Howdy! Just got my first two cards post BK

[Anonymous]

I used to be a member here years ago, but here I am again starting over.  Filed BK in August 2019 and after some delays it was discharged May 2020.  I have not tried to do anything regarding credit until just recently.

I had a negative experience applying for a secured card with Suntrust Bank; if anyone wants to know about it, just ask.  The tl/dr is that I believe they require one year post BK to approve a secured card, but I had to guess that; they never explained anything to me.  There goes a ding on my report (an inquiry.)

I LOVE U.S. Bank because they approved my secured card lickety-split.  Send them $500; as soon as they get it, the account is open (or any amount of at least $300.)  Took a while to get it in the mail, but I just used it (for less than $100) and can't wait for the statement to cut so I can pay it off.

Then today I was thrilled to be approved for a $500 credit line with Fingerhut. (unsecured of course). Never thought I'd stoop that low (LOL) but now I love them just as much as I love U.S. Bank.  Of course, my husband who filed BK jointly with me got a pre-approved mailer from them (this is what gave me the idea) and he was approved for $1,000.  Oh well, I'll start wherever I can!  Glad to "meet" everyone here!

[pizza1]

Hi and Welcome back!

Who did you burn in your BK? What lenders?
Sounds like you're on the right path to rebuilding. Have you checked all your reports to make sure everything is reporting correctly?

[Slabenstein]

Welcome back to the forums!  I wasn't here before, so glad to meet you, too.    I wouldn't call Fingerhut "stooping low", since it's all a matter of where you are in your journey.  They're not, to my knowledge, a fee harvester, so you can definitely do worse when starting out on a rebuild, even if it's an account you know you'll grow past.  And you don't need them to be a keeper, anyway, since your USB card can unsecure and lose its AF to anchor your account ages long term.

[AllZero]

Congratulations on your success! Good luck on your credit journey.

[Anonymous]

I agree!  There is absolutely nothing wrong with Fingerhut.  I was just poking fun at myself due to my fall from my pre-BK highfalutin' days.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I've been checking the credit reports.  The only thing I found amiss was a completely fraudulent (first time this has ever happened to me) account created by someone else with Paypal Credit via Synchrony Bank in June of this year.  They used my SS#, my address from 2 moves ago and some email address I've never heard of to create a $600 credit line (but never used the credit). The irony being that I don't think I could get the same for myself if I tried.  That was promptly closed after I reported it and learned all those details on the phone with Synchrony, and it's gone from all credit reports, but the inquiry remains.  That is difficult to get removed but I won't give up on it.

My BK was massive and included Navy Federal, Chase, Citibank, Synchrony, First National Bank of Omaha, USAA, Barclay, BOA.  No property was involved, just cards and lines of credit.  At first we were going to keep our only car loan but then decided to return it to the manufacturer, because the rate and upside-down nature of that overbloated loan on a car less than 1 year old did not make financial sense.  Amazingly, before our BK was even discharged, we got a loan to replace that one with another brand-new car (had been shopping for used but they talked us into new) and while the rate isn't the best, at least we downsized to a smaller, low-budget model and love the car.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Howdy, pahtna, welcome back

[M_Smart007]

Congratulations and Good luck on your rebuild!

[coreyb80]

Congrats on the approvals! Fingerhut will grow with you over time as well.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!  I'm going to tell everyone a cautionary tale, in case in can benefit anyone:

When filling out the application for USBank secured card, it asked for either a checking OR savings routing number and account number to grab the secured funds from.  I wrote down my Navy savings.  The ACH then *failed* and my application was REJECTED.  I had to call in and find out it was simply due to ACH failure (Navy, who does not like me, would not allow the ACH from a savings even though it was sitting there in the account....??)  Thankfully USBank said I could just apply again, no penalty or being locked out forever because of being "turned down" so to speak.

So I moved the money into a different, trusted bank's checking account (I have several) and applied all over again.  Only downside is another inquiry.  I asked if they could use the same inquiry, but no.  This time it went through perfectly.  Took a while, but it was worth it. So now I have two inquiries from USBank.  Oh well, I am starting from nothing, so I won't waste energy worrying about that.

In the interim, frustrated and looking to do business with my local bank, I looked on SunTrust's website and saw that they offer secured cards like nearly every bank does.  I even called and chatted with someone who SHOULD have been knowledgeable enough to scare me off, but instead encouraged me to apply.  Instant decline.  And there's another hard inquiry.  Later when I read around on the internet, I saw in some article that someone from Suntrust published, "Some banks, including Suntrust, require some time to have passed after a BK before approving a secured card."  (Note they didn't specify the time.  Funny how we consumers don't get to know the secret ingredients in all these recipes.) And read somewhere else, "The major banks tend to prefer one year post-BK."  Ah, the secret ingredient revealed.  Would have been nice if they had simply TOLD me!  You all know the feeling, right?