Home Depot /Lowes, and Sears/JCP

[angie204]

Ten years ago (before I was a home builder)  I had an account with The Home Depot, CL of $8k.  That account was always paid ontime, no lates.  When I began building homes six years ago, Lowes was the only local home improvement company.  I opened a Lowe's account under my company's name.  I was not a guarantor on the account, as by then my business had established credit.

When we filed bankrupcty two years ago, we included the Lowe's balance of $47k in our personal bankruptcy.  There really was no reason to do so, as our company was an LLC and we were not liable for the balance.  We just wanted to file bankruptcy on any personal debts, and our attorney listed all our companies as "alternate" names.  So the company never filed bankruptcy and it still owes the money, but hypothetically I was never personally liable.

So now that we are buying a house, is it possible to get any kind of credit at Home Depot or Lowes? Our scores are still pretty low.  Just wondering if Home Depot looks back at the past account and considers us a good option, or if they just see the bankrupcty and lower scores.  As far as Lowe's goes, I suppose they would have received notice of the bankruptcy and noted us personally somehow in their system, even though I've never had a personal account there???

Another side question: We also used to have a Sears card, which has a good payment history and was closed years ago.  We filed bankruptcy on a JCPenney card though.  Will Sears consider giving us credit again, or do they use the same bank as JCPenney?

LOL, I'm confusing myself.  Anyway, does anyone know what banks these companies use?

Thanks so much!!

Angie

[johnsj21]

I can't speak for the Lowes or Home Depot but I can tell you that JcPenney is issued by GEMB and I believe that Sears is issued by Citi - so not the same creditors.

[creditwherecreditisdue]

The Home Depot Credit Card is issued by Citi:

     https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/cardDetail.do?screenID=930

     http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Credit_Center&langId=-1&storeId=10...

The Home Depot Commercial Cards are also issued by Citi

The Home Depot Master Card program was issued by Citi and is being discontinued.

The Lowes Credit Card is issued by GEMB:

     http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=CustServ/cc_compare_consumer.html

The JC Penney is issued by GEMB:

     https://www.onlinecreditcenter2.com/JCPenney/JCPCreditCenter.htm?JCPReturnURL=http://www4.jcpenney.c...

The Sears Cards are issued by various issuers. Some are issued by Citi:

     http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/srs/credit_options.jsp

The Sears Solution Master Card is issued by HSBC. There is no on-line info available on this card. (In-store app only.)

[angie204]

Thank you so much! I suppose I will completely stay away from Lowe's, as GEMB did hold the JCPenney account, which I included in the bankruptcy. :-)

[creditwherecreditisdue]

Figure out exactly what you want. Then come back here and start a new thread asking if CC x is "bankruptcy friendly" and post some of the details of your BK. You will then get some feedback on other's experience when app'ing.

[angie204]

Thanks for the advice.  I will repost when I am ready to apply.