Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

[Deltadog03]

Congrats!!

[Scupra]

Thanks!!

[starry1]

No one has updated in awhile.  What are you getting these days?

[Ingenieux]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums and wanted to get some advice before I dive into adding more credit cards to my roster post bankruptcy. 

Stats:

CH 7 filed 2/2009, discharged 6/2009

I was pretty embarrassed about filing that I refused to look at my credit report for months following the discharged. I opened an Orchard Bank card in August 2009 and a capital one in October with $400 and $500 limits respectively. After six months, limits were increased to $600 and $750 and have remained there since. Have had no late payments since the BK and keep my utilization between 10 and 20% (As of today it's currently at 18%). I also have student loans that amount to $4,750 whose payments will start this month but I otherwise have no debt. I have three hard inquiries on my account, one from a potential landlord in August 2011 and one from Sallie Mae in August 2012 and a third from BoA from a few days ago when I applied for BoA Cash Rewards and was declined but was offered the partially secured card where they take a $99 deposit and issue a $500 card. 

Credit Karma lists my TransUnion score as 680 and having pulled other FAKOs, my EQ is 691 and EX is 685. 

Given that in a few days it will have been 4 years since my bankruptcy was discharged, I was hoping to get a credit card that would have at least a four-figure credit limit. CK had suggested I apply for Barclaycard rewards mastercard for average credit, citi simiplicity, and citi diamond preferred (the system must be on the fritz). Does anyone have any opinions on any of these are reasonably easy to approved for given my profile? 

Thanks!

[somotao]

Great job so far. Stay away from Citi as far as I know they are not BK Friendly. Barclays is a good card to get and since you have built up credit history you should be able to get one of their cards pretty easily. Another option is to look at cards by GECRB, They are known to be very generous with CLIs. Walrmart and Amazon store cards are probably the easiest to get. You should also be able to get your hands on a Discover card. I was able to get one 2 Years after BK7. Good luck and keep us posted

[shols44]

---

@Ingenieux wrote:

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums and wanted to get some advice before I dive into adding more credit cards to my roster post bankruptcy. 

Stats:

CH 7 filed 2/2009, discharged 6/2009

I was pretty embarrassed about filing that I refused to look at my credit report for months following the discharged. I opened an Orchard Bank card in August 2009 and a capital one in October with $400 and $500 limits respectively. After six months, limits were increased to $600 and $750 and have remained there since. Have had no late payments since the BK and keep my utilization between 10 and 20% (As of today it's currently at 18%). I also have student loans that amount to $4,750 whose payments will start this month but I otherwise have no debt. I have three hard inquiries on my account, one from a potential landlord in August 2011 and one from Sallie Mae in August 2012 and a third from BoA from a few days ago when I applied for BoA Cash Rewards and was declined but was offered the partially secured card where they take a $99 deposit and issue a $500 card. 

Credit Karma lists my TransUnion score as 680 and having pulled other FAKOs, my EQ is 691 and EX is 685. 

Given that in a few days it will have been 4 years since my bankruptcy was discharged, I was hoping to get a credit card that would have at least a four-figure credit limit. CK had suggested I apply for Barclaycard rewards mastercard for average credit, citi simiplicity, and citi diamond preferred (the system must be on the fritz). Does anyone have any opinions on any of these are reasonably easy to approved for given my profile? 

Thanks!

---

Good job so far and congrats on the BOA card. It should unsecure after a year. Here's what I'd suggest. First, pull your EQ and TU ficos. You need to know what those look like. I'm assuming everything on your reports should be reporting properly by now. 

1. Reduce your Util to 1-5%. 18% is too high. You should see a nice score bump if you do this by next statement cut! You can do this old fashioned by paying or by doing step 2 below.

2. Email the capone EO and ask for 4X CLIs on both your accounts. This should get you into four figures. I am almost certain your accounts will be approved. While you are at it, ask for rewards to be added to your capone cards, you will be able to pick from venture style points or straight up cash rewards. 

3. If you want to add one more card, I'd go with barclays. I like several of their cards. Expect to recon as most times its a denial or 5-7 day message. I reconnned both my barclay cards within 3 hrs of applying and got approved both times. 

4. If you absolutely need another card, sure give GE/discover a shot, but don't go applying just for the sake of it. You will ding your AAoA and does inqs start adding up. If you don't have a need for another card, stop at step 3. 

Goodluck!

[Ingenieux]

---

@somotao wrote:

Great job so far. Stay away from Citi as far as I know they are not BK Friendly. Barclays is a good card to get and since you have built up credit history you should be able to get one of their cards pretty easily. Another option is to look at cards by GECRB, They are known to be very generous with CLIs. Walrmart and Amazon store cards are probably the easiest to get. You should also be able to get your hands on a Discover card. I was able to get one 2 Years after BK7. Good luck and keep us posted

---

Thanks for your response! 

I have been hearing the same about Citi being non-bk friendly so I was surprised that it came up as a suggestion--again, the system was probably on the fritz when it presented those two. 

Do you have an opinion about Barclaycard rewards (avg credit) vs. the barclaycard issued by Apple? As far as Discover, would Discover It be a good one to consider? I did go back to school this semester, so would it be worth considering the Discover It for Students vs. the non-student option? 

[Ingenieux]

---

@shols44 wrote:

---

@Ingenieux wrote:

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums and wanted to get some advice before I dive into adding more credit cards to my roster post bankruptcy. 

Stats:

CH 7 filed 2/2009, discharged 6/2009

I was pretty embarrassed about filing that I refused to look at my credit report for months following the discharged. I opened an Orchard Bank card in August 2009 and a capital one in October with $400 and $500 limits respectively. After six months, limits were increased to $600 and $750 and have remained there since. Have had no late payments since the BK and keep my utilization between 10 and 20% (As of today it's currently at 18%). I also have student loans that amount to $4,750 whose payments will start this month but I otherwise have no debt. I have three hard inquiries on my account, one from a potential landlord in August 2011 and one from Sallie Mae in August 2012 and a third from BoA from a few days ago when I applied for BoA Cash Rewards and was declined but was offered the partially secured card where they take a $99 deposit and issue a $500 card. 

Credit Karma lists my TransUnion score as 680 and having pulled other FAKOs, my EQ is 691 and EX is 685. 

Given that in a few days it will have been 4 years since my bankruptcy was discharged, I was hoping to get a credit card that would have at least a four-figure credit limit. CK had suggested I apply for Barclaycard rewards mastercard for average credit, citi simiplicity, and citi diamond preferred (the system must be on the fritz). Does anyone have any opinions on any of these are reasonably easy to approved for given my profile? 

Thanks!

---

Good job so far and congrats on the BOA card. It should unsecure after a year. Here's what I'd suggest. First, pull your EQ and TU ficos. You need to know what those look like. I'm assuming everything on your reports should be reporting properly by now. 

1. Reduce your Util to 1-5%. 18% is too high. You should see a nice score bump if you do this by next statement cut! You can do this old fashioned by paying or by doing step 2 below.

2. Email the capone EO and ask for 4X CLIs on both your accounts. This should get you into four figures. I am almost certain your accounts will be approved. While you are at it, ask for rewards to be added to your capone cards, you will be able to pick from venture style points or straight up cash rewards. 

3. If you want to add one more card, I'd go with barclays. I like several of their cards. Expect to recon as most times its a denial or 5-7 day message. I reconnned both my barclay cards within 3 hrs of applying and got approved both times. 

4. If you absolutely need another card, sure give GE/discover a shot, but don't go applying just for the sake of it. You will ding your AAoA and does inqs start adding up. If you don't have a need for another card, stop at step 3. 

Goodluck!

---

Thanks for the insight! 

I've heard that Capital One is notorious for not wanting to budge on increasing credit lines--do you really think that they'd increase both of my cards (now that they own my Orchard Bank card)? I've heard a lot of opinions on the contrary. 

Do you have an opinion on which Barclaycards to pursue? I'm considering the barclaycard rewards (avg credit) and the barclaycard issued for apple. After that, I don't plan on getting anymore cards for a while. 

[shols44]

Thanks for the insight! 

I've heard that Capital One is notorious for not wanting to budge on increasing credit lines--do you really think that they'd increase both of my cards (now that they own my Orchard Bank card)? I've heard a lot of opinions on the contrary. 

Do you have an opinion on which Barclaycards to pursue? I'm considering the barclaycard rewards (avg credit) and the barclaycard issued for apple. After that, I don't plan on getting anymore cards for a while. 

---

I'm pretty certain if you go the EO route, capital one will increase both lines. Those accounts have performed well for four years. They will definitely budge. Ask for 5K each, expect 2.5-3K increase. Just forget the frontline guys and email EO directly. 

I got the Barclays NFL and the US Airways cards. I think the rewards card and apple card are easier to get from anecdotal data. I'd say go for the rewards card. You can always try to PC after a year. Also barclays will pull TU most likely. Just expect to recon and have explanations for anything they might throw at you. The easy one is why do you want the card: I love the blah blah blah....and the sign on blah blah....you get the picture?

Let us know how it goes. 

[Guyatthebeach]

Ingwnieux,

I'm not sure how long you have had your BOA card, but they can do a one time increase of $500 for an additional deposit of $99.00 with the $99/$500 card. You have to speak to someone in the secured card depart or credit department if they're closed. After you have had your card opened for 12 months with positive payment history, they will review your credit to graduate the account. When you get to the graduation statement usually on the 13th month, call them directly to see if they can lower the APR and permanently cancel the annual fee. They can be good to you if you're good to them.

FYI, Chase, Citi, Amex, and FNBO are not bk friendly. I would not waste the time or an HP on them at this point.  If you get your card usuage under 10%, let these accounts will age nicely. You may want to join a local credit union to see if they have cards that are BK friendly.

Keep it the good work!