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

[notmyrealname23]

I've been reading and figured I'd share my results.

Had to do a wage earner plan because of a job in the tech industry, after having big tax bills, student loans, past due credit cards, giving back a house, medical bills, extended unemployment. Basically paid 50% on the dollar on 120k of debt, then finessed the student loan away after the end of the Ch. 13.

AMEX, Capital One and Citi were part of the Ch 13 (though Cap One never asked for their share of the payout).

So far credit looks like this:

OpenSky Secured: opened this pre-discharge (18 months before), have a $500 line of credit (matched with the security deposit). Going to ditch them this summer when my $35 annual fee comes around again because of the cards I opened below.

Then this January:

Capital One: $3000 unsecured line of credit on their Platinum card. I kept a savings account with them. No annual fee.

My credit union: $500 secured line of credit, effective 1% cashback (gift cards through portal, they have ones I can totally use). No annual fee.

Discover: LOL no on the unsecured card we offered you, how about a secured Discover-It card with Cashback Match for the first year (2% on a gas and restaurants, 1% on everything else)? Sure, fine, $500 secured line of credit, bingo bango. No annual fee.

Citi/Wells Fargo/Synchrony/other credit union I bank with: LOL nope on the unsecured cards (airline card/Propel/PayPal/credit union). I have smallish (low four digits) savings accounts at the credit union and Synchrony. While Wells and Citi have secured cards, at the moment I don't want to tie up TOO much cash in security deposits. TBH thousands of dollars available credit feels like I'm Scrooge McDuck swimming in a vault after five years of having to use debit cards (and then only having $300, then $500 as a secured line of credit).

AMEX: Nope, not even a hard pull, we know you stiffed us. No AMEX for you, come back one year.

My approach at this point is to sit back and hit the pause button for most of the rest of 2019 if not all of it, since I have 4.5K of credit limit at the moment (which will be 4k once I kill the OpenSky card early this summer, I'll either put the money in savings or bump the other secured cards- the Discover card cashback would be a bit tastier if I could dump some recurring bills on it without nudging close to the credit limit at any time). I plan on utilization under 10% at any given reporting interval and to pay the cards off religiously. Once 2020 comes around I'll try another round of apps: I am shooting for some lower-end airline credit cards for bonuses.

I realize that any account with AMEX is likely to be a long term project (as in LOL no, we remember you stiffed us, take a hike). I'm not inclined to pay them high four digits (the other 50%) just to get a shiny piece of plastic. The higher end Chase/airline cards will likely be similar.

Does all this sound like a logical approach? I may have over done it on the applications, but I figure until December 2020 that Chapter 13 stays on the report anyway.

[Anonymous]

That sounds like a good plan of attack. I’m currently paying down some CC debt and will be done soon. Some data points my parents were in an almost identical situation. Capitol one has been more then fair with extending credit limits and approvals to my parents. They PIF probably 60% of the time but have both been able to let their CL grow to 2 cards (venture MC 11k and quicksilver 6k)

[notmyrealname23]

Yeah, the C1 Venture would be fine by me- I am mostly interested in airline miles cards so I can leverage big ol' first class redemptions with them. C1 Venture would be perfectly good for that. I also didn't burn Chase so (eventually) Ultimate Rewards would be an option.

I do want to PIF all the time at this point- that Chapter 13 scarred me pretty badly. I don't want to go back if I can avoid it.

[Anonymous]

Amex is a scornful ex-lover- unless you pay them back & make it right with them you can forget being welcomed back into their arms for at least 20 years...

[notmyrealname23]

To be perfectly honest, I'm not that interested in making it "right" with them (to the tune of high four digit sums). I filed Chapter 13, followed the ruies, and AMEX got their 50% on the dollar as part of the discharge. That ends my legal obligation (and I don't feel any moral obligation beyond that). If they don't want me back for ever, or a very long time, that's absolutely their right, but I don't see the upside of paying them a big chunk of cash just for the privilege of them extending me credit again. Plenty of fish in the sea.

[notmyrealname23]

Update: So Petal gave me $6k on their Visa. Oof. I’m up to 9k unsecured, (6k Petal Visa, 3k Cap1 Platinum MC) 1.5k secured (500 each on OpenSky, Discover It Secured, my CU’s secured platinum MC). This is legitimately as much credit as I can see using for a while.

I think I will close the Open Sky Card because the annual fee is coming up, put the secured balance over to the Discover It card, and enjoy some tasty cash back while PIF each month. Hopefully the cards will release my security deposits by year end.

[gdale6]

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@notmyrealname23 wrote:
Update: So Petal gave me $6k on their Visa. Oof. I’m up to 9k unsecured, (6k Petal Visa, 3k Cap1 Platinum MC) 1.5k secured (500 each on OpenSky, Discover It Secured, my CU’s secured platinum MC). This is legitimately as much credit as I can see using for a while.

I think I will close the Open Sky Card because the annual fee is coming up, put the secured balance over to the Discover It card, and enjoy some tasty cash back while PIF each month. Hopefully the cards will release my security deposits by year end.

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Grats on the new card   Once you have 3 unsecureds open then you can close out all the secureds.

[notmyrealname23]

Thanks. My CU MC and the Discover card should convert within the year as long as I make timely payments- it's why I picked them (I have been a customer with my CU for over 20 years, so there is a track record there I want to lean on, and DiscoverIt Secured converts after 9 -12 months I believe). Then it's mostly just waiting for the Ch. 13 to fall off.

[notmyrealname23]

I ended up approved for the Fidelity Rewards 2% cashback card @11.5k limit, $150 bonus on $1000 spend in 90 days. Since I'm already a Fidelity customer, this is pretty sweet- over 20k in credit limit on cards? I can be done now until the Ch. 13 is off the record.

[Anonymous]

Good for you on the steps you've taken.