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Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

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Guyatthebeach
Valued Contributor

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

Ge_Gi29,

 

I would recommend you read Soulmaster’s guide and use it as a template for a rebuild.  

 

I read that that you were saving money. That’s great and keep on doing that.  While you are waiting for your discharge, look for a credit union that is bankruptcy friendly and has a secured card that will graduate to an unsecured card. If you can join Navy Federal, do it.  

 

I burned Capital One and Discover Card, but they did approve cards for me after bankruptcy.  I got my first Capital One card a year or so after a year post discharge.  I got back into Discover Card this year.

 

The reasons you should consider a secured loan are it adds an additional trade line to your credit report post bankruptcy, you have perfect payment history on a loan, and will help your credit mix starting out.  

 

Hope this helps and keep us updated.  

 

Guyatthebeach

 

 

Message 11 of 20
Shooting-For-800
Senior Contributor

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance


@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for this advice!
Two questions though.
1) Is there any benefit to leaving a small balance on one card as opposed to PIF each month?
2) If I have a new auto loan, should I still do a secure lender loan? I like the idea of the secure lender loan because it would basically force me to save even more money, but would two installment type loans work against my score? I will also have my student loans reporting as well.

No, you dont need another loan.  No, multiple don't hurt.  I have like 15 student loans.

You WILL PIF each month, just not before your statement cuts.

In otherwords, pay all your cards off except one BEFORE your statement hits, then pay it off.

You will pay no interest.

This is suppose to get you the best score.

Rotating cards might help also. 

Having ALL cards with $0 balance says you do not use your cards.

Having small balances (under 9% of limit) says you manage your cards well.

Make sense?

 

Rebuild started in 2014  -  $100k unsecured credit in 2017  -  $500k unsecured credit in 2024.

DON'T WORK FOR CREDIT CARDS ... MAKE CREDIT CARDS WORK FOR YOU!



Message 12 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance


@Shooting-For-800 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for this advice!
Two questions though.
1) Is there any benefit to leaving a small balance on one card as opposed to PIF each month?
2) If I have a new auto loan, should I still do a secure lender loan? I like the idea of the secure lender loan because it would basically force me to save even more money, but would two installment type loans work against my score? I will also have my student loans reporting as well.

No, you dont need another loan.  No, multiple don't hurt.  I have like 15 student loans.

You WILL PIF each month, just not before your statement cuts.

In otherwords, pay all your cards off except one BEFORE your statement hits, then pay it off.

You will pay no interest.

This is suppose to get you the best score.

Rotating cards might help also. 

Having ALL cards with $0 balance says you do not use your cards.

Having small balances (under 9% of limit) says you manage your cards well.

Make sense?

 

Yes that does make sense. 

 

So it sounds like I can skip the secure lender loan then. What I will do though is still take the money I would have paid into that type of loan and just put it in my savings account, maybe use that to get another secured card if I have trouble getting approved for an unsecured within the next 12 months. 

Message 13 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance


@Guyatthebeach wrote:

Ge_Gi29,

 

I would recommend you read Soulmaster’s guide and use it as a template for a rebuild.  

 

I read that that you were saving money. That’s great and keep on doing that.  While you are waiting for your discharge, look for a credit union that is bankruptcy friendly and has a secured card that will graduate to an unsecured card. If you can join Navy Federal, do it.  

 

I burned Capital One and Discover Card, but they did approve cards for me after bankruptcy.  I got my first Capital One card a year or so after a year post discharge.  I got back into Discover Card this year.

 

The reasons you should consider a secured loan are it adds an additional trade line to your credit report post bankruptcy, you have perfect payment history on a loan, and will help your credit mix starting out.  

 

Hope this helps and keep us updated.  

 

Guyatthebeach

 

 


I did read through that! It was very informative. My problem is that I burned Credit One, so I’ve already thrown a wrench into that plan. 

 

We we have a pretty good CU where I live, but I don’t think they are BK friendly. They wouldn’t even give me a checking account! They said Checksystems flagged me, but literally the only negative on that was it reported my BK, so I don’t know. They said they couldn’t give me a reason why, just that it was automated. They did say I could open a savings and that I would be able to do a secure lender loan, but not sure I’ll need that with my new car loan reporting. Their savings rates are nowhere near as good as Ally’s are, so I’m not in too big of a hurry to open a share account with them, especially since I need to keep a higher min balance to avoid fees. 

 

For NFCU, my brother was in the Army, but I’m not sure he is a member. I will have to ask him. He would be my only in I would think. 

Message 14 of 20
JTC-137
Regular Contributor

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

From navyfederal.org:

Eligibility

Immediate family members of current members and those who are eligible for membership. Immediate family includes:

Grandparents
Parents
Spouses
Siblings
Children (including adopted and stepchildren)
Grandchildren
Household members

I joined through a grandparent and got the secured card. Definitely recommend this
Message 15 of 20
Guyatthebeach
Valued Contributor

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

I had the same problem. I burned Capital One and Discover Card, so I used it as a template.   I found a CU that was bankruptcy friendly and a bank that would work with me.  I wound up getting a secured card with each of them and a secured loan with the CU.   At month 7, my credit card at the CU graduated to an unsecured card.  I closed the three secured card when I got approved for a Barclays Visa.  I got back in with CapitalOne about a year about my discharge.  I got back in with Discover this year.

 

With your brother serving, you should be able to join NFCU.  If you can join, you can skip about half of SM’s rebuild plan.  You could almost do the whole plan with Navy Federal. 

 

If if you can’t get into Navy Federal, do some research on bankruptcy friendly credit unions.  They are out there, you just have to look.  

 

Guyatthebeach

 

 

Message 16 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

You need to order your Checksystems report. Checksystems generally does not flag you for bankruptcy since it’s not a credit based report. You may have an old savings/checking account you closed with a negative balance. That is what banks use Checksystems for.

 

Sometimes if you abandon an account the banks will still charge one last fee and it stays on your Checksystems report. Whatever is on there you will have to settle. Very few banks will give you an account otherwise.

 

Sorry I skimmed the thread so I don’t know if you burned Capital One and Discover. If you did not get a secured card from them ASAP. They are the best for rebuilding. Discover reports as secured but Cap One does not. It doesn’t not matter for FICO scoring anyway. Besides the reason they are recommended is because they both graduate to unsecured. Which is the most important thing. Many secured cards do not.

Message 17 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance


@Anonymous wrote:

You need to order your Checksystems report. Checksystems generally does not flag you for bankruptcy since it’s not a credit based report. You may have an old savings/checking account you closed with a negative balance. That is what banks use Checksystems for.

 

Sometimes if you abandon an account the banks will still charge one last fee and it stays on your Checksystems report. Whatever is on there you will have to settle. Very few banks will give you an account otherwise.

 

Sorry I skimmed the thread so I don’t know if you burned Capital One and Discover. If you did not get a secured card from them ASAP. They are the best for rebuilding. Discover reports as secured but Cap One does not. It doesn’t not matter for FICO scoring anyway. Besides the reason they are recommended is because they both graduate to unsecured. Which is the most important thing. Many secured cards do not.


I did order the report. Was totally clean except for listing my file date for BK. I even called them after the fact and told them this and they just said that they didn't know, that it was all automated. The only other thing that I could think of was that I had recently opened up a checking account with a local bank, which also pulled Chexsystems, to just process auto debits (I found that I do much better if I have money direct deposited into a completely seperate account where my bills come out of). Maybe they didn't like the fact that I had just recently opened another checking account. It's all good though... I really don't need a checking with them anyways, and they did say I was completely free to open a share account with them, which I will probably do just to get a relationship going. 

 

I did burn Cap1 and Disc, I am still not sure though if their blacklist will go from DOFD, from the date they got judgements or from discharge date of the BK. My DOFD with both of them were in early 2017. I guess I will find out with Cap 1 after discharge. I figure I will check the prequal. If I don't get the secure card offer, then I will just wait 6 months for them.

Message 18 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

I have no advice on anything because my discharge was just this week and I am learning by reading through all of the posts on here. I just wanted to share that I too had a judgement and Capital One had started garnishing wages before filing. My account had been in collections for over a year. I didn't want to start off with Credit One if I didn't have to. Since my discharge was this week, I checked Capital One's prequal and got two offers. I went ahead and applied and was approved for $300 Capital One Platinum. I know it is not much as far as a limit, but it is the week of my discharge and they let me back in unsecured. I plan on following Soul Masters plan on here as much as I can. 

Message 19 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Burned a lot during BK, could use guidance

 


@Anonymous wrote:

I have no advice on anything because my discharge was just this week and I am learning by reading through all of the posts on here. I just wanted to share that I too had a judgement and Capital One had started garnishing wages before filing. My account had been in collections for over a year. I didn't want to start off with Credit One if I didn't have to. Since my discharge was this week, I checked Capital One's prequal and got two offers. I went ahead and applied and was approved for $300 Capital One Platinum. I know it is not much as far as a limit, but it is the week of my discharge and they let me back in unsecured. I plan on following Soul Masters plan on here as much as I can. 


Thank you! This is good info since it sounds like you are in the same boat as me with Cap1. I will have to check the prequal after discharge and see if anything shows up. 

Message 20 of 20
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