2 months post discharge, NO FEE Visa

[kl030505]

0% APR for the intro, 9.9% after that. NO ANNUAL FEE, NO START UP FEES, ETC

(there are late and overlimit fees like any other card, but none of the "here's a $500 credit limit, $450 of which is already taken up in various fees before you get the stupid card").

I'm only getting the card in order to rebuild credit - we will likely just use it for groceries, something we buy in cash every month anyway, that way we know we can pay it off every month. Anyway, I wanted to wait until I got a no fee offer before I signed on, and it only took 2 months! My credit line is even quite high - $1800. My FICO score is just over 600 at this point. My husband's must still be considerably lower because he is still getting all those ridiculous fee card offers - none of which we will do.

Just wanted to let people know that waiting is a good thing. Don't pay just to have a credit card. Yes, re-building is important, but I doubt 2 months is going to make a huge difference on my overall report.

It's a WaMu Visa, if anyone is curious.

[Flamingo]

Congrats! Wamu is BK friendly and we were able to obtain one in response to a mail offer (similar to yours), 4 months after discharge (we filed Chapter 13), and approved initially for $3,500, 6 months later raised to $7,500 and the limit now it is $11,500. Our balance is zero. We use it for car repairs and pay it off immediately. Percentage rate is 11.9% (zero percent introduction, no fees). We get bombarded with them with all sorts of blank check offers and they want us to charge badly. Don't fall for any of that.

[PaKettle]

Thanks for the info. As SOON as I get my credit report cleaned up (tons of wrong info on all 3 reports right now!) I will apply for a Wamu VISA.

[Boscoe II]

And Pa, the Wamu Visa should give you a bankcard FICO score....check it out. I have one and I will have a monthly EX score soon (just got the card in late May).

Oh, and that was 10 months after I bk's almost $600k in Wamu mtg loans...................Go figure.

[AngelinaCatHub]

0% APR for the intro, 9.9% after that. NO ANNUAL FEE, NO START UP FEES, ETC

(there are late and overlimit fees like any other card, but none of the "here's a $500 credit limit, $450 of which is already taken up in various fees before you get the stupid card").

I'm only getting the card in order to rebuild credit - we will likely just use it for groceries, something we buy in cash every month anyway, that way we know we can pay it off every month. Anyway, I wanted to wait until I got a no fee offer before I signed on, and it only took 2 months! My credit line is even quite high - $1800. My FICO score is just over 600 at this point. My husband's must still be considerably lower because he is still getting all those ridiculous fee card offers - none of which we will do.

Just wanted to let people know that waiting is a good thing. Don't pay just to have a credit card. Yes, re-building is important, but I doubt 2 months is going to make a huge difference on my overall report.

It's a WaMu Visa, if anyone is curious.

ONLY MY OPINION: Please don't let this become a slippery slope. If you find just ONE month you do not pay off 100% and carry over charges, you have now been trapped. WHEN, I get out of mine, I shall never use credit again.

WAMU used to be Providian, and they are not cool. Perhaps now they may be better, but it is irrelevant to me.

[AngelinaCat]

I will ditto what 'Hub has said. Providian sucked 'Hub's stepfather in many years ago, then after he defaulted, offered him MORE credit, after they had stopped searching for him.

Similarly, our god-daughter has gotten several CC cards and maxed them out in about 8 months. One is WaMu, and has been also maxed out, but is still sending the junk CC card offers in the mail.

My advice for what it is worth: shred the suckers and burn the shreds. Roast your hamburgers and hot dogs over that fire for tomorrow. Happy 4th of July Everyone.

Support our men and women in the Military!!

[PaKettle]

And Pa, the Wamu Visa should give you a bankcard FICO score....check it out. I have one and I will have a monthly EX score soon (just got the card in late May).

Oh, and that was 10 months after I bk's almost $600k in Wamu mtg loans...................Go figure.

Thanks for the tip. Waiting was hard during bankruptcy and now waiting is hard again, for credit rebuilding! ;)

My Fico score is down around 583 but that's because CIT Financial (not Citi - CIT) is showing that I still owe $12,600 on a charge-off, on all 3 reports. I am waiting to see if these come off with my disputes or if I have to get rougher with them. Isn't it a law that they cannot show a balance and payments overdue after a Ch. 7 discharge? How do I get them to remove these and just show "included in Ch. 7"?

I also have a credit union showing an open account that I owe $6500 on which also was included in bk. Weird - it shows "paying on time" which is good, but I think the amount of credit available showing, will screw me from opening another account. (And the credit is NOT available!)

So I'm waiting for my scores to come up more toward mid-600's at least before I apply at WAMU. We did not file against them, at all, and my wife has an account there, so hopefully they'll help us out with a credit card.

As to those who think you should have no credit at all, it's your decision, but I disagree. I guess it depends on your lifestyle, too. We travel outside the country once or twice a year, and having a credit card can be a lifesaver there. For one, you sometimes need to put down around a $1000 deposit to rent a car there. For another, it's good to have some back up funds. What if your atm card gets lost or stolen or doesn't work there?

Aside from that, having credit and USING IT RESPONSIBLY helps to improve your credit rating in case you ever want to buy a car or house. You'll pay more interest if you do not have good credit established.

And you don't have to pay it OFF, each month, you can carry up to 30% of your available balance and still have good credit. Personally, I do agree that carrying more than a thousand or so balance is not a good idea. But to establish credit, the companies actually prefer you carry around 10% of your available credit as a balance. I purposely bought my new IPod on credit rather than cash just to help improve my credit scores. I paid it back over 2 months, and now I'll buy something else and pay that back over 2-3 months instead of paying with cash.

[cprems]

Just watch out, I went over my limit by $18 for less than a day and they raised my % rate from 9.9 to 23%. Luckily I can pay it off at he end of this month. from now on I will charge it up and pay it off before the grace period. I know, I know I should pay it off monthly anyway, however before I got this job, I had to put some of our bills on it to float us through until I got paid, it was worth it. Now I can laugh at their silly tricks and not pay a dime in interest charges after it paid off.

Hope this is a reminder to everyone out there, they are just waiting for you to slip up and then they slap you with all these "charges".

Ian

0% APR for the intro, 9.9% after that. NO ANNUAL FEE, NO START UP FEES, ETC

(there are late and overlimit fees like any other card, but none of the "here's a $500 credit limit, $450 of which is already taken up in various fees before you get the stupid card").

I'm only getting the card in order to rebuild credit - we will likely just use it for groceries, something we buy in cash every month anyway, that way we know we can pay it off every month. Anyway, I wanted to wait until I got a no fee offer before I signed on, and it only took 2 months! My credit line is even quite high - $1800. My FICO score is just over 600 at this point. My husband's must still be considerably lower because he is still getting all those ridiculous fee card offers - none of which we will do.

Just wanted to let people know that waiting is a good thing. Don't pay just to have a credit card. Yes, re-building is important, but I doubt 2 months is going to make a huge difference on my overall report.

It's a WaMu Visa, if anyone is curious.

[jessemohawk]

Secured Master CARD

I just found out about a SECURED credit card that looks pretty tasty.
Its by ORCHARD Bank a Master Card with ZERO APR for the first 6-months.
The annual fee is approx. 35.00 and is waived the first year.
It looked like it got some good reviews on online forums. Except that in some cases the card took two weeks to a month for some people to recieve.
Also many others reported that it really helped their credit score in a year.
The minimun to open is 150.00 to 200.00 and they give you a percent back to your account on payments.
I am going to check it out and will report further when I can.
Jesse