@DS_1 wrote:Hi everyone!
I filed for Chapter 13 back in 02/2020 and have since read many of the forums and noted a lot of advice from everyone in here. Now hoping a few people can help with some personalized advice for my situation.
Timeline:
Filed Chapter 13: 02/07/2020
Plan Confirmed: 05/20/2020
Plan paid 100%: 12/12/2023
Plan discharged: 03/14/2024
Banks IIB: Amex, Chase, BofA, Discover
My plan was not a 100% repayment plan; however, I received close to a 300% bump in my salary from when I filed to when I paid off the plan and my attorney adviced that the trustee could turn the plan into a 100% plan because of this so I decided to pay my plan in full and start my rebuilding journey.
Now for some help.. while I was in the Chapter 13 plan, I applied for an unsecured card (applied 02/27/2022) through Credit One with the approval from the court. I was approved for a credit line of $300, which has since grown to $550. Also during the plan, my brother added me to his Citi AAvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard as an authorized user that has a credit line of $31,280 and has a consistent credit usage under 5% (he opened this card in 12/14/2018). After receiving discharge, I went to the capital one pre-approval site to see if I would be able to obtain any additional unsecured credit and was approved (03/19/2024) for the Capital One SavorOne card with an unsecured credit line of $3,000! I have also tried the pre-approval for discover and apple, since they dont do a hard pull, but was not approved for either one.
Should I try to obtain one more unsecured credit card from a bank like Ally? I have the pre-approval for them in my experian app... or should I wait and use my SavorOne card responsibly and let that help grow my credit?
I have also seen many mixed reviews about a self credit builder loan and was wondering if that should be the route I take? I also do not mind getting a car loan, at a higher interest rate, if that would help my build as well. Also, since I paid all of my accounts back 100%, does this help my case at all with these banks?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
My current Fico Score 8:
Experian: 667
Equifax: 643
Transunion: 616
I also have about $11,000 in student loans that I plan to have paid off in the year.
@DS_1, I agree with the advice @CorpCrMgr1 gave you both about joining a credit union as well as dumping your bottom feeder CreditOne account. After my Chapter 13 was discharged I started with a $5,000 secured card, then a CapOne card with a $3,000 limit, and finally I joined PenFed, a credit union which is reasonably bankruptcy friendly, and got an unsecured card with a $6,000 limit.
Regarding the four financial institutions you burned:
- AMEX: they have a very long memory, however, there have been a number of anecdotal reports here over the last year or two suggesting they might let folks back in after 61 months if they got burned for less than $10,000 or made full restitution. In your case, since you ended up in a 100% plan, it seems you have a pretty good shot at getting back in with them in about a year.
- Bank of America: I had no credit with them but I had banked with them for years before I filed and during my Chapter 13; I figured they'd be a logical choice for me to get a secured card from following my discharge. Nope, denied; I appealed and got denied again. Most reports suggest they are not bankruptcy friendly, so I won't bother applying to them again. I cannot venture a guess how they'd respond if you reapply.
- Chase: I burned them for something north of ten-grand and after my discharge in 2020 I learned Chase was as hard line with their blacklist as AMEX; funny thing though a little over 7 years after my filing they approved me for a CSP with a starting limit of nearly 12-grand and then six months after that a CFU for nearly 24-grand. In your case, since you paid them back, I think you have a pretty good shot at getting back in with them at some point.
- Discover: Anecdotal reports here suggest they are hit and miss as to how they treat folks with discharged bankruptcies; me, they wouldn't approve me for a secured card, others get approved for some pretty nice limits. If you valued your card(s) from them, I'd suggest you try and get back in.
So, congratulations on your discharge; keep us posted on your rebuild. 
@DS_1 wrote:@Horseshoez thank you very much for this advice! I agree and will be letting go of the CreditOne card soon. I will definitely look into PenFed on this rebuild journey and try to start a relationship there.
Do you mind me asking who your secured card was with? I read a lot of forums of people saying discover was best but I wasnt approved for anything when I did the pre-approval.
Your comments gave me hope for securing some of the big banks again in the future!
After Discover, Citi, and BofA denied me a secured card (even though none of them got burned), I closed all of my BofA deposit accounts and walked my money across the street (literally) to TDBank; they happily allowed me to plunk the money down and approved me for the secured card on the spot. If you live in the TDBank geo area, I cannot recommend them enough; the evolution of my secured card was as follows:
- Late-June 2020: applied and approved for the secured card
- Early-July 2020: got the card in the mail
- Early-January 2021: the card graduated to an unsecured Signature Visa with a limit of $5,000
- Mid-January 2022: I was given an unrequested CLI of $3,500
- Mid-January 2023: I was given another unrequested CLI of $3,000
If you don't live in TD's area, the other very highly regarded secured card around here (in fact, probably the most highly regarded card) is Navy Federal's nRewards card. If you can join NFCU, that would be not only my recommendation, but that of most folks on this forum.
@Horseshoez @CorpCrMgr1
Wanted to give you all a yearly update on this!
This last year has been great. After I received the $3,000 SavorOne card, I was able to get the following credit lines:
Credit Line Increase on SavorOne to $3,800
Ally Everdyay Cash Back Credit Card: $3,500
Apple Card: $4,000
PayPal Mastercard: $4,500
Venture: $10,000
Venture X: $15,000
Amex Platinum (just got approved yesterday!!) which would be 61 months since filing.
Loan for New Volkwagen Atlas Cross Sport, which I later traded in for a New Telsa Model 3 and was able to get promotional interest rate of 1.9%!
Thanks for all your advice, feels good to be back in the game!