*Waves*
I've been lurking on the forums for quite some time now
and finally decided to begin the new year with joining.
To give you some background about my credit journey, I had average credit up until 2008. Average because I was young and oblivious t
o things like apr, hps and sps etc. I just had a decent income and paid my cards off (had a chase, boa and cap 1 card, and target, vs, dell and best buy store ones). I was also married to my first husband at the time who had a decent income too. A lot of our
credit was joint including a car loan. Hovever he was abusive and after 5 years of enduring it, by God's grace and strength, I was able to leave the marriage.
Unfortunately this decision cost me my credit. Because of the nature of the situation I left with literally my clothes and personal things like pictures, books etc. and had to leave my job and move out of town. I also lost my Dad in a car accident during that time so it was a very difficult season for me. After the divorce my ex did not take responsibility for the credit, in fact used it irresponsibly. I couldn't keep up with it all and finally decided to file ch7 in 2010.
I laid low for a year then was approved for a post ch 7 car loan in Nov of 2011 with my current husband's income. We were on an extremely tight budget for that year and paid the note on time every month for a year. Then by the grace of God our credit union took a chance on us, refinanced our car to half the monthly payment and gave us a credit card with a cl of 500 in Nov of 2012. We maintained our payment history for the two and didn't apply for any other credit. Mostly because I struggled so much with having to file ch7 that I didn't want to risk the sting of rejection.
Then in April of 2013 I was going to kohls and randomly decided to apply for their charge card. I was instantly approved with a $500 cl. This began my, perhaps at times overly zealous, quest for rebuilding my credit. I've come a long way from my credit score being in the late 400s to late 600s now but I have quite a few cards that I probably applied for to somehow compensate for the difficult time I went through. I just don't really know where I should go from here. I'm considering gardening (still new to all this so not exactly sure how it works). I have "fasted" from applying a month at a time, three times in 2013, but then have gone on
sprees in between 
I keep low balances and have pif every time except December due to the holidays but even then paid the statement balance leaving a low remaining balance.
This is my credit card profile with cls between April of 2013 and now:
Sears store card:$2000
Case CU: $1500
Discover IT: $1000
Care Credit: $1000
Car One Credit: $700
Amazon store card: $700
Paypal sc: $600
Walmart store card: $600
Toys r us store card: $600
Kohls store card: $500
BML: $500
Pier 1 store card: $500
Childrens Place store card: $350
TJMaxx rewards store card: $300
Meijer store card: $300
Old Navy store card: $200
Phew!
After a month and a half of fasting from applying I rung in the New Year with applying for Chase Freedom, BCE, Duck Card, Target and JC Penney.
All said 7-10 days except BCE which flat out denied me due to my bankruptcy.
So I have a few questions:
1. Should I recon the BCE or do I not have a chance?
2. Should I wait on the others for a response in the mail or should I at least call the Chase recon line and see if they'll approve me?
3. Do you think Target will give me another chance?
4. I need to garden don't I (don't answer this one 
)
Appreciate encouragement and wisdom greatly.
Blessings!
Welcome to the forum normally I would say always recon but I know Chase blacklists Mine was like 15 years ago still no. You should definitely garden we are there to help you stay strong and answer any questions you may have.
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
@Anonymous wrote:*Waves*
I've been lurking on the forums for quite some time now
and finally decided to begin the new year with joining.
To give you some background about my credit journey, I had average credit up until 2008. Average because I was young and oblivious t
o things like apr, hps and sps etc. I just had a decent income and paid my cards off (had a chase, boa and cap 1 card, and target, vs, dell and best buy store ones). I was also married to my first husband at the time who had a decent income too. A lot of our
credit was joint including a car loan. Hovever he was abusive and after 5 years of enduring it, by God's grace and strength, I was able to leave the marriage.
Unfortunately this decision cost me my credit. Because of the nature of the situation I left with literally my clothes and personal things like pictures, books etc. and had to leave my job and move out of town. I also lost my Dad in a car accident during that time so it was a very difficult season for me. After the divorce my ex did not take responsibility for the credit, in fact used it irresponsibly. I couldn't keep up with it all and finally decided to file ch7 in 2010.
I laid low for a year then was approved for a post ch 7 car loan in Nov of 2011 with my current husband's income. We were on an extremely tight budget for that year and paid the note on time every month for a year. Then by the grace of God our credit union took a chance on us, refinanced our car to half the monthly payment and gave us a credit card with a cl of 500 in Nov of 2012. We maintained our payment history for the two and didn't apply for any other credit. Mostly because I struggled so much with having to file ch7 that I didn't want to risk the sting of rejection.
Then in April of 2013 I was going to kohls and randomly decided to apply for their charge card. I was instantly approved with a $500 cl. This began my, perhaps at times overly zealous, quest for rebuilding my credit. I've come a long way from my credit score being in the late 400s to late 600s now but I have quite a few cards that I probably applied for to somehow compensate for the difficult time I went through. I just don't really know where I should go from here. I'm considering gardening (still new to all this so not exactly sure how it works). I have "fasted" from applying a month at a time, three times in 2013, but then have gone on
sprees in between
This is my credit card profile with cls between April of 2013 and now:
Sears store card:$2000
Case CU: $1500
Discover IT: $1000
Care Credit: $1000
Car One Credit: $700
Amazon store card: $700
Paypal sc: $600
Walmart store card: $600
Toys r us store card: $600
Kohls store card: $500
BML: $500
Pier 1 store card: $500
Childrens Place store card: $350
TJMaxx rewards store card: $300
Meijer store card: $300
Old Navy store card: $200
Phew!
After a month and a half of fasting from applying I rung in the New Year with applying for Chase Freedom, BCE, Duck Card, Target and JC Penney.
All said 7-10 days except BCE which flat out denied me due to my bankruptcy.
So I have a few questions:
1. Should I recon the BCE or do I not have a chance? No chance on this one unfortunately, unless there is a discrepancy on your CRs, then AMEX will not reconsider.
2. Should I wait on the others for a response in the mail or should I at least call the Chase recon line and see if they'll approve me? You can try Chase, but this will be a YEMV. If you had too many inquiries and a flurry of new account in the last 6 months, it's going to be a tough sell, including the BK from < 3 years.
3. Do you think Target will give me another chance? If you burned them in BK, probably not.
4. I need to garden don't I (don't answer this one
Appreciate encouragement and wisdom greatly.
Blessings!
While you've had some commendable progress with turning life around and re-establishing your credit, an item that stands out is the high number of store/retail cards that you have also acquired. Are all of those accounts listed above from April 2013 through now? Have you checked your recent FICO scores? What is your overall AAoA? In addition to BK, are there anyother derogatory items on your CRs?
First off Congrats on making progress on rebuilding.
Remember this is not a race it will take time.
Definitly would not app for any more.
Store cards- Tier 1's You have enough.
Chase I wouldn't waiste Hp's there not Bk Friendly..
You have opened many accounts. Let these account age and keep treating them well.
Try not to get caught up in the excitement of being Approved for more credit.
Most of your accounts with eventually give you CLI's with Sp.
Welcome to the form! 
CL $408,200