiting with Patience, just a little Patience...yeaaahhh. I keep running through the Cap1 prequalify page like a kid in a candy store over and over again feels good to get PreQualified for both CC and Auto. I'm also stalking Discover waiting on them to show me some love with a secured option. I'm focused to sell and buy a new house by EOY or Q1' 2022.
Update -
@Corey, @Horseshoez , @SB_F , @jmw1 , @FireMedic1
I reported earlier the CRAs have started to report Bankruptcy disharge and noticed 3 point increase from TU and EQ. However, now individual accounts are reporting "discharged" with point drops between (6-16points). It's nerve wrecking to watch this fluctuate and learned from you all not to dispute and let it organically do it's thing. I take it this is normal?
Yes give it 30 days or so. Dont dispute. In time once the smoke clears. You should have a small score rise. Thats why we say to people dont go run out and get credit until the waters are calm again. It will happen. Patience grasshopper.
@FLLGuy wrote:Update -
@Corey, @Horseshoez , @SB_F , @jmw1 , @FireMedic1
I reported earlier the CRAs have started to report Bankruptcy disharge and noticed 3 point increase from TU and EQ. However, now individual accounts are reporting "discharged" with point drops between (6-16points). It's nerve wrecking to watch this fluctuate and learned from you all not to dispute and let it organically do it's thing. I take it this is normal?
Totally normal, my scores fluctuated nearly 50 points over the first six months.