No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
My BK7 was discharged in Nov '15, and I meant to post on the anniversary but didn't. At times I feel like my rebuild is going way too easily, with the cards and limits I've been able to get. But I hope providing a little detail can encourage someone out there.
My scores prior to BK were in the 730 range.
Per EQ in July '15, AAoA 7 years 1 month, Oldest account 23 years 4 months.
Burned in BK: Amex, BofA, Comenity, Citibank, Chase, DSNB, Synchrony, WFB.
I don't really know what my actual FICO scores were post BK until a little over 6 months after. I had FAKOs in the low 500's though, I do know that. After BK, I waited 6 months almost to the day to apply for new credit. (I didn't plan to wait 6 months, I just really didn't feel like getting new cards, and it was cool paying cash for everything.) I had read the big thread "HOW TO: From BK7 discharge to 700 in 24 months or less!" on here, but I wasn't a MyFICO subscriber or member at that point. I haven't followed the "HOW TO" thread exactly as I had planned to, but I'm happy with my results. I do have two students loans from before BK, so I didn't need an installment loan. So, for the sake of making this easy to read:
July '15
Filed BK7
November '15
BK7 Discharged
May '16
Credit One approved, $400 SL
$200 auto CLI (when 1st statement cut- I had already made a payment prior to statement cutting) $600 total SL
June '16
Capital One Platinum approved, $3000 SL (jaw hits floor)
Started MyFICO 3B, EQ 632; TU 576; EX 619
July '16
EQ 659; TU 603; EX 668
Capital One Platinum PC'd to Quicksilver (no AF)
Discover it approved, $1000 SL
Victoria's Secret approved, $500 SL via Shopping Cart Trick
NFL Extra Points approved, $3500 SL (jaw hits floor)
Entered the Garden
August '16
Gardening: EQ 665; TU 625; EX 674
September '16
Gardening: EQ 668; TU 630; EX 675
Capital One Quicksilver CLI $300 via Luv Button, $3300 total SL
October '16
Gardening: EQ 688; TU 650; EX 687
November '16
Gardening: EQ 689; TU 655; EX 687
Discover it CLI $500 via Luv Button, $1500 total SL
jetBlue Plus approved, $4000 SL (yeeeaaahhh, baby!)
Entered the Garden again
December '16
Gardening: EQ 688; TU 652; EX 682
Closed Credit One
Capital One Credit Steps CLI $500, $3800 total SL
In my Wallet Today
Capital One Quicksilver MC, $3800
Discover it, $1500
Victoria's Secret, $500
NFL Extra Points Visa, $3500
jetBlue Plus WEMC, $4000
Per EQ in July '16: AAoA 7 years 9 months, Oldest account 16 years 10 months (my oldest account doesn't show anymore after BK...)
Per EX today: AAoA 7 years 10 months, Oldest account 22 years 8 months (my oldest account is still on here...)
Inquiries: EQ 5, TU 4, EX 7 (after May '17: EQ 2, TU 3, EX 3)
Well, that's a lot of info. Kudos to anyone who makes it through it!
Nice job Bella!
Thanks!
Nice job Bella and thanks much for all of the data points - they come in very handy!
Great work Bella!! You've done some great work! And your scores will continue to grow!!! Good for you!
Amazing job Bella! You have some nice cards and you are so close to 700 Keep at it!
Wow! Those scores are impressive. They've gone up so quickly in a short period of time. I've been following the "HOW TO: From BK7 discharge to 700 in 24 months or less!" thread myself and my story is *really* similar to yours. I waited a few months before apping for anything, it was healthy for me to actually use cash for everything for a few months. Now I'm rebuilding for about a year and I've been much more restrained in terms of apping but your scores are actually higher than mine. It's also super encouraging to see you got the Jetblue Barclay card--that's one I've had my eye on.
If you're open to sharing what your utilization has been I'd be curious to know.
Congrats on your progress! Very nice rebuild!
@Anonymous wrote:Wow! Those scores are impressive. They've gone up so quickly in a short period of time. I've been following the "HOW TO: From BK7 discharge to 700 in 24 months or less!" thread myself and my story is *really* similar to yours. I waited a few months before apping for anything, it was healthy for me to actually use cash for everything for a few months. Now I'm rebuilding for about a year and I've been much more restrained in terms of apping but your scores are actually higher than mine. It's also super encouraging to see you got the Jetblue Barclay card--that's one I've had my eye on.
If you're open to sharing what your utilization has been I'd be curious to know.
Congrats on your progress! Very nice rebuild!
Thanks! I agree about paying cash for everything. JetBlue is a card that I really wanted, and I kind of rolled the dice on it, but I'm so glad I did.
I'm totally open to sharing my utilization numbers. Did you just want the percentage of UTIL each month on each card? I have total spend, reported balance, and utilization percentage in my spreadsheet. If you want all of those, I'll probably round the total spend and reported balances up or down.
Wow you keep really good records!
Yeah I'd be curious to know all of that but even just a general sense of your utilization would be satisfying--I'm guessing you maintained attractive levels for all those approvals!
@Anonymous wrote:Wow you keep really good records!
Yeah I'd be curious to know all of that but even just a general sense of your utilization would be satisfying--I'm guessing you maintained attractive levels for all those approvals!
16-May | 16-Jun | 16-Jul | 16-Aug | 16-Sep | 16-Oct | 16-Nov | 16-Dec | |
Credit One | 12% | 2% | 6% | 0% | 3% | 0% | 0% | Closed |
Capital One | 9% | 7% | 0% | 7% | 8% | 6% | ||
Discover | 8% | 18% | 18% | 11% | 0% | |||
Victoria's Secret | 9% | 0% | 0% | 6% | 0% | |||
NFL Extra Points | 8% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 0% | |||
Total UTIL | 12% | 2% | 9% | 7% | 5% | 8% | 7% | ? |
I spend way too much time on my spreadsheet, lol!
I figure just giving the percentages is a good place to start. As you can tell, I haven't been perfectly below 10% UTIL with Discover and they gave me my first $500 CLI 31 days ago. I am about to hit them up again, but the payment to bring it down to 0% is pending. Probably be able to give it a try tomorrow. My new jetBlue card will post its first balance next week, and I'll probably let it post 10-15% this first time around. Been toying with the idea of moving the NFL limit over to the jetBlue, though.