Hello all, I have been lurking on these boards for a while now and thought I would finally jump in! Sorry if I am asking repeat questions, I tried to go through older threads for answers but there are quite a few 
My questions are about credit rebuilding and trying to break into the "prime" card market. Little background we had a BK d/c in 9/2009, no credit issues and two auto loans joint w/ hubby as well as five cc since.
Credit Cards opened:
3/10 Orchard Bank- $300 cl up to $400 with 9.9% int
2/11 Capital One- $500 cl up to $1750 with 22.9% int
2/11 HSBC "Discover"- $400 cl 29.99% int
6/11 GECRB Care Credit- $500 cl
12/11 Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards $2000 17.9% int
I am wanting to close the OB and HSBC Discover because of the small limits, no rewards and annual fees but will this hurt my score because OB is the oldest account after BK? I know from reading the boards that many people have issues with Cap 1, or Crap 1 whichever you prefer...lol, but they have been very good to us (both auto loans with decent rebuilding APRs and decent credit lines on my two cards) and I would be okay with using these two cards until I could get a really good card if I did close the OB and HSBC.
Second question is that I am looking for advice as to how to continue building my wallet and credit scores? Current scores from Score Watch are EQ 640 and TU 655 with 1% util (25 bucks on the Cap 1 NHCR). I recently applied for a Wal-Mart card so I could get the credit score access and because we shop there a lot but was denied based on the BK. Should I just stick with Cap 1 with a BK reporting? Or should I just give my cards time to season and let my scores grow for 6 months to a year and try for a card(s) other than Cap 1?
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and I am super excited for your advice! We have been able to get our credit scores up enough to qualify for a mortgage just from reading these boards and following everyone's advice -awesome!
@Anonymous wrote:Hello all, I have been lurking on these boards for a while now and thought I would finally jump in! Sorry if I am asking repeat questions, I tried to go through older threads for answers but there are quite a few
Credit Cards opened:
3/10 Orchard Bank- $300 cl up to $400 with 9.9% int
2/11 Capital One- $500 cl up to $1750 with 22.9% int
2/11 HSBC "Discover"- $400 cl 29.99% int
6/11 GECRB Care Credit- $500 cl
12/11 Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards $2000 17.9% int
I am wanting to close the OB and HSBC Discover because of the small limits, no rewards and annual fees but will this hurt my score because OB is the oldest account after BK? I know from reading the boards that many people have issues with Cap 1, or Crap 1 whichever you prefer...lol, but they have been very good to us (both auto loans with decent rebuilding APRs and decent credit lines on my two cards) and I would be okay with using these two cards until I could get a really good card if I did close the OB and HSBC.
Second question is that I am looking for advice as to how to continue building my wallet and credit scores? Current scores from Score Watch are EQ 640 and TU 655 with 1% util (25 bucks on the Cap 1 NHCR). I recently applied for a Wal-Mart card so I could get the credit score access and because we shop there a lot but was denied based on the BK. Should I just stick with Cap 1 with a BK reporting? Or should I just give my cards time to season and let my scores grow for 6 months to a year and try for a card(s) other than Cap 1?
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and I am super excited for your advice! We have been able to get our credit scores up enough to qualify for a mortgage just from reading these boards and following everyone's advice -awesome!
this is going to take time, just keep using ur cards and pay all bills as soon as u get them so u have some leeway if u 4get, check ur accounts everyday and ur score/report, welcome to the forums and keep up the good work
@Anonymous wrote:Hello all, I have been lurking on these boards for a while now and thought I would finally jump in! Sorry if I am asking repeat questions, I tried to go through older threads for answers but there are quite a few
Credit Cards opened:
3/10 Orchard Bank- $300 cl up to $400 with 9.9% int
2/11 Capital One- $500 cl up to $1750 with 22.9% int
2/11 HSBC "Discover"- $400 cl 29.99% int
6/11 GECRB Care Credit- $500 cl
12/11 Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards $2000 17.9% int
I am wanting to close the OB and HSBC Discover because of the small limits, no rewards and annual fees but will this hurt my score because OB is the oldest account after BK? No. These accounts will continue to report for 10 years positively and as long as you have current cards from the time you close these accounts you should me fine. The only way it could hurt is your util %. make sure your cards are close to paid off.I know from reading the boards that many people have issues with Cap 1, or Crap 1 whichever you prefer...lol, but they have been very good to us (both auto loans with decent rebuilding APRs and decent credit lines on my two cards) and I would be okay with using these two cards until I could get a really good card if I did close the OB and HSBC.
Second question is that I am looking for advice as to how to continue building my wallet and credit scores? Garden your current cards and let them gain positive age and let your scores improve. Also having a 3 yr old BK is going to do nothing but produce toy limit card. Work with what you have and try to get CLI's. I would recommend keeping Discover they will grow with you if you keep the acct payed off properly and your scores improve.Current scores from Score Watch are EQ 640 and TU 655 with 1% util (25 bucks on the Cap 1 NHCR). I recently applied for a Wal-Mart card so I could get the credit score access and because we shop there a lot but was denied based on the BK. Should I just stick with Cap 1 with a BK reporting? Or should I just give my cards time to season and let my scores grow for 6 months to a year and try for a card(s) other than Cap 1?
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and I am super excited for your advice! We have been able to get our credit scores up enough to qualify for a mortgage just from reading these boards and following everyone's advice -awesome!
@Anonymous wrote:Hello all, I have been lurking on these boards for a while now and thought I would finally jump in! Sorry if I am asking repeat questions, I tried to go through older threads for answers but there are quite a few
Credit Cards opened:
3/10 Orchard Bank- $300 cl up to $400 with 9.9% int
2/11 Capital One- $500 cl up to $1750 with 22.9% int
2/11 HSBC "Discover"- $400 cl 29.99% int
6/11 GECRB Care Credit- $500 cl
12/11 Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards $2000 17.9% int
I am wanting to close the OB and HSBC Discover because of the small limits, no rewards and annual fees but will this hurt my score because OB is the oldest account after BK? I know from reading the boards that many people have issues with Cap 1, or Crap 1 whichever you prefer...lol, but they have been very good to us (both auto loans with decent rebuilding APRs and decent credit lines on my two cards) and I would be okay with using these two cards until I could get a really good card if I did close the OB and HSBC.
Second question is that I am looking for advice as to how to continue building my wallet and credit scores? Current scores from Score Watch are EQ 640 and TU 655 with 1% util (25 bucks on the Cap 1 NHCR). I recently applied for a Wal-Mart card so I could get the credit score access and because we shop there a lot but was denied based on the BK. Should I just stick with Cap 1 with a BK reporting? Or should I just give my cards time to season and let my scores grow for 6 months to a year and try for a card(s) other than Cap 1?
1. Yes close the cards above you mentioned and no it won't hurt your credit score unless you have balances on the cards or others and the cl is helping with your util.
2. Im speachless that Walmart denied you stating BK, I just got Walmart and like 4 other GE cards last month and I have BK.... However did you burn GE in your BK?
3. You seem to be having more luck with Capital One then about 80% of us here on the board! CL over $1000 on 2 cards, Jealous!! LOL
4. Do you have access to any Credit Unions near by that have credit cards that they handle not send off to another bank? It's good to build a relationship with a CU
Thanks for all the advice! Looks like I will be sending myself to the garden for a bit! Hopefully Cap 1 hasn't put the kibosh on CLI for me....lol
@Creditaddict wrote:
1. Yes close the cards above you mentioned and no it won't hurt your credit score unless you have balances on the cards or others and the cl is helping with your util.2. Im speachless that Walmart denied you stating BK, I just got Walmart and like 4 other GE cards last month and I have BK.... However did you burn GE in your BK?
3. You seem to be having more luck with Capital One then about 80% of us here on the board! CL over $1000 on 2 cards, Jealous!! LOL
4. Do you have access to any Credit Unions near by that have credit cards that they handle not send off to another bank? It's good to build a relationship with a CU
I was really hoping that I would be able to get a Walmart card since I have CareCredit and PIF whenever I use it! I did not burn GE in the BK, actually the only credit cards we did burn were Cap 1 (our bankruptcy was primarily outrageous medical bills and one voluntarily repossessed vehicle) and they are the ones that have been offering me the most generous credit
@Creditaddict wrote:New I was forgetting something, When you can pull at least one of your reports from here at MyFico, the scores you provided are about useless when it comes to members being able to make suggestions on cards and list banks that you burned in your BK would be helpful too.
The scores I pulled were from MyFico, aren't the scores from Score Watch FICOs? If so EQ was 640 (latest score watch update) and TU was 655 (purchased report first on the month).
The banks or cards that were burned in our BK were one capital one card a piece, Wells Fargo Auto Finance one vehicle voluntarily repo'd, and a slew of medical bills/collections. We had decent credit up until 2008, only one credit card a piece that we had both had since we were teens but had a mortgage at one point and numerous auto loans but the medical bills creamed us.