Capital One pre-approval offer pre-Chapter 7 discharge

[Drewby]

We are awaiting our Chapter 7 discharge which should happen 6/02/2021. I received an email from Capital One with a pre-approval offer for a QuickSilver One Rewards card. Out of curiosity, I went to the Cap1 website and used the pre-approval tool for both my wife and myself. The results were the same for both "your credit qualifies you for multiple cards". The QuickSilver One Rewards card as the recommended card and the Cap 1 Platinum MC and Secured MC are the other two card options. I'm hesitant to apply because I don't want an inquiry and nothing to show but would like to begin rebuilding credit. I know everything I've found says you can't get approved until after discharge so why is Capital One offering pre-approvals? We burned them in the BK but we did wait over a year to file so the charge offs are 14 months old now. We do have a joint CapOne360 account with them. Everything is showing IIB and 0 balance on our credit reports and our FICO scores are 670+ across the board right now. Any advice? Should I apply now or wait for the discharge and then apply for a pre-approved offer if it still exists?

[shipo]

I would wait at least six weeks and then try their pre-qual tool; by then you might qualify for the regular Quicksilver card with no annual fee. FWIW, I got the regular Quicksilver last year after my discharge and the 1.5% reward is quite nice; while lower than my other two cards on some things, it is my go-to card for everything except gas, groceries, and dining out.

[Drewby]

shipo Thanks for the info. We don’t really have a need for credit cards so I’m fine with waiting.

[shipo]

shipo Thanks for the info. We don’t really have a need for credit cards so I’m fine with waiting.

Smart, waaaaay smarter than me.

Last year after my discharge I came right out of the gate and started applying. After six weeks I had racked up 8 hard pulls against my credit and all I had to show for the effort was a secured Capital One card with an unusable (for me) credit limit of $1,000, which is their maximum; I closed that card after only six weeks.

I then got smart, or maybe a better way to say it is I got edyumikated and started planning my return into the world of credit much more strategically. Last June I picked up a high(ish) limit secured card from my (then) new bank; this card had a $5,000 limit on it and served as my sole card until December. Then, six months to the day after I closed my CapOne secured card, they contacted me with a pre-approval notification for a Quicksilver card; I bit, and that became my second card. Three months after that I applied for a PenFed Platinum Rewards Signature Visa and was approved for that as well, and then a month after that I opened a PenFed Secured Share Loan (SSL). With 3 cards (apparently the minimum needed for optimal FICO score calculation purposes) and the secure loan (also necessary for optimal FICO for those of us without car loans or mortgages), I've started "gardening"; basically letting my four lines of credit age, keeping all of my cards reporting less than 4% utilization each month, and paying the SSL down 16% per month.

Between now and next April several things will happen:

• All of my "Hard Pull" credit inquiries will age to at least a year (which means they will no longer be factored into FICO calculations)
• My newest line of credit, the SSL, will have aged to a year old (which helps in the FICO calculations)
• All three of my credit cards will also be at least a year old, ditto on the FICO thing
• And most importantly, my Chapter 13 will have fallen off my credit report

I'm hoping the net result of all of that good stuff will be FICO scores of 750 and higher across the board. And then? My wife and I are thinking of buying a new (at least to us) home.

[chrisdfw]

I got a capital one pre-approval for the Quicksilver with no annual fee. It was 3 months after discharge and about 3 weeks after my case closed. My credit scores are all in the 580 - 610 range. I figured it must be a mistake. I applied and they approved with a $3000 limit. My income is pretty high (almost 200k), but I discharged almost $60,000 on two different Capital one cards plus lots of other cards, personal loans, and medical collections. (Extreme medical expenses, living expenses for months of treatment and travel out of state and trips to doctors all over for a few years).

I was planning to do a high limit secured card because I need a credit card to travel (car rentals) but got approved for this instead.

Completely surprised. The fact that they know about the huge capital one debts alone surprises me with the approval. Additionally until the medical issues came along I never carried a balance at anything other than zero percent. I am just not a profitable bank card customer because I don't pay interest ( and I suppose I eventually don't repay principle ).

[justbroke]

Some creditors only look at the score. A 670 is a solid score and will get you cards even as high as $10K (Navy Federal and maybe even PenFed). Once you get to 720+, the only thing that holds people back are inquiries and new accounts. I just got a $10K PenFed that I was most assuredly thinking they were never going to approve. Oh well! I'm not complaining.

Best wishes for your fresh start.