Capiltalone or PenFed Post BK7 Discharge?

[Mike1014805]

I was discharged from Chapter 7 Bankruptcy 5 weeks ago (Medical Debt, but was forced to burn all of the credit cards I couldn't pay off when I filed). Since discharge my credit scores have all gone up more than 110 points, so now I'm in the mid 600s for all scores:

Scores as of 7/2/24:

Transunion: 642

Equifax: 643

Experian: 650

Income: $85,000/year (roughly)

I burned the following banks:

Bank of America

Barclaycard

Capital One

Discover

Chase

Wellsfargo

I've already been approved for 2 cards with no annual fees:

Mission Lane: $1,000 w/increase after 7 months

Merrick Bank: $1,000 w/Double limit After 7 Months

My questions:

Experian, CreditKarma and Credit Sesame all keep saying I'm pre-approved/qualify for Capitalone. However, when I go to Capitalone's website and do their pre-approval tool, it says I have too many "past due/delinquent accounts" with them. I burned the Venture Visa for $7800 in my Discharge. 

I'm trying to get a 3rd credit card because my Bankruptcy Lawyer told me I needed 3 after discharge to help build my credit back up. She said to stay away from predatory cards, and any card with an annual fee.

I've also read online that if you have an account with PenFed, it's possible to get a Card with them. If you didn't burn them in BK7, apparently they'll approve you as early as 1 month post Discharge from some people's experiences. A few people on different forums said not to trust their prequalify tool on PenFed and just cold app. 

Have any of you just cold app for CapitalOne and/or PenFed despite their tools saying you're not pre-approved? Or should I wait for my scores to increase some more before applying for a 3rd card?

[MileHigh96]

I cold app'd for PenFed and was approved, that was about 4 months after my discharge.

I didn't apply for a CapOne card until their pre approval tool told me that I was approved. I burned them for around $8k total in my BK7 and it took awhile before they let me back in, around 10 months post discharge give or take. Prior to that, I was getting the same message as you.

[CaptainConcorde]

You might want to check Ally.  They approved me for $1000 unsecured, no fee, very shortly after Ch 7 discharge.  I didn't burn Capital One (and had a 20+ year history with them) so I was able to get a Quicksilver the day after discharge.  About a month after discharge I was able to ad da One Main Financial card also.  Both the Ally and One Main cards have no annual fee.  I did open a fee card after BK (Credit One) but I'll be closing them before the year is up. 

I have seen posts on here and on Reddit though that indicate that  Capital One is kind of forgiving after a waiting period even if you burned them.  I really burned PenFed (CC $10k+ and a car) so I have no hope of getting with them.  I moved everything to NFCU after discharge and they've been great.  

[Mike1014805]

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@CaptainConcorde wrote:

You might want to check Ally.  They approved me for $1000 unsecured, no fee, very shortly after Ch 7 discharge.  I didn't burn Capital One (and had a 20+ year history with them) so I was able to get a Quicksilver the day after discharge.  About a month after discharge I was able to ad da One Main Financial card also.  Both the Ally and One Main cards have no annual fee.  I did open a fee card after BK (Credit One) but I'll be closing them before the year is up. 

I have seen posts on here and on Reddit though that indicate that  Capital One is kind of forgiving after a waiting period even if you burned them.  I really burned PenFed (CC $10k+ and a car) so I have no hope of getting with them.  I moved everything to NFCU after discharge and they've been great.  

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So you can only apply for Ally or One Main if you receive an offer to apply. So far, I've opened up a Mission Lane Visa (No AF) and Merrick Double Your Line MC (No AF). Both were offers that popped up on Credit Karma. I was told that Ally will usually extend an offer to you through Credit Karma, but I haven't had any luck with that yet. Penfed's website actually says that they won't approve anyone who FILED for Bankruptcy in the last 6 months. So I know now that I have to wait until August 24th. My file date was Feb 23rd. I'm going to cold APP for Penfed on/around 8/24. And after that I'm going to cold app Capital One. I have a car loan and 2 credit cards on my credit report now. So as long as I keep up with those payments, and utilization, I should be good. Since Feb 23rd, my credit score has gone up from a 502 to 698. I just have to play the long game in terms of rebuild. 

[MileHigh96]

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@Mike1014805 wrote:

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@CaptainConcorde wrote:

You might want to check Ally.  They approved me for $1000 unsecured, no fee, very shortly after Ch 7 discharge.  I didn't burn Capital One (and had a 20+ year history with them) so I was able to get a Quicksilver the day after discharge.  About a month after discharge I was able to ad da One Main Financial card also.  Both the Ally and One Main cards have no annual fee.  I did open a fee card after BK (Credit One) but I'll be closing them before the year is up. 

I have seen posts on here and on Reddit though that indicate that  Capital One is kind of forgiving after a waiting period even if you burned them.  I really burned PenFed (CC $10k+ and a car) so I have no hope of getting with them.  I moved everything to NFCU after discharge and they've been great.  

---

So you can only apply for Ally or One Main if you receive an offer to apply. So far, I've opened up a Mission Lane Visa (No AF) and Merrick Double Your Line MC (No AF). Both were offers that popped up on Credit Karma. I was told that Ally will usually extend an offer to you through Credit Karma, but I haven't had any luck with that yet. Penfed's website actually says that they won't approve anyone who FILED for Bankruptcy in the last 6 months. So I know now that I have to wait until August 24th. My file date was Feb 23rd. I'm going to cold APP for Penfed on/around 8/24. And after that I'm going to cold app Capital One. I have a car loan and 2 credit cards on my credit report now. So as long as I keep up with those payments, and utilization, I should be good. Since Feb 23rd, my credit score has gone up from a 502 to 698. I just have to play the long game in terms of rebuild. 

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I wouldn't cold app for CapOne, I'd use their pre-approval page (https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/preapprove/) to see if they will give you a card.  From my experience, their pre-approval is 100% accurate, so if they offer you a card, you're good to go.  Just cold app'ing without knowing for sure would risk an unecessary hard pull on all three credit bureaus from CapOne.

[MoBra]

I burned Cap One for over 20K and PenFed for over 30K discharged 3/21. Cap One kept showing in the preapprovals multiple cards, I waited a few months until Venture came up and then applied. I was given a $10K starting limit. PenFed approved me this year with a starting limit of $3500. 

[daygraaf316]

Hey. Was Penfed showing as a pre approval or did you cold apply? 

[MoBra]

For me, cold app

[MoBra]

For me, it was a cold app.