And just like that I'm back in with Chase

[shipo]

I've recently been thinking to move my main banking to a national bank; while TDBank has been very good to me since my Chapter 13 was discharged in early 2020, their footprint is relatively small. The problem is, I think all of the major national banks got burned in my bankruptcy except BofA, a financial institution I'll never willingly do business with again. After visiting the web pages of all of the usual suspects, I started getting some interesting offers via E-Mail, the most compelling of which was from Chase, basically, open a checking and savings account, fulfill a few other requirements, and earn $600 in rewards.

Today I met with a Chase banker so I could open up the aforementioned two accounts and while we were working through all of the forms, of which there seems to be an endless series, she asked me if I'd like a credit card. Opening a card was the furthest thing from my mind as Chase got burned in my bankruptcy and I understand they carry a grudge for a very long time, however, I thought,"Hmmm, well, in for a penny, in for a pound." Thinking back to the posts I've read on numerous credit related sites, the various Chase CC offerings always seem to get high marks; given I do not have a travel related credit card, I said, "Sure, why not; how about the Sapphire Preferred?" Done, starting limit $11,700! I swear you could have knocked me over with a feather.

[flashoflight]

Big congrats! How much was the net amount of the Chase burn after the 13?

[shipo]

Big congrats! How much was the net amount of the Chase burn after the 13?

I'm trying to remember, something between ten and fifteen thousand (I think); it was one of those cards my (former) business partner had in my name. I didn't know the card existed, never once saw the card, have no idea how many years he'd had it, and never spent a dime of money on the card.

[Carmella]

Wow that's great shipo!!!

[Barbisi]

shipo , what incredible news- it gives us hope we might once again get CCs from some if not all of those burned in our BK13 : Chase, CitiBank, Bank of America, etc.
Speaking of B of A. , I'm curious -what caused your very vituperative experience with them? (Aside from the CCs in the Bk13, I've never had any real problems with them, knock on wood, LOL!)
I think you could have sued your former business partner for practically stealing your identity by illegally opening CC accounts in your name without your consent. It's not fair you had to include that in your BK13 filing!!!!! That should be against the law!
Well, here's Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes to you and your family.

[shipo]

Barbisi, as I understand it, Citi, BofA, and AMEX are pretty much lifetime bans with no exceptions until you make good on their original loss.

Regarding BofA, I had checking and savings accounts with them for both myself and my family dating back to years before my Chapter 13; after my bankruptcy was discharged I applied for a secured credit card with them and they denied my application claiming I was "either in a bankruptcy or about to file for one", and also claiming I had applied for one of their high-end premier cards, both claims were patently untrue; I appealed again, got denied again. After the second denial I let them know I was leaving the bank and moved all of my accounts over to TDBank, then suddenly they were happy to try and get my business back by offering me a credit card. Sorry, too little, too late.

Regarding my former business partner, my life was way too busy to think about trying to sue him, and even if I had, he was way too broke to get a dime out of. I literally left the company he and I founded, took a job with one of my clients, and moved on; financially and professionally, the move was the best decision of my life.

[Barbisi]

shipo , I actually am not worried about a lifetime ban with B of A, CitiBank and Discover, etc., because I think we are doing just fine without them!
I will have to check and see which other cards were included in the BK13 without any balance; those banks would probably be amenable to doing business with us again in the future. (We had more than 30 active CCs when we filed; many had no balance!)
B of A did cancel our overdraft protection once we filed, but other than that, we never had any issues like with Wells Fargo, where they freeze checking accounts if you owe them money. (Luckily, we neither had nor wanted a CC /checking account with WF anyway.)
We have thought about opening another bank account with some of our savings, but we hadn't decided where we should go. (We are waiting for a suitable offer.)
As for the CC fraud with your ex-business partner, that must have been a bitter pill to have to swallow- hopefully Karma walloped them in a huge way, LOL!

[camron185]

Wow Chase approved you two years after discharge?!?

[shipo]

Yes, 22 months after discharge. That said, it was a Chapter 13 which was filed almost 7 years before I got approved.

[shipo]

Well something must be in the water these days; since Chase let me back in the door and gave me one of their Sapphire Preferred credit cards back in December, my two other banks have been seemingly wanting to get in on the act. Last month TDBank threw and additional $3,000 on top of my TDCash card limit, and then CapitalOne sent me a request to update my income so I could be considered for a credit line increase; low and behold, today CapitalOne dialed up my Quicksilver card another $1,500.

I have no actual evidence whether the new Chase card drove the other two banks to up my limits or not, I have very modest credit needs (honestly, even a total limit of $5,000 across all cards would be more than sufficient), but with this latest activity, my overall limit for revolving credit is a significant (for me) $16,200 higher than it was just two months ago.

[Zombie13]

shipo - dang, congratz!
Barbisi - you and I do have all the last statements from all cards before we filed; the prodigal 'skeletons in the closet', so to speak. Good to keep them as references before we apply, though still an unpleasant reminder. We won't burn these... for now.... muwahahahhaa!

[womanonfire]

I'm in a 60-month plan and 14 payments in and have an Ally credit card, a Synchrony card, and Credit One which is an Amex card. I got them to build credit and pay off the statement balance each month in full. My lifetime cash back on the Synchrony card is $459. The Credit One is only 1% cash back and none of the cards have an annual fee but they do have high-interest rates. I settled debt with Amex, Chase and Discover before filing and burned one Chase card and all my Synchrony Cards in BK.

I would not advise getting CC in an active BK but in my case, I'm in a 100% plan and have enough left over each month to build savings.

[shipo]

womanonfire, congratulations on getting your rebuild started while in your Chapter 13; I was not able to apply for a credit card until after my discharge.

Regarding your Credit One card; just so you know, the card isn't really an AMEX; it is a CreditOne card through and through which happens to use the AMEX payment network as opposed to either Visa or MasterCard.

[flashoflight]

Credit One, Comenity/Bread Financial, Navy Federal, and others have cards that are run through Amex but not really AMEX. There are some features not available to fake AMEX cards like some of the more lucrative Amex Offers and the ability to purchase Amex's primary car rental insurance. I would love to get a real Amex card someday, but I know I'm probably permanently banned for life.

[shipo]

Credit One, Comenity/Bread Financial, Navy Federal, and others have cards that are run through Amex but not really AMEX. There are some features not available to fake AMEX cards like some of the more lucrative Amex Offers and the ability to purchase Amex's primary car rental insurance. I would love to get a real Amex card someday, but I know I'm probably permanently banned for life.

I'm basically in the same boat and will most likely never get back in with AMEX; that said, some recent developments coupled with some research, means the following is effectively my new normal:

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has at least the equivalent of the best AMEX primary rental car insurance, if not better.
• Given my company recently cut a deal with United to pre-buy blocks of tickets which we pull from on an as needed basis, my need for a Delta Sky Miles and/or AMEX Platinum card no longer applies
• I can opt for a United Club card from Chase and get all of the benefits (and more) with United I used to get with my Platinum card with Delta.
• If I ultimately start flying Delta again, say due to another job change, buying an annual membership for the Delta Sky Club will serve me just as well.

Long story short, while I definitely appreciated AMEX for the 30+ years I carried one of their cards, the high cost of getting back in with them (something north of $25,000) coupled with the negligible benefit compared to other options, means I'm unlikely to ever carry one of their cards again.