Help me understandd

[OGJerk]

Jan 2019 I filed a chapter 13 bk, recognized it was not going to work and we had it dismissed in May of 2019.  Lost a home to foreclosure that has since dropped off the bureau, the auto loan with Global (formerly Alaska FCU) is still on bureau and drops off in Feb 2025, so not quite a year left with that.  BK will drop in Jan 2026.  All other derogs have dropped off the bureau.

Currently scores are:  Experian 644, Trans Union 651 and Equifax 674.  

Have re-established with 4 student loans on the bureau, 3 credit cards and 3 auto loans all paid 100% as agreed.  So why can I not get a decent credit card now?  I've paid my dues for the bk, paid the 25%+ interest on 3 auto loans, make good money with a 16% DTI not counting my rent and have had zero negs since the bk.  

I went over to Navy FCU to try and get a decent credit card, nothing great, just decent and was flat out denied.  They told me I could apply for their secured card.  I already have 3 low limit cards ($300-$500 limits) that are unsecured so why would I want to go back to secured?  

Any insight here would help.  Is it the Global FCU account?  

[pizzadude]

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@OGJerk wrote:

Jan 2019 I filed a chapter 13 bk, recognized it was not going to work and we had it dismissed in May of 2019.  Lost a home to foreclosure that has since dropped off the bureau, the auto loan with Global (formerly Alaska FCU) is still on bureau and drops off in Feb 2025, so not quite a year left with that.  BK will drop in Jan 2026.  All other derogs have dropped off the bureau.

Currently scores are:  Experian 644, Trans Union 651 and Equifax 674.  

Have re-established with 4 student loans on the bureau, 3 credit cards and 3 auto loans all paid 100% as agreed.  So why can I not get a decent credit card now?  I've paid my dues for the bk, paid the 25%+ interest on 3 auto loans, make good money with a 16% DTI not counting my rent and have had zero negs since the bk.  

I went over to Navy FCU to try and get a decent credit card, nothing great, just decent and was flat out denied.  They told me I could apply for their secured card.  I already have 3 low limit cards ($300-$500 limits) that are unsecured so why would I want to go back to secured?  

Any insight here would help.  Is it the Global FCU account?  

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It's because you have a BK and charged off auto loan showing on your reports, these will continue to hurt your chances with some lenders until they completely drop from your reports. 

You could try with some BK friendly lenders such as Cap1 but you may end up bucketed into a lower limit card.   Honestly getting a secured card with NFCU, as much as you can afford to put into it, may be a better approach as it may help other creditors approve you for larger limits. 

[Slabenstein]

Is the auto loan reporting as a repo or CO, and is it reporting an unpaid delinquent balance?  If so, that could easily be a reason for denial, as many issuers will not want to extend a revolving unsecured line while an unpaid delinquency is showing on an applicant's reports. 

(As an aside, I also want to point out that lenders include housing costs in DTI calculations, so it would be a % that includes your monthly rent that Navy would be working from.)

[Kforce]

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@Slabenstein wrote:

Is the auto loan reporting as a repo or CO, and is it reporting an unpaid delinquent balance?  If so, that could easily be a reason for denial, as many issuers will not want to extend a revolving unsecured line while an unpaid delinquency is showing on an applicant's reports. 

(As an aside, I also want to point out that lenders include housing costs in DTI calculations, so it would be a % that includes your monthly rent that Navy would be working from.)

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^^^ This

[Hidalgo]

you could get the Discover secured card that automatically graduates after a few months; then you can easily request CLIs on their app. they are pretty generous with limits over time. 

Imo you don't want to keep applying and getting denied. 

I used a feature on AMEX where you could get approved without a hard pull, and they only did a hard pull if you were approved. I don't see it now (this was about 1 year ago) 

[FicoMike0]

You mention three low limit cards. Are you managing utilization? It's not enough to pay in full every month. Utilization is based on the amount reported to the bureaus. Most cards report the posted balance.  If you have a $500 credit limit and post $300, that's a 60% utilization, which costs you points. Look up azeo for the full story.  Short form, you want one card to post < 29% of its cl and < 9% of your total cl. The others should post zero.

Getting your score up will help approvals.

[Horseshoez]

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@OGJerk wrote:

I went over to Navy FCU to try and get a decent credit card, nothing great, just decent and was flat out denied.  They told me I could apply for their secured card.  I already have 3 low limit cards ($300-$500 limits) that are unsecured so why would I want to go back to secured?  

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Why go back to a secured card?  Higher limits will be easier to obtain.  After my Chapter 13 I sucked it up and applied for a secured card with a $5,000 limit, with the exception of my two CapOne cards (starting limits $3,000 and $2,000), every card I've applied for since then has yielded a higher starting limit; my most recent from NFCU was a $30,000 starting limit.  

[Zoostation1]

@HidalgoWhile Discover often graduates quickly (mine took 7.5mo to graduate and get a CLI, it's not a guarantee.

[OGJerk]

Hey FicoMike, I keep track of the report dates for each card and normally have 2 of the 3 at zero each report date, the last one typically reports between $10 and $21 as it's balance with a $550 CL on it.  I use the cards for the same exact living expense bills each month to snatch that small 1% cash back they offer.  I'm a cheapskate.  

[Jeffster1]

@OGJerk The BK and the auto charge off, as others have said, are deal breakers for some prime issuers. However, your scores are also really low. Yes, some prime cards will consider you at a 670, only your EQ exceeds that, and it barely does.