Advice on next card

[Etherial73]

Discharged from Ch 7 in March of this year. My rebuild currently consists of a 24 month Self Lender loan, an auto loan that hasn't started reporting yet, an unsecured Cap One Platinum (SL $500) and a secured Discover (SL $200). Cap One opened in Feb 18 (before my discharge), Discover opened April 18. I have not applied for any other credit cards. I never before had a relationship with Discover, but burned Cap One for almost $40,000 (between auto loan and credit cards).

My scoreable inquiries are: Equifax-9, TU-3, Experian 5. Current FICO 8 scores are: Equifax-644, TU-622, Experian-626.

Although time since discharge is short, I've been very careful and selective with my rebuild, only seeking credit that is actually beneficial. Perfect payment history since discharge. Balances on cards are $0, although I use AZEO for score building then pay in full. AAoA- 4yr 7 mo, Oldest Account 13 yr 7 mo

I want to add a third card, and have ignored offers for the usual subprime lenders. My research and my use/spending patterns have led me to either the Uber Visa or SunTrust Cash Rewards. I never had a relationship with, and didn't burn, either Barclays or SunTrust in the Ch 7.

Can anyone provide info and opinions on whether either of these cards are realistically in  my reach at this point in my rebuild? I haven't seen any consistent info for either of these cards regarding approval based on time since discharge, FICO scores needed, etc.

[FinStar]

Realistically speaking, given how short the span of time has been, both Barclays and SunTrust are out of reach for the time being.

Generally, Barclays can be a bit flexible for some BK profiles in under a year, but it also depends on the overall picture as a whole.

Since you have already established a couple of loans and 2 revolvers (post-BK), it appears your profile just needs to age a bit with the newer tradelines. Is your oldest account (pre-BK) still active?

[Etherial73]

FinStar,

My oldest account still on file is a closed auto loan from 2010. Opened in 2005, paid off and closed 2010, no derogs on that one. I have very few closed, positive tradelines (5) that are still on my CR's that preceed my bankruptcy. I have eight accounts that are IIB, all with several 30, 60, 90 day lates and charge offs leading up to the bankruptcy. Currently I have four positive, open accounts that I've established since my discharge.

[SBR249]

You have 2 choices I think:

1. I think the safe and prudent choice is to garden until both your revolvers are at least a year old if not more. 

2. The other more ambitious choice is to selectively apply for a card right now. The worst that could happen is that you are declined and have to garden at which point the advice is usually to garden another 6 months. In that case you take a HP for no reason but its effect on your FICO score will be temporary and will start to fade at the 6 month mark anyway. 

There's really no substantive or permanent penalty associated with choice 2 except for the fact that the HP will stay on your report for 2 years (though they stop factoring into score after 1). It all comes down to how ambitious you want to be. I'd say check out AmEx as well to see if you have prequals offers if you decide to go for an app. 

[Anonymous]

Etherial73, for your cap 1 card, were you prequalified first or did you cold app hoping for an approval? I'm a month out before my dc right now and read your post and made me wonder if i could get the Platinum before I'm actually dc' d. I have no offers as I already checked. 😭 Yes, they were iib.