My First CC Misstep

[Barbisi]

Very interesting but I hope not too damning a wrong credit card application mistake on my part : after the move from Puyallup to Renton, I received an online offer in an email from a CU in Colorado with whom we have had an excellent experience. So, without reading the small print which clearly stated the issuing bank was Elan (one of our creditors who did not file in our BK13 proceedings despite being owed a hefty unpaid balance), I went ahead and applied. This CU had the wrong (Puyallup) address with the application code. (Does that matter?)
On the denial form just received yesterday, many factors were cited including the BK13 itself, "limited number of satisfactorily rated credit lines, too few accounts currently paid as agreed, proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high, no recent revolving balances", etc.
They listed my TransUnion Fico 09 Classic score above 700 as of 10/14/2022.
shipo , justbroke , flashoflight, and Carmella, what do you make of this rejection? I don't really need CCs solely in my name right now, nor am I particularly interested in using them, but I know I have to rebuild my credit anyway.
Did this happen because of Elan, or something else?
How long should I wait to apply for other CCs? (I am receiving other offers fairly frequently in the mail.)
Is it a good idea to apply with an out of state CU again?
Thanks all, in advance!

[shipo]

I've never worked with Elan but I've heard both good and bad things about them. In your shoes I'd be asking Capital One for a card; at this stage of you should have a very high chance for a decent credit limit with them.

[Barbisi]

Thanks shipo !
Yes, I did receive a mail offer for a credit card in my name from Capital One, but since I am an authorized user on my husband's CC, I was not sure if that might disqualify me.
I am also an authorized user on the PenFed card as well; I think I will just have let the dust settle from this little "miscalculation " and then apply. I don't want a second rejection - that might take longer to recover from.

[flashoflight]

Very interesting but I hope not too damning a wrong credit card application mistake on my part : after the move from Puyallup to Renton, I received an online offer in an email from a CU in Colorado with whom we have had an excellent experience. So, without reading the small print which clearly stated the issuing bank was Elan (one of our creditors who did not file in our BK13 proceedings despite being owed a hefty unpaid balance), I went ahead and applied.

Many credit unions use Elan (part of US Bank) for their credit cards. I've heard they are conservative and not friendly to bankruptcy. So I've avoided any credit unions that mention Elan.

[shipo]

Thanks shipo !
Yes, I did receive a mail offer for a credit card in my name from Capital One, but since I am an authorized user on my husband's CC, I was not sure if that might disqualify me.
I am also an authorized user on the PenFed card as well; I think I will just have let the dust settle from this little "miscalculation " and then apply. I don't want a second rejection - that might take longer to recover from.

Nope, between my wife and I we have three CapitalOne cards; in fact, if your husband gets one of those referral links and you sign up, I believe he'll get a $100 bonus.

[Barbisi]

Thanks guys!
I will definitely never go near Elan again, flashoflight! I really liked the CU but I should have read the small print. I am surprised they never filed to have our CC debt included in our BK13, especially since we both had cards with them. That's good to know that they are part of US Bank (another one of our BK13 creditors.) I will make sure that Zombie13 doesn't ever apply with either of them.
As for CapitalOne, shipo, that's very good news. I have until December to apply for that card, so I have time.

[flashoflight]

Barbisi I've pretty much given up on local credit unions. I have two I thought would help me during times of financial need. One of them is closed membership with a small list of local employers. The other is restricted to membership in specific labor unions. The first one wouldn't even give me $1000 personal loan during the Great Recession while several other credit unions did offer the $1k. The second one I opened during the bankruptcy for credit rebuilding and they won't do anything for the sole reason of bankruptcy. So if I truly needed to borrow, my membership in the labor union's credit union won't lend me a dime. The service on the deposit side is ho hum so no reason to stay if they won't lend.

I do everything with Fidelity brokerage. They do everything I need on the deposit side. They don't lend at all. No overdraft protection. If I live a Dave Ramsey life with no debt, then that's fine with me.

The only credit unions I've found that are BK friendly are Penfed and Navy Federal. They just happen to be mega sized nationwide credit unions. The smaller local ones don't want my business on the lending side.

On the bank side, Comenity, WebBank and Synchrony will forgive with open arms. Cap One won't take me due to an open BK and didn't mention anything about the burn. Overall I haven't had much success with banks either so no reason to jump from Fidelity to a bank.

[justbroke]

I agree with flashoflight. Most credit unions will not work with someone with a bankruptcy on their credit report -- discharged or not. I found that after my discharge fell off, the credit unions are now bending over backwards for my business. I took a $100K HELOC on my property and they called and said you can have a $20K credit card and a $70K car loan as well... if you want. My other credit union believes that anyone with a 740+ credit score is someone with PERFECT credit and gives their absolute best rates at that score.

So, alas, I still like the credit unions although they -- with the exception of the Mega credit unions like Penfed and NFCU -- are very bankruptcy sensitive.

[shipo]

Interesting discussion on Credit Unions, about two and a half years after my wife's Chapter 7 was discharged she bought a new car; our Credit Union of the time, which we'd been members in perfect standing for six or seven years, wouldn't finance her car, however, the dealership found a different Credit Union which would. When I bought the Tacoma last month I considered (but didn't apply to) both PenFed and Navy Federal, but both had interest rates more than double the rate from Toyota Financial, so I have no idea whether I would have been approved or not.

[justbroke]

Sometimes the CU can't beat the manufacturer when the dealership/manufacturer has a 0.0% - $3.29% special for "well qualified" buyers. But, sometimes the CU can beat them by 0.10% - 2% (such as in my case with Ford Motor Credit).

[Carmella]

I don't know anything about Elan. I only have a card from Ollo and they are now changing to another company. I want to say Ally but I don't remember 100%. I think it's Ally because I cringed when I read it. Did not like them when they had my car loan and the customer service was absolutely horrendous!

That being said we have had accounts with USBank for a LONG time before, during and still after BK. I did have two credit cards with them. I think they were paid back during BK. Although, I didn't keep good track when everything went to collections. As a bank it's been ok to have our checking and a small savings account.

[Barbisi]

Thank you, Carmella , for sharing the info about Ollo and Ally.
As it so happens, Ally sent me an offer in the mail, and I was going to post and ask whether I should apply.( I did recall that you had a bad auto loan experience with Ally, but I wasn't sure about their CC.) I definitely won't do that now.
My experience with the Colorado CU was actually quite positive - they gave us each a 1k credit line (which we had to use for car repairs right) in the middle of our BK13. I feel that the rejection had more to do with Elan , than the CU themselves. Nonetheless, I will probably wait to open an account with a Washington CU, shipo , and justbroke .
Good to know about Comenity and Synchrony, flashoflight ! (I never heard of WebBank before.)

[Backagain]

I have been a member of Digital federal credit union since they were first founded in 1991. When I filed chapter 7 in 2015 they acted like I was the biggest dead beat on the planet. I didn’t have any unpaid balances with them….yet, they not only cut off my credit card, but also cut me off from online banking!!!

I kept my checking account with them simply because it was too big a hassle to change over. A couple years after my discharge they wouldn’t allow me to use any member services without a special permission from one of their admin departments. I tried to send a wire transfer, and they wouldn’t do it! Said there was a note on the account that due to chapter 7 I had to get special permission to use member services. Simply awful treatment. I didn’t bk out any account with them, they lost nothing! Yet I was treated this way.

my credit card after BK was Capital One. I was turned down by everyone for an unsecured card. After about a year, I tried capital one. They gave me a card with a low credit line…but it was unsecured. They have kept bumping up the credit line ever since. Capital one has treated me very well, they have a customer for life.

[shipo]

My credit card after BK was Capital One. I was turned down by everyone for an unsecured card. After about a year, I tried capital one. They gave me a card with a low credit line…but it was unsecured. They have kept bumping up the credit line ever since. Capital one has treated me very well, they have a customer for life.

Agreed, CapitalOne is very forgiving when it comes to folks with less than stellar credit ratings; they routinely offer no annual fee unsecured cards with reasonable limits, and assuming your account isn't "bucketed", you will typically see your credit limits grow over time.

In my case I started out with a secured CapOne Platinum following my Chapter 13 discharge, which was a huge mistake; I closed the card after less than 7 weeks. I figured they'd be ticked off at me for opening and then closing a card so quickly, but how wrong I was; almost six months to the day after closing the secured card they sent me a "preapproved" application, a misnomer if there ever was one, but in my case, I was approved for a QuickSilver card with a $3,000 limit in December of 2020 and by August 2022 that limit had grown to $4,800; still the lowest limit of my original three post bankruptcy cards, but reasonably respectable.

One move CapOne made, which both surprised and disappointed me, was they sent me another preapproved application for a Savor One; as I was about to leave for a European vacation, and as CapOne doesn't levy a "Foreign Transaction Fee" on their cards, I figured I'd go for a second card from them; I was only approved for $2,000. I'm not really upset as I don't need the extra credit, I was just taken aback a bit when I saw the low limit I'd been approved for. Regardless, like you, I am happy to be carrying a CapitalOne card or two in my wallet.