Trying to Bounceback from BK

[Uniqua]

This thread may be moved, but I thought I'd start here since the root of my question stems from a BK. I have finished all payments on my Ch 13 BK filed 4/2003, just waiting to receive discharge papers in the mail. My FICO scores are:

EQ: 668
TU: 653
EX: 608 (go figure!)

Anywho, I was thinking about applying for the Carnival Sea Miles Mastercard and was wondering what my chances are. Can some one who has been in BK and approved for this card shed light as to my chances of getting approved? Who do they pull? I was approved for a platinum visa with my local CU which pulled EQ, so obviously, I would prefer if they could pull my TU CR.

All help is appreciated.

[granny031350]

I haven't applied for this card so don't know but I have heard on the cc forum that juniper is not bk friendly.  But you won't know unless you try.

[mzme2]

Have you tired going over to the rebuilding your credit or credit card forum? That would be a good place to start. A lot of info on those forums about credit cards and whom are BK Friendly.

[bamagirl1]

juniper is bk friendly i guess depending on the card, bc i got an apple/juniper credit card 3/12 yrs after ch 7, i just closed it this year bc of low credit limit and high apr, never got any love, but no sure about other juniper backed cards.

[Uniqua]

Well, I app'd with Juniper over a month ago. My Ch 13 BK has been discharged. I lost 2 points on each EQ and TU but I gained 68 points on EX (again, go figure!). I thought my discharge would have helped my chances with getting approved for the Carnival SeaMiles Mastercard. I was declined. Reason is that I did not have enough recently established accounts and they didn't want to be the first to give me a CC. Oh well, in the meantime, I've obtained a WaMu Platinum Visa with a $2K CL, a HFCU Visa with a $1K CL and a AEFCU Platinum Rewards Visa with a $500 CL. So, I'm doing good thus far.

Yes, Juniper is BK-friendly, depending on which CC you app for, but if you don't have any newly established accounts in good standing, they will decline you.

I was also declined with Penfed for the same reasons Juniper gave me. They are BK-friendly though. I won't app with Penfed again, but I do think I'll try again for Juniper in a few months.

FICOs as of 6/22/08:
EQ - 666
TU - 666
EX - 677

Message Edited by Uniqua on 06-22-2008 05:18 PM

[granny031350]

so when your chapter 13 registered as "discharged" Experian went up?  That is good to know.  My Experian is my lowest score and maybe that is why.  Awaiting discharge, 12/08

[TigerCat]

I think you are correct about Juniper Uniqua. I recently applied for the Lufthansa Miles & More CC issued by Juniper/Barclays but I was approved.   I am in my third year of a Chapter 13 but I have been able to establish 2 other new cc accounts since filing, and all are in good standing.

EX 675  EQ 667 TU ??? as of 6/21 

[CreditBob]

Since the filing of your bankruptcy what have you done as far as reestablishing your credit?  In other words did you keep one credit card account opened that you reaffirmed? If not have you gotten new credit and if you did have you made all payments on time?

I have been through bankruptcy and I will tell you this. No creditor is going to hand you out new credit even though the bankruptcy has wiped out your debts. You may need to start of with secured accounts were cash in a savings account is used as collateral. To a new lender you are a very high risk. This is never a guarantee that you will get credit but it would be a good idea to add a consumer statement with each credit bureau to why you filed bankruptcy. On my statement it says "bankruptcy filed do to serious medical accident". The other thing is to be up front and completely honest with the lender.

After a bankruptcy your credit rating and fico score are not going to go up over night. You have to work at it by making all payments on time. Do not be late with any creditor or any account even once for any reason. With a bankruptcy filing I have found that creditors would like to see three open accounts so that they can get a better feel of your credit character.

I have been working on my credit since April of 2003 when I filed my medical bankruptcy. Here I am 5 years later and my score could possible be between 720-772, according to the fico score simulator. Did you try the fico score simulator to see were you stand? If not I would highly recommend it.

[Uniqua]

For starters, after filing Ch 13 BK, you are NOT supposed to do anything to re-establish credit. That is against the bankruptcy rules and if the BK trustee finds out about any new trade lines, you can best believe your BK will be dismissed. I was not trying to have that happen to me.

Secondly, I had no open CCs when I filed. They had been closed for approximately 1-2 years. The only items that stayed open were my student loans and my auto loan. It is not true to say NO creditor is going to hand you any new credit as I just mentioned in my previous post that I've already obtained three new CCs. I did not have to go the secured route and I had not planned on it either.

Adding a consumer statement is a good idea. I think I may do that as my situation also stemmed from a medical emergency/accident (my baby).

My BK was filed in April 2003, but I did not start until April of this year with trying to obtain new credit. I did, however, start to clean up my reports over 3 years ago in hopes that it would not be too difficult to obtain credit once my BK had been discharged. I app'd for five CCs and got three. I think I did pretty good for a recently discharged BK.

I've tried the FICO simulator, but I find it to just be a tool to use, nothing to rely on.

Message Edited by Uniqua on 06-23-2008 08:25 PM