I thought I would add my story to this board. I think it helps to have community during this process. I moved from the Midwest to a Northwest resort town for work, and to get closer to family. I wasn't prepared for the huge increase in living expenses, though. Starting out with debt from the move, it spiraled until I was using student loans to make minimum payments on my CC's and I decided something had to give. Tried to cash out my 401k (ill-advised!), but they wouldn't let me, so I filed Ch7 in Nov 14. One of the worst days of my life. I have still never missed a payment on any card; I always took good care of my credit. We took a year off credit cards after discharge (Feb '15) to make sure we had our finances in order. I was approved one year post-DC for a QS1. I gardened that and my wife's $14k Venture (she apped a few months later, she only has one derog and the PR on her CR) for a year, then I read this board and realized I need a bit more RC for my score to increase. I also realized our utilization has been too high, which I'm working on fixing.
Last week, I got approved for DiscoverIT at $7500. I used online chat (and Discover as leverage) to get my QS1 transferred into a QS at $6500. I apped for a secured card from BoA (we really want the AK siggy), but was denied. I reconned and was told it was being sent to the manager, but she said it should go through since I'm 2 years post DC and it's fully secured. I'll know in 3-5 days. Either way, I'm planning on gardening for a while after this app spree.
Burned in my BK:
WF, Citi, local CU, Barclays Frontier card, AMEX (costco)
Goals: We are working on our scores so we can buy a new house if we decide to (we currently own, kept it in the BK). We also want the AK siggy so we can save up for a vacation together. Currently, we are sitting just under 700 with all three, hers are higher than mine, she might even be 700+ with an agency or two.
Anyways, that's me! Pleasure to read all your stories, as well.
, Like Scupra says in time those limits will rise