New - Looking to rebuild credit to buy a house in 18 months

[daybreakgonesXe]

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@liesierre wrote:

Okay... so I applied online for BofA and Target Redcard....

Bank of the West - still waiting to hear on that
Bank of America basically said it couldnt give me an answer and would have to be reviewed...
Target - said I would get something in the mail in 7-10 days

I have a feeling the Bank of the West will probably be denied, but I should probably wait and see instead of putting in more inquiries

Bank of America - I'm hoping I can at least get a secured card out of that so I'm not still at square 1. If I do get one, I was thinking maybe should just stick with that for a while and try to build myself up a little before trying other cards...

Target, again...I'll wait and see. Hoping to land the BofA and Target so I have 3 things open (including my car loan, which reports to all 3 agencies)

If all of those get denied, I'll have to explore other options: CapitalOne, Walmart (GE), Orchard, or Household Bank

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Also Orchard and Household Bank are really around anymore for new CCs; they're all in the process of being converted into Cap One!

[liesierre]

damn. I called BofA and the automated system told me it was declined and then basically hung up on me.

[myjourney]

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@liesierre wrote:

damn. I called BofA and the automated system told me it was declined and then basically hung up on me.

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BofA: 866-421-8153 (Credit analyst - existing cardholders)

BofA: 888-503-6090

BofA: 877-721-9405 (App Status - Choose Option 3)

BofA: 800-732-9194
BofA: 888-260-4696 (secured accts.)

BofA: 800-824-5895 (secured & partially secured accts.)

BofA: 800-718-6072 (Credit analyst - for existing cardholders only)

BofA: 800-881-4730 (Loan Dept.?)

BofA Credit Dept. Fax:  888-500-6270 

BofA/FIA: 888-831-4181

[liesierre]

BofA: 866-421-8153 (Credit analyst - existing cardholders)

BofA: 888-503-6090

BofA: 877-721-9405 (App Status - Choose Option 3) -- this one told me i was denied and hung up on me

BofA: 800-732-9194 - this one told me to enter the last 4 digits of my acct number, which i dont have so i hung up
BofA: 888-260-4696 (secured accts.)

BofA: 800-824-5895 (secured & partially secured accts.)

BofA: 800-718-6072 (Credit analyst - for existing cardholders only)

BofA: 800-881-4730 (Loan Dept.?)

BofA Credit Dept. Fax:  888-500-6270 

BofA/FIA: 888-831-4181

I am not an existing cardholder, so those numbers are out. 

I'm starting to get really frustrated and on the verge of giving up trying to get a stupid credit card. I'm just getting denied and then I have all these inquiries on my account which cant look that great. I don't want to apply for more and get denied yet again...

I might be blacklisted for BofA for all I know... I just found this on one of my credit reports that the foreclosure was joint with Bank of America

HOME LOAN SERVICE/BANK OF AMERIC   

 
I don't really know what direction to go in... apply for something else? Capital One? Walmart? Should I just give it up and try to get some of the baddies off first or let something drop off? I'm feeling really discouraged right now.

[aussiesareforever]

Dear OP

I'm not sure why BOA was recommended since they are NOT BK friendly. I'm sorry you wasted an inquiry.

This is a pretty nice list of BK friendly credit cards and this post was very nicely done to help individuals recover post BK.

My recommendations will be that you should not fall into the trap of getting too many cards. Only get three cards and apply for them six months apart.

Capital One gave me a card 2 months after BK (and I included two of their cards in BK). I've had that card for five years now and was just recently upgraded to the Cash Rewards card (Thanks for the executive office). Your result may vary but Capital One usually tends to be BK friendly. I will start with them and then for sure look into your local credit union. Go in, talk to them, see if they are BK friendly before you apply.

Before you do anything else though, wait until you hear back from Great West Bank and Target (Target is also not BK friendly so they are likely going to say no). Those inquiries are going to stay on your credit report for two years and you want to make sure you apply strategically.

FInally, spend some time in the BK section of the forum too. It helped a lot in my recovery.

Good luck!!

[liesierre]

I've been trying to look around in the BK section but it seems most of the posts are referring to recent BK's and its hard to figure out whether the circumstances are sorta different or not. Mine was a dismissed Chapter 13.

TransUnion says the foreclosure says it will drop in May of this year and the BK says January 2014.

So I should try Capital One secured or regular? I had a Cap1 card a long time ago that was in good standing (no lates, paid in full, closed).

[aussiesareforever]

I wanted to add that the reason I would wait about six months between applications is to make sure that you can prove that you can handle credit better than before. Some banks i.e Barclays, are notorious for wanting to see a postive trend before extending a line of credit to you. Barclay is very BK friendly and very generous with their credit limits. You just need the positive history. A bank like Capital One usually doesn't care often about the history and will extend credit to you immediately post BK. As always, your milage may vary!

I will definitely try a regular card. Capital ONe also has a prequalification site so try it first and see if you are preapproved. Not being preapproved does not mean you will not be approved. Being preapproved also does not mean you will be approved. But try that first. However I still recommend waiting on your other two pending applications

[aussiesareforever]

So your Chapter 13 was dismissed and not discharged? You filed but didn't start or complete the payment agreement?

I am not very versed in Chapter 13 laws cause I filed a Chapter 7 but someone may be able to chime in. You can also post specific questions about that issue in the BK forum.

[liesierre]

My problem is that I don't really have 6 months to wait, I need to get some kind of revolving credit soon so I can improve my credit before I try to get a house in a year or 2...

I do have a car loan that I have had since Feb of last year, paid over the minimum on it the whole time.
All my recent (last 3 years or so) credit is good, and I'm not like 2 months out from a BK like most of the people who are posting about BK's are. Mine is old. 

I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I pay the things I do have on time, over the minimum. My BK and Foreclosure is within a year of dropping off, I have *years* of being good now... I have a great salary.... I don't get why people who are 2 weeks out from a BK are able to get approved for things and I'm getting denied.

I tried the Cap1 pre-approval thing and it gave me the answer where it says i'm not approved but "we think you'll like these".... so I probably shouldnt bother appying for anything. 

[liesierre]

I was trying to sell my house and basically filed Chapter 13 just to buy more time for it to sell.
I ended up just not going through with it and letting it foreclose.... and it was dismissed.

It was a long time ago... I was going through a divorce and had just gotten laid off.... basically I got completely screwed over by my ex husband.

It feels like it was eons ago. I have a much better job now, I make a ton more money than I used to.

I have no other debt besides the car loan ($6100 left), and 3 collections (one is $128 I'm gonna try to get paid/deleted), one was $350 or so and will drop off September next year if I don't try to do a DV/PDF, and the other is a Cashcall loan I got in desperation when I was trying to save my house (dropping off 6/2015).

I have $7725 in my savings account and my income is roughly $4400/mo after taxes. The only bills I have are my cell phone and rent.

My Experian/Equifax scores are 623/633 right now.

Yes, I had a bad run of luck a long time ago. I honestly don't even WANT a credit card because I dont like spending money I dont have. The *only* reason I want any is to improve my credit so I can buy a house with a lower interest rate in the next 1-2 years.

I'm just about at the point where I'm feeling like I should just give up because all I'm doing is making myself look worse getting denied for things.