How many of the secured visa cards should I get to get my credit score up ?

[flowerutah]

I'm in the middle of a chapter 13 bankruptcy, our credit score on one of our credit burros is 560, We are trying to get it to 620 so we can buy a house, Our lender told us to get a secured visa card, where we use our own money on the card each month, We got one of those through our bank Friday for $500.00 , Is it best to have more then 1 to get our score up faster, Would it make a difference if I had 1 or 2 cards with the credit score going up more a month... Our lender said if we had the secured visa we could get our credit score in the 620s in about 3 months , His last client did chapter 13 and was in the same credit rating as us and got the credit card and it went up within 3 months and got full approved for a house... Any advice would be great... Thank you

[cdtotten]

I don't see how adding more than 1 card is going to help you. Yes, it would increase the credit limit, potentially help your util, but you shouldn't be reporting any util. anyways.

I personally have never filed bankruptcy, but I just don't see how adding a secured credit card would raise your score 60 points in the short term. I honestly believe, based off what I have seen on these boards, that 620 immediately after filing a bankruptcy is nearly impossible.

[flowerutah]

When I first filed bankruptcy last year at this time my credit score was at a 500 now its 560, so out of all 3 burros its went up like 40 to 60 points between all 3 of them... I got approved from my bankruptcy 13 trustee that I can buy a house if I can get approved for a home loan... So hopefully it can raise in that short time, even if its not in that short time a year from now would be great that way I can have $10,000 saved up for a down payment

Has anyone that got a secured card how long did it take for your score to go up

[Anonymous]

This is very different than my experience,  I'm surprised that you can save $1,000 a month while making your BK ch 13 payments.

Do you have an income that is not visible to the trustee?

The CH 13 budgets are typically much much tighter than that, including tax returns where you're only allowed to keep $1,000 annually and the rest must be turned in to the trustee.

Am I missing something?

[Creditaddict]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

This is very different than my experience,  I'm surprised that you can save $1,000 a month while making your BK ch 13 payments.

Do you have an income that is not visible to the trustee?

The CH 13 budgets are typically much much tighter than that, including tax returns where you're only allowed to keep $1,000 annually and the rest must be turned in to the trustee.

Am I missing something?

---

In my experience it was very all in your finance business while filing, but once it was approved I never turned over another thing to either trustee or lawyer.  However I didn't try to buy a house so not sure.

[Anonymous]

---

@Creditaddict wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

This is very different than my experience,  I'm surprised that you can save $1,000 a month while making your BK ch 13 payments.

Do you have an income that is not visible to the trustee?

The CH 13 budgets are typically much much tighter than that, including tax returns where you're only allowed to keep $1,000 annually and the rest must be turned in to the trustee.

Am I missing something?

---

In my experience it was very all in your finance business while filing, but once it was approved I never turned over another thing to either trustee or lawyer.  However I didn't try to buy a house so not sure.

---

In our case, we were to report income changes, including raises and bonuses.  I guess it could all be very different now!

[kjm79]

Did you also get approval from your trustee to get a secured credit card?  While still in a CH 13 you are not permitted to take on ANY new debt without approval from the trustee.  I know people have done it and not had any problems but might want to be careful about that. 

[Anonymous]

---

@kjm79 wrote:

Did you also get approval from your trustee to get a secured credit card?  While still in a CH 13 you are not permitted to take on ANY new debt without approval from the trustee.  I know people have done it and not had any problems but might want to be careful about that. 

---

Well said.  It can result in a dismissal.  Be uber-careful.  In this case, OP is going on advice from attorney.  However, my experience in the same state was different - attorney said no new debt.  I understand the secured aspect of the question, but when this was discussed previously on this BK forum, the consensus seemed to be "no" on the secured card.  But again, always defer to the attorney.  They (hopefully) are there to keep you on the straight and narrow as far as legal issues regarding the BK are concerned. IMO a dismissal is hades.

That being said, I did not open a secured - or any other card or account - during BK. 

(Except for a replacement vehicle for one that was totalled - with trustee's approval and total payoff of the original vehicle loan - And we paid cash from the insurance payment for the replacement vehicle.)

Without opening accounts during BK, my FICO was 741 about six months after discharge.  Which is pretty decent.  YMMV of course.

[flowerutah]

Thank you for everyones advice, Yes I did talk to my attoreny about getting the card he said sence its my cash i would be putting towards the card to get into it then its not a credit card and i wont be getting into no debt by doing it so he approved me with it... as for saving $1,000 a month, I got into couponing and have droped my food and heb bill down TONS, I only pay around $200.00 in food a month which includes heb items, So now i got more money to put into savings...   What was your score before your bankrupsty? I am hoping our score goes up 40 or 50 points more before two years we are renting now and i would love to be in our own house, our landlord wants to sell this house so we are looking for our own house i really dont want to keep moving my kids from house to house, Having to spilt them up with there friends is the hardest thing to do

[Anonymous]

---

@flowerutah wrote:

Thank you for everyones advice, Yes I did talk to my attoreny about getting the card he said sence its my cash i would be putting towards the card to get into it then its not a credit card and i wont be getting into no debt by doing it so he approved me with it... as for saving $1,000 a month, I got into couponing and have droped my food and heb bill down TONS, I only pay around $200.00 in food a month which includes heb items, So now i got more money to put into savings...   What was your score before your bankrupsty? I am hoping our score goes up 40 or 50 points more before two years we are renting now and i would love to be in our own house, our landlord wants to sell this house so we are looking for our own house i really dont want to keep moving my kids from house to house, Having to spilt them up with there friends is the hardest thing to do

---

That was quite awhile ago - and I have no idea!