CH13 Discharged - Third Credit Card for AZEO

[hoosier64]

Finally got my Chapter 13 discharge last month. In the BK, I burned Capital One (Auto Loan) and Wells Fargo. I used the pre-approval site, and Capital One let me back in one day after the discharge was reporting (Quicksilver $1000 CL, no annual fee). I also took a shot at the Discover IT pre-approval, but was only approved for the secured card. Since it should graduate, I decided to also accept that offer. I figure I would rather wait for the card to graduate instead of hoping to get approved for an unsecured card in 6 months.

As I got closer to the last payment for the Chapter 13 plan, I was expecting I would have to rebuild through subprime cards with annual fees or with secured cards that don't graduate. Since that isn't the case, I need to figure out what to do for my third card for AZEO. I consider Capital One and Discover both worth keeping long term, but I'm having trouble figuring out what would be a good third card I would reasonably qualify for and also be worth keeping.

I've gotten mailers from Merrick, Ollo, and Mission Lane. They don't appear to have any annual fees, but they also don't appear to have any rewards. If I need to go with one of those, so be it. Are there better options I could qualify for? The two cards I have my eye on are probably out of my reach: Chase Freedom and Bank of America Travel (since I don't have a card with good travel rewards).

I'm also looking to clean up my credit reports. I had a Capital One card when I filed for bankruptcy. It was not included in the bankruptcy. I paid in full every month before filing, but I had a $15 balance that took a few months to sort out since they wouldn't accept payment by phone or their website after I filed. But I was able to pay it in full outside of the bankruptcy. I haven't pulled my credit reports from the CRA's yet, but myfico.com and Credit Karma are reporting this account as included in bankruptcy. Should this be reporting differently?

Just before the BK was discharged, my FICO8 scores were:

Experian: 611

TransUnion: 612

Equifax: 623

Currently (Discover IT Secured reporting, Capital One Quicksilver not yet reporting):

Experian: 673

TransUnion: 651

Equifax: 672

[FireMedic1]

For now its the 3 card revolving credit thats needed. Name and amount really doesnt matter. Merrick will give auto CLI's. Then give it 6 months or so. Let everything rebound. Forget Chase with a BK till it falls off. Then look at other Chapt 13'ers and what came their way.

[Horseshoez]

The first three (and so far only) financial institutions I applied for after my Chapter 13 are (in order):

• TDBank (TDCash Secured @ $5,000, graduated in six months; limit is now $8,500)
• CapitalOne (Quicksilver, initially $3,000, limit now $4,800)
• Pentagon Federal Credit Union (Platinum Rewards, initial and current limit is $6,000)

@hoosier64, since you already have a quality secured card then a good next stop would be Navy Federal (if you qualify to join), and/or PenFed.

[hoosier64]

Thanks! I will take a look at those options when I apply for my third card in a couple months.

[masscredit]

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@Horseshoez wrote:

The first three (and so far only) financial institutions I applied for after my Chapter 13 are (in order):

• TDBank (TDCash Secured @ $5,000, graduated in six months; limit is now $8,500)
• CapitalOne (Quicksilver, initially $3,000, limit now $4,800)
• Pentagon Federal Credit Union (Platinum Rewards, initial and current limit is $6,000)

@hoosier64, since you already have a quality secured card then a good next stop would be Navy Federal (if you qualify to join), and/or PenFed.

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I wasn't sure if the TD Bank card would grow. Nice to see that it should. From past posts, I believe you said your card graduated after 7 statements. My 7th statement closed a couple of days ago. I've been watching my accout like a little kid waiting for Santa. It hasn't gone unsecured yet. Looking at the savings account, at the top, under Pending it says Secured Card Hold See SM. That's highlighted in yellow. I didn't check that accout much so I don't know if it said that before. Did you noticed this with your account?

[Horseshoez]

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@masscredit wrote:

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@Horseshoez wrote:

The first three (and so far only) financial institutions I applied for after my Chapter 13 are (in order):

• TDBank (TDCash Secured @ $5,000, graduated in six months; limit is now $8,500)
• CapitalOne (Quicksilver, initially $3,000, limit now $4,800)
• Pentagon Federal Credit Union (Platinum Rewards, initial and current limit is $6,000)

@hoosier64, since you already have a quality secured card then a good next stop would be Navy Federal (if you qualify to join), and/or PenFed.

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I wasn't sure if the TD Bank card would grow. Nice to see that it should. From past posts, I believe you said your card graduated after 7 statements. My 7th statement closed a couple of days ago. I've been watching my accout like a little kid waiting for Santa. It hasn't gone unsecured yet. Looking at the savings account, at the top, under Pending it says Secured Card Hold See SM. That's highlighted in yellow. I didn't check that accout much so I don't know if it said that before. Did you noticed this with your account?

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I just checked my statements so I could be exact in my response; it appears the best indicator is the box which says "Rewards Points Summary":

• Per my 1st statement (closing date 04-Jul-2020, cut on 25-Jun-2020):
  • "Previous Points Balance 0"
  • "Current Points Balance 0"
• Per my 6th statement (closing date 04-Dec-2020):
  • "Previous Points Balance 7,704"
  • "Points Earned This Month +1,849"
  • "Current Points Balance 9,553"
• Per my 7th statement (closing date 04-Jan-2021):
  • "Previous Points Balance 9,553"
  • "3 Points (3%) Earned on Dining 0"
  • "2 Points (2%) Earned on Grocery 0"
  • "1 Point (1%) Earned on Other Purchases +1,921"
  • "Current Points Balance 11,474"
• Per my 8th statement (closing date 04-Feb-2021):
  • "Previous Points Balance 0"
  • "3 Points (3%) Earned on Dining 1,660"
  • "2 Points (2%) Earned on Grocery 1,355"
  • "1 Point (1%) Earned on Other Purchases +373"
  • "Points Adjusted 11,474"
  • "New Points Balance 14,862"
• Per my 9th statement (closing date 04-Mar-2021):
  • "Previous Points Balance 14,862"
  • "3 Points (3%) Earned on Dining 561"
  • "2 Points (2%) Earned on Grocery 662"
  • "1 Point (1%) Earned on Other Purchases +35"
  • "New Points Balance 16,120"

From my 10th statement forward, the five lines from the 9th statement remained static except of course for the amounts earned (currently sitting at 67,104).  While none of the above statments show the actual date my card graduated, I can see by my savings account activity I moved the money out of my locked savings account which secured my card on 07-Jan-2021, exactly six months to the day after I received my secured TDCash card in the mail.  Long story short, it looks like my graduation happened three days after the 7th statement was cut.

[masscredit]

@Horseshoez  Thank you for the detailed info. Mine did the same thing. I'm now moving the $5K over to Andrews CU to fund a 7 month certificate at 5%.