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Hello all!
This is my first post and I would like to say thank you for all the great information from everyone on here. I have been learning so much over the past few weeks. I have been reading through several posts and I can't find a specific enough answer for my situation with my CH 7 BK.
I started building credit at a very young age and had just about every major CC. I burned them all in my BK. BK was filed 3/17 and discharged 7/17. Since then I have opened an OpenSky secured CC and CreditOne CC (started at $500 then increased to $650 after one month). I am also an authorized user on a JetBlue CC which shows up on my credit report with a $17,000 limit. I also re-affirmed my car loan which I still owe a little over $17,000 for.
I have tried applying for Capital One secured CC and was denied because of too many missed payments (I stopped paying the card when my BK was filed as my lawyer advised). I also applied for PenFed and Merrick Bank which I am waiting to receive a letter in the mail as they are under review, which is probably not a good sign if I wasn't approved instantly, right?
My current scores are EQ: 645 TU: 615 EX: 624. I know the BK wasn't too long ago, I am just eager to try and rebuild my credit in the fastest and best way. I am scared to apply for anything else as I don't want my inquiries to ruin my score (as of now I have 3, one falling off in a few months).
Any ideas what I should do next? Should I just garden? Or do I need one more credit card? Also -- does anyone know if NFCU is forgiving after being burned in BK? I am a USAA member as well but never applied for any of their CC's.
Thanks for your time!
LIST OF BURNED CC's
Citi - simplicity/thank you
Chase - slate/freedom
Barclays - Visa apple rewards
CapitalOne - secured/quicksilver
Discover - discoverIt
Kohls - store
Care Credit
Sears - mastercard by Citi
BestBuy - store
Victoria's Secret - store
NFCU - cash rewards/LOC
Macy's - by AMEX
Fingerhut
A few of these accounts I didn't owe anything/had $0 balance but my lawyer told me to burn everything. As I have been reading on here I saw some people did not do so. I don't know if I did the right thing or not but no point in crying over spilled milk!
I'm not sure why the initial post I had posted disappeared. Can anyone answer that for me?
Do you have any installment loans reporting? as in, did you keep any auto loans, do you have any student loans, etc.
If no, get over to the SSL thread, read that first page thoroughly (multiple times) and then get that started. It will likely give you a score boost and positive reporting history that will help you as you seek to open more positive tradelines. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...
If yes, then you don't need the SSL.
You may be able to get back in with Cap1 - it may just take time. Read people's experiences here. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/Bankruptcy-Friendly-Credit-Cards-Pt-2/td-p/3999737
I know it is very difficult to search within a thread here. I set my per-page setting to 50 and then use CTRL+F (on a computer) to search for text. That gives you 19 pages to search through, which isn't fun but is better than whatever it is at 10 posts pp...
The thread let me know, e.g. Chase and BoA (I burned) aren't happening for me in the next several years if ever. So I've moved on.
A lot of folks don't care much for CreditOne, OpenSky, etc. Others feel that they serve their purpose early in a rebuild, especially for folks who have burned the major friendly lenders. I think for you, it will be helpful to do the following:
- Manage your current TLs responsibly for 3-6mos.
- Get the SSL started asap if you do not have installment TL reporting already.
- Follow AZEO for your initial rebuilding period (6-24 mos). All Zero Except One. You want all of your cards to report a zero balance except for one. For that one, you want it to report a balance, but less than 8.9% of your aggregate credit limit across all cards, before the statement cuts. Then after the statement cuts but before the due date, pay it off in full. After your rebuild is on solid footing, AZEO is not so important, you can use your cards more naturally (keeping under 29% aggregate util still) but us rebuilders mostly need the boost in this initial period.
- When your scores pick up and some time has passed - for burned lenders, let at least 6mo pass - try again. Keep in mind that HPs stay on your credit report for 2 years, but fade in importance after 1 year. It's ok to have several, but don't go wasting these unnecessarily.
-If and when you are able to open other cards within 6-12mo, you may wish to close out the CreditOne before the AF hits (or even after, if you have to keep it open that long) and maybe OpenSky. Hopefully you will be able to get to 3 solid cards that can age together.
- When you hit 3-5, garden. I mean, 6 might be fine, but don't get app happy.
Others may have differing opinions, that is the good part of this forum.
See ABCD's thread in Understanding FICO for more good advice for rebuilders.
[edited to clarify some wording]
Thank you for such a quick reply! I am currently reading the page about SSL's. I had two car loans which were paid off pre-BK (2 years before, all loans never a late payment) and then I re-affirmed by car loan which I am currently paying for $17,000 post BK. I had co-signed for student loans for my brother, which he fell behind on and hurt my score, but he was able to refinance them and they show as CLOSED/refinanced on my CR.
Will a SSL help me if I already have my car loan open and reporting? Is that considered an installment loan? I am capable of putting down the money to open up a small SSL (if they do approve me to do so) but I want to make sure that it will help me before I do so. I also noticed my credit report take a huge increase when I was authorized on the JetBlue card with the $17,000 CL. I don't use it more than once every few months (the primary usually spends very minimal and usually it reports at a $0 balance on my Credit Karma when I check it). Should I be using it more often with the AZEO method or it doesn't really matter since I am an authorized user?
I am going to do as you recommended and keep my current TLs open for 3-6 months. I have been following the AZEO but not 100% correct, thanks for the thread now I know what exactly to do to enhance my score. I am going to keep them open for even longer, until I can start accumulating some better CC's. I have been browsing the CC's after BK thread for weeks which lead me to apply to Merrick and PenFed but I was disappointed when I didn't see an instant approval. Not sure if there are any other cards to apply for at this point if I couldn't even get approved for those.
Thank you again!
I'll edit my initial post to clarify... those cards you will want to keep open for as long as they serve you (until you get other good cards, until AF hits, etc), it's just that you want that 3-6 months of positive reporting (using them responsibly, pay all of them down to zero except one at a low balance, etc.) before you apply for another lender, if you are having difficulty and getting denials from major lenders in your initial period.
Yes, an open auto loan counts as installment, so you would not benefit from SSL at this time. Keep that cash for some secured cards a few months down the road, as you may have to go that road in the beginning. Or put it into your emergency savings, always a good plan.
Look into some local CUs too. My local CU has a pretty good secured card that I may be apping for in the next month (I am waiting for my SSL to report). You may be surprised at what is out there. Just ask good questions: Does the card graduate to unsecured with good payment history? If so, on what timeline? Does it just convert to another card or do you have to close it out and apply for another card? Do you receive your deposit back? Standard questions, what is the APR, are there any benefits associated, etc?
Also, if you list specifically who you burned - people may be able to fill in some blanks with more specific suggestions for you.
Good luck!
@ggmorning wrote:
I'm not sure why the initial post I had posted disappeared. Can anyone answer that for me?
Hi @ggmorning, and welcome to myFICO!
Your first post got stuck in the spam quarantine after your edit; since you now have this one I'll remove the duplicate and merge the replies.
I don't think you'll have the problem again, but if you do check this thread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/myFICO-Forums-Technical-Help/What-to-do-if-your-new-post-is-missing/...
Again, welcome!
--UncleB
myFICO Moderator
ggmorning,
You are on the right track. I started my rebuild with secured cards before I read Soulmaster's rebuild plan. After I was able to get two unsecured credit cards, I cancelled them immediately. I think you need to let those two credit card accounts age for at least 6 months. When you get to 6 months of positive payment history, I would check Capital One for a preapproval. If you don't get one, I would try again at the one year mark.
Since you already applied for PenFed, see what happens. If you don't get approved, do a recon and plead your case. In the event they don't approve you for a unsecured card, see about a secured card or secured loan. Use it as a way into their credit union. I'm a member and am very impressed with them. They are extremely conservative compared to NFCU and they seem genuinely interested in working with members.
After you get the PenFed app resolved, I would find a local credit union in your area that is bankruptcy friendly and start building a saving account with them. I would wait until at the sixth month mark before applying for credit. My local credit union has been more helpful to me during my rebuild than everyone else.
Hope this helps.
Guyatthebeach
So happy I found this thread!! I was discharged 10/3/17 and I have burned every major bank as well. Here's all the cards and the balances I burned them for. *clears throat*..... Hold my beer....
Amex Business Gold Delta $6000
Amex Every Day $3300
Barclays Aviator $3300
BoA 2 business CC's: $12000+ between the 2.
Capital One Quicksilver $1800
Chase Ink Cash Card $17,000
Chase Freedom $500
Chase Marriott $200
Citi Diamond Preferred $3600
Citi Bronze AA (personal) Card: $1900
Citi DoubleCash $1600
CitiBusiness American Airlines CC $7000
Discover >$2,000
Huntingtin Voice 3x Rewards $1800
Lake Michigan Credit Union $200
Synchrony Bank (Lowes) $150
Thankfully my oldest CC (11 years) had a zero balance at filing and survived the bankruptcy! It's a really crappy subprime card (1st Financial Bank USA....$6,000 limit), but I'm still happy! A week after after discharge, I was approved for CreditOne with a $500 limit as well as the Fingerhut credit card with a $300 limit. I was denied for the Capital One secured card (I should have waited after burning them lol) but thankfully no hard inquiry. Best of luck with your rebuild! Keep us updated!
Thanks again for the info guys. @Kb109 now onto the road of rebuilding! But that's great your oldest card survived the BK. My oldest account that survived is only a couple of years. We just have to be patient on this journey of rebuilding but we'll get there! It's very encouraging reading other people's stories on this forum, I never thought I'd even be considered for a credit card for many years to come.
Good news and bad news: I woke up to a notification on MyFico of a new account reporting... Merrick Bank approved me with a $600 CL! Bad news is PenFed denied me due to the recent BK and I tried to get them to recon, they said they would if I could add a joint account/user on the card (which I can't) but they told me to try back in another 2 years. Well, something is better than nothing. Here is some info where I currently stand -- if anyone has any further suggestions for me please let me know! I have been paying all credit cards OT and in FULL except for a few dollars here and there (under 8%) while trying to figure out statement and reporting dates.
Reaffirmed auto loan, all OT payments pre/post BK [Opened July 2015]: $17,000 owed
OpenSky Secured CC [Opened May 2017]: $200 SL
CreditOne CC [Opened Aug 2017]: $650 SL
Merrick Bank CC [Opened Oct 2017]: $600 SL
AU on Barclays JetBlue CC [Opened Aug 2016]: $17,000 SL
Since BK I've been denied CapOne Secured CC (burned in BK) and PenFed CC. I'll be gardening for the next few months and will try again sometime next year to get a better CC. Until then I will be trying my best to wait (patiently) for my FICO scores to increase. Although BK is definitely not a great thing (and something I don't intend to ever put myself into again) I have learned so much about managing my finances and credit score. This forum is great. Thanks again guys!