Long time listener, first time caller (rebuild after Ch 13 five year discharge)

[recoveringfrombk7]

Are you really sure target card doesn't count towards 5/24? I burned chase IIB, so I'll be going AMEX personally, but definitely double check when it's time to app.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Chase blacklists for 10 years if you've filed bankruptcy. Doesn't matter if they were included or not. 

[recoveringfrombk7]

Indeed. Just OP also mentioned that target would not count towards 5/24 because it is not a Visa or mc. So just when Chase becomes available OP should be aware that new accounts count - even stuff like Dell financing counts.

[notmyrealname23]

How is Chase going to blacklist? Ch 13 falls off a credit report at 7 years after filing, I completed a successful five year discharge. Add two years and you get seven. I didn’t have accounts with Chase at the time.

And....oookay, so Chase freaks out that I got Amazon/Target as store (non MC/VISA credit),
at best it delays me a few months, like I said EVERYTHING is from 2019. I opened all of my accounts (except for this new Discover) in a span from January to July, since I knew Chase wasn’t going to happen before 2021 no matter what I did. I have three fall off in Q1 2021. Easy peasy.

[notmyrealname23]

I actually have slightly modified my gardening plans because I figure if I am going to take a hit for the new card, I might as well get a card that has a useful mileage program too.

So, I now have a Synchrony Cathay Pacific Signature VISA with a 2k spend in 3 months/40 k bonus (2500 CL). I have planned spend that will easily hit that. Cathay’s program ALSO takes points from Capital One Venture.

So, 2020 looks like this:

Q1: spend bonus for Cathay card, groceries for Discover
Q2: garden, I don’t shop at warehouse clubs so Discover mostly goes inert except for gas. Maybe some overseas spend on Venture/Cathay. Fidelity VISA gets love. Petal VISA becomes 1.5% cashback.
Q3/Q4: renew Venture, garden (light use on other cards, main use Venture/Discover bonus categories/Fidelity)
Q1 2021: Ch 13 falls off credit report at 7 years. Oldest cards I use now fall off Chase 5/24. Figure out which Chase card is most realistic (I probably want CSP or Freedom to start, Slate as a backup plan with an eventual product change to Freedom).

[notmyrealname23]

They lured me out of the garden.

It was... AMEX. Prequalified.

Gold and Green offered. Gold for 50k @ 4k spend in 90 days, Green 45k @ 2k spend.

(Looks at some tuition bills) We got this.

My thinking was "they're probably going to deny me before they even do the hard pull because of the Ch 13 they took a 50% haircut on ... but what the hell."

I took Green because the DiscoverIt is going to handle groceries for a chunk of the year (so AMEX 4x isn't as useful), and being able to do ALL travel/dining 3x > airlines/dining @ 4x. (I don't own a car, I rent them reasonably frequently though.) That plus lower AF + I would actually use the CLEAR credit for free CLEAR + lower spend required for SUB.

Approved for Green. 

That was me going  because they got a burn during the Chapter 13. So I guess I have a data point.

OK. So I finished off the Cathay Synchrony Card spend, new amended plan is:

- AMEX gets travel/dining spend. Investigate if AMEX will do a product upgrade in early 2021 for another SUB (and chasing Chase SUBs becomes an option).

- Venture is now a backup 2% cashback card, we ask Q3 2020 if they will waive AF, if not it goes to VentureOne and sockdrawer with a small recurring charge

- Fidelity gets most unbonused spend inside the US (Venture outside)

- Discover gets category bonuses

- Petal, C1 QS get a small recurring charge so they stay active (I am basically giving up less than two dollars in cashback to keep the lines open)

- Cathay card is sock drawered, dump it Q1 2021 at AF renewal time

- Amazon and Target still used at stores (except when category bonus for Discover beats them in Q4 2020)

NOW I am back in the garden for sure, I need that last 5/24 slot to come live in Q2 2021 for Chase, won't happen if I get another card.

[notmyrealname23]

OK, so just when I thought I was out in the garden, they pull me back for two credit card...  Card #1, #AMEX Hilton, no-AF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU

So, the running total for January-May was:

$5,000 in spend

around 42,500 in Cathay Pacific miles ($95 AF)

around 50,000 in AMEX MR ($150 AF)

80,000 in Hilton points ($0 AF)

Not terrible for $245 in annual fees.

Now it's card #2, AMEX Hilton Aspire. Hot times ahead. $450 but I'll make that back pretty fast.

But now I really am done. AMEX now gets the grocery spend, and we'll see if I can CLI it. Just have to bide my time for the Chase 5/24 clock...

[notmyrealname23]

Semi-regular update:

- all bills paid on time.

- AMEX took me back in Q1so I went hard for them. I got an AMEX Green in Q1 2020, followed by an AMEX no-AF Hilton (1k, no CLI @ 90 days), followed by an AMEX Gold and AMEX Hilton Aspire (just before the end of May, so I have until the end of November to get 6 months of spending in for the SUB). Whew. That's a lot of SUBs.
-In a moment of weakness, I got approved for a Synchrony PP MC @ 6400.

- In a very INTENTIONAL act, I got a small Self line of credit ($539) so I have an installment loan available. Basically this is going to be $30 over a year to add something that isn't a credit card to my file.

- I went to TransUnion last week, batted my eyelashes and went "oh, supervisor, can you early exclude my Chapter 13 pretty please?" and they said yes. It is indeed gone (sort of a preview for Experian/Equifax in coming months)

- Also had some $ from the job show up that I knew was going to come in early July, so as part of that I floated about $3000 of college bills on my Discover card instead of paying it all off at once (made well over minimum payments while I did that.

- downgraded Venture to VentureOne, didn't bother asking for a fee waiver because it's just no longer the best card for any purpose, going to do some occasional spend on it plus my QS and my 1.5% Petal.

- going to shoot for AZEO on all card from now for a while and see what happens to my scores.

So my TU scores went up about 17-20 points after paying everything off and removing the Chapter 13- they are still under 700 though. Hmm, so I'm thinking good Chase cards may not be an option for a while, even if I wasn't LOL/24 for most of if not all of 2021.

Since AMEX seems to love me, though, I will likely hang out there picking off some SUBs and tell Chase "smell you later". So amended plan of attack:

Current card set love:

Travel: split between AMEX Green and Gold.

Dining: split between Aspire and Gold until the SUB is hit, Uber Dining goes on C1 Venture1 because 5x, sometimes Discover for a bonus.

Groceries: Until the bonus is gone, Aspire, then after, Gold

Store cards: Amazon Synch (gets some) and Target (doesn't get much), maybe Discover for bonus.

Gas: Discover when bonuses are on, Hilton when not.

Unbonused: Gold and Aspire until the SUB is hit, then split between PPMC and Fidelity Visa. These cards are default unless there is a SUB or a good multiplier.

Occasional tickle: C1 QS and VentureOne, Petal (no AF means I keep forever, but 1.5% or mostly less transfer power than AMEX = just enough love to make it so they don't get balance chased or outright closed)

To be kicked to the curb come AF time:
Synchrony Cathay Pacific Visa. Feature set is just too week for spend (2 miles for Cathay spend, 1.5 for dining or international spend, 1 for everything else). My AMEX Green and Gold kick it in the teeth for Cathay spend  on dining (4x dining) or Cathay tickets (3x all travel), so... no. You are the weakest link, goodbye.

Q3 2020:

Nail down spend for SUBs on existing AMEX cards. Likely to reach into Q4 2021. Monitor scores as my AZEO and loan payoff proceeds.

Q4 2020/Q1 2021:

Consider a new AMEX once current SUBs are in the bank since LOL/24 + I don't know if I'll hit the 720ish range for Chase cards anytime soon. Probably DL AMEX Gold since 1st year's AF is $0 (not sure I could use Platinum's certificate). Possibly also consider Barclay's AA card, BofA's Alaska card, though I don't know if I want to apply to new lenders if I am LOL/24 + they don't have reasons to love me like AMEX apparently does.

[notmyrealname23]

Oh, THIS is an interesting data point.

I was going ?????? about being denied a SUB on a Platinum card that was closed in 2009 prior to a Ch 13.

Then I saw an upgrade offer on my Green card and went, "I should call about it", since it has standard lifetime language.

So it turns out the date my Platinum card was considered closed was February 2013. Which is about when my  Chapter 13 COMPLETED. It was "open" during the Chapter 13.

NOW this all makes sense (it also means that if I want a SUB for a Platinum I need to get a Schwab/Morgan Stanley variant, or wait until the latter half of the decade).

Mystery solved!