Hi, I just wanted to share the progress I'm making on my BK rebuild. Here are my BK details and the progress I’ve made in a few months since I’ve opened my first cards:
BK Type: Chapter 13
Filing Date: 12/2018
Amount: $80k (includes mortgage arrears and cc debt between DH and I)
Percentage: 100%
Status: Discharged 03/24/23
Accounts IIB:
* FNBO- $2K
* Chase (Freedom)- $800 CLAIM NOT FILED
* Discover (It)- $2k
* Citi (Diamond)- $1k
* Citi (ThankYou)- $750
* Citi (Macy’s)- $1.6k
* Capital One (QS1)- $5.6k
* SYNC (Amazon)- $1.5k CLAIM NOT FILED
* SYNC (Walmart)- $970 CLAIM NOT FILED
* SYNC (PayPal)- $1.8k
* Credit First (Firestone)- $880
* Comenity (VS)- $1.2k
* Comenity (Pottery Barn)- $2.8k
* Comenity (Express)- $1k
* Comenity (The Limited)- $1k
My total CC Debt: $25k
As you can see, EVERYBODY got burned lol.
New Accounts Opened
Mission Lane (12/27/22)- $1k limit, no AF
myWalgreens (12/28/22)- $500 limit, no AF
Apple (03/02/23)- $850 limit, no AF
Amazingly, Walgreens card is issued by SYNC who was IIB for a total of $4.2k between 3 accounts. They never even filed claims for 2 of them so didn’t get paid. I don’t know what my starting FICO scores were since SYNC started reporting the day after I was approved and the account opening raised my FAKO scores. I’m going to assume FICO was in the low 500s-upper 400s considering TU and EX FICO scores were at 500 last I checked in 2020. Here are my score increases after SYNC reported:
Score Progress
EQ: 548>607 (+59 increase)
TU: 522>600 (+78 increase)
EX: 582>622 (+40 increase)
Mistakes Made
- Applied for credit union checking a year ago and decided not to open. Now I have an inquiry.
- Applied for Walgreens card at 3 am and thought it was a Mastercard offer when I accepted. Now I’m stuck with retail card.
- Applied for an IKEA card after they dangled a $7.7k offer during SP and then denied me after EX was HP. Comenity was IIB x4 so I should’ve known better.
Recent Successes
- Filed a dispute with TU which removed AU account listed as IIB and removed IIB status from another account not IIB.
- Finally approved for Apple Card after many denials. I applied biweekly hoping for an invite to their “Path to Progress” program. Initial denial letters stated BK, after rebuild jumpstart the last denial letter stated not enough payment history, then I gave it a month cooldown and tried again and was instantly approved. TU FICO 9 score 664. I applied through their shopping cart.
Total Inquiries
EQ: 0
TU: 3 (ML, SYNC, GS)
EX: 2 (Comenity, CU app)
TU inquiries are the only intentional ones that led to account approvals. I’ve been very careful with applying through the SP route only. EX were both mistakes.
Next Steps
Now that I have my 3 cards I plan on gardening while I wait for all my IIB accounts to drop off. Out of 16 accounts IIB only 5 remain. I plan on requesting for EE when the time comes which means all accounts will drop off TU summer 2024, EX fall 2024, and EQ winter 2024.
My Goals
- Get in with PenFed and NFCU for future cards and loans
- Jumpstart my kids’ credit with AU accounts
- Jumpstart business credit after credit is cleaned up
- Chase INK card
- AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card
- 740 mortgage score (currently 670)
