Just got approved for Cap1 CC!

[NanaOf11]

We all took different routes but ended up in the same parking lot!

LSUTiger32, in response to your comment..

"You can't discharge credit card debt in BK and tell people it's not an issue. It is very much a part of the equation."

Yes, I can, as it was not an issue at all.
Our personal cc debt was less than 2% of our total unsecured/discharged debt. If we could have just discharged the items guaranteed & associated with our business we would have. We would have gladly kept our cards & the credit they would generate for us now. We would not be here playing this darn game in trying to get a couple cards with the best terms possable.

All I am saying is there is no blanket policy to cover everyone. We all need to find what our weekness was and streangthen that area so when we finally work our way out of this hole we never come back.

We all took different routes but ended up in the same parking lot!

[LSUTiger32]

LSUTiger32, in response to your comment..

"You can't discharge credit card debt in BK and tell people it's not an issue. It is very much a part of the equation."

Yes, I can, as it was not an issue at all.
Our personal cc debt was less than 2% of our total unsecured/discharged debt. If we could have just discharged the items guaranteed & associated with our business we would have. We would have gladly kept our cards & the credit they would generate for us now. We would not be here playing this darn game in trying to get a couple cards with the best terms possable.

All I am saying is there is no blanket policy to cover everyone. We all need to find what our weekness was and streangthen that area so when we finally work our way out of this hole we never come back.

We all took different routes but ended up in the same parking lot!

OK, you win. You just felt like charging things even though you could afford them, for the fun of it......I guess?

[cupcake]

You can't discharge credit card debt in BK and tell people it's not an issue. It is very much a part of the equation.

I agree 100%, LSU. If you discharged any cc debt that was a balance carry-over (meaning that it wasn't incurred that month and had incurred no interest), it was an issue contributing to the BK. Anyone who carries a cc balance, because they couldn't pay the balance in full that month, paid for things with a cc that they didn't have cash for and couldn't afford.

IMO, though, it doesn't matter why or how anyone got here. It doesn't matter whether it was because of poor judgment, bad choices, mental illness, physical illness, business gone bad, divorce, etc. We are here. We've been given a clean slate and we must now do everything within our power to make sure we don't end up here again. I've obtained credit since my discharge as have many people here. Be smart, use it wisely and don't live beyond your means.

[debtnomore]

i was discharged early feb '10 and included a capone car in the bk and had it repo'ed a few weeks ago

applied for capone credit card and got $1000 card, 0% until 12/10, $39 annual fee, goes up to $1500 limit in 3 months of on-time payments

was denied by pretty much every other credit card (didn't go for ones with higher fees or app fees or monthly fees)

also got roadloans 14.55% interest car loan; our family went from a 400 and 450/month car payments to one car at 330/month...now we can save the difference towards our next car and avoid paying so much interest...we also now have $4k in savings thanks to yearly bonus...first time we got a bonus and didn't have to put it directly to debt paydown...feels good to have a +net worth now instead of negative one

[BobMango]

I agree 100%, LSU. If you discharged any cc debt that was a balance carry-over (meaning that it wasn't incurred that month and had incurred no interest), it was an issue contributing to the BK. Anyone who carries a cc balance, because they couldn't pay the balance in full that month, paid for things with a cc that they didn't have cash for and couldn't afford.

IMO, though, it doesn't matter why or how anyone got here. It doesn't matter whether it was because of poor judgment, bad choices, mental illness, physical illness, business gone bad, divorce, etc. We are here. We've been given a clean slate and we must now do everything within our power to make sure we don't end up here again. I've obtained credit since my discharge as have many people here. Be smart, use it wisely and don't live beyond your means.

I agree with the second paragraph here, but the the first is a great example of a difference without a distinction. The bottom line is that if we had no debt we would not have needed to file bankruptcy. I would have paid all of my credit card debt had it not been for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses on real estate and stock market investments, coupled with a significant loss of income. So in my case I was forced into bankruptcy by those deficiencies and the associated tax consequences, not a few thousand in credit card balances. The credit cards just allowed me to forestall bankruptcy by a few months.

Bottom line is that if you want to purchase a new home post bankruptcy, you will have more and better options with a better credit record. In order to do that you need to have a variety of credit lines. Assuming that credit cards are the evil that contributed in some way to every bankruptcy in which credit card debt was discharged is myopic at best.

My best advice? In no particular order - repair your credit post bankruptcy as much as possible, avoid debt (in whatever form) as best you can, save as much as you can. Everyone will approach these differently; we are individuals after all. Some will avoid credit cards given their rabid hatred of credit card companies. Others will decide to only drive cars they can afford to pay for with cash. Whatever works for you, do it.

[Logan]

Credit Cards are not evil. Automobiles kill people every hour--are they evil?

Since my discharge I have had 4 credit cards. I paid something like $39 for my 1st card which I cancelled before the year was up and I have NEVER paid a dime to any credit card company since.

I'm headed to London tonight and will be putting my Debit Card away and using my Credit Card--WHY--because my Capital One has NO International charges and I prefer to use a Credit Card over a Debit Card when traveling Internationally.l

I may use my Debit Card to withdraw money from an ATM but I inevitably end up with International currency when I come home and that is no good.

Just like the Automobile--Credit Cards are not evil, it's the people behind the wheel that are the problem!!!

Logan

[emag71]

OK got my Cap One CC in the mail this weekend. $500 credit limit, 0% interest til 12/10, $39 annual fee, 16.9% interest.

plan on using only for gas purchases and paying off every month. Pure awesomeness!

[LSUTiger32]

Credit Cards are not evil. Automobiles kill people every hour--are they evil?

[jacko]

I'm a dem, but agree what you are trying to convey. Dave Ramsey declared BK some years ago. He did not establish his credit with CC. In his wallet, he just has some cash, gun permit and two Visa/Mastercard debit cards.

He calls the FICA score, the debtor score.

To purchase a vehicle, you should save at least 50% for a down payment and shop around for a loan for the remaining balance.

Also, if you save 20% plus down for a home, you may likely get a loan.

Do you all get this from a talking points paper or something? There must be a lot of democrats on this board with all the anti-free speech talk. Nothing I said is "snide."

I say again.....YOU DO NOT NEED A CREDIT SCORE TO BUY A HOUSE. I mean read the FHA guidelines for crying out loud.

It's funny how you are entitled to your opinion on credit but when I give mine I am snide. I get a there is no way you can possibly survive in life without credit from you but I can't express the opinion that you don't need it.

I know it's hard to imagine but yeah try buying a car you can afford instead of financing something at 12% that loses 20% of it's value a year.

I promise the snide, rude, moronic jerk will refrain from posting my opinion on this thread anymore and I sincerely apologize for offending anyone. Congrats to all on the credit cards.

[jacko]

Why not just use a debit card?

OK got my Cap One CC in the mail this weekend. $500 credit limit, 0% interest til 12/10, $39 annual fee, 16.9% interest.

plan on using only for gas purchases and paying off every month. Pure awesomeness!

[emag71]

Why not just use a debit card?

I plan on financing a home and a car someday so i'm working on raising my credit score. A debit card does not help me do that; a reporting credit card does. If anyone knows another way of cleaning up my credit, by all means, I'm all ears.

[ForumReader]

along too

[Amy26]

OK, you win. You just felt like charging things even though you could afford them, for the fun of it......I guess?

I thank you for your apology on your other post, and I do realize that you probably don't mean to be snide or condecending... but how can you say the above statement wasn't snide?

I am totally with the other people's opinions about this being a credit rebuilding forum... so, the posts people ask here about rebuilding their credit shouldn't be replied to with: OMG why are you trying to get credit again????

If people have gone through the process, read these forums, and did their homework...they should already know the risks and possible pit falls of credit. Now that they are here and asking about rebuilding issues ... having people repeatidly knock them for asking or being badgered about living "cash only" is probably not the most prudent responses.

I also agree with what someone else said about just because you filed for bankruptcy doesn't mean you are incapable of knowing what's right and how to manage finances. Everyone's situation is different.

I guess just personally, if someone asks a question... I would try to simply answer the question that was asked and not put any judgement or outside advice into the answer other than possibly listing my personal experience if it was relevant.

[debtnomore]

I'm a dem, but agree what you are trying to convey. Dave Ramsey declared BK some years ago. He did not establish his credit with CC. In his wallet, he just has some cash, gun permit and two Visa/Mastercard debit cards.

He calls the FICA score, the debtor score.

To purchase a vehicle, you should save at least 50% for a down payment and shop around for a loan for the remaining balance.

Also, if you save 20% plus down for a home, you may likely get a loan.

that's a short-sighted view

credit also affects insurance rates...so someone that gets credit cards post-bk and is prudent with their usage will pay less for insurance than someone who doesn't get those cards to up their fico score

it also affects job opportunities, business loans, utility deposits, etc etc

car and home aren't the only thing one needs credit for; there are some things savings don't matter for

[LSUTiger32]

I thank you for your apology on your other post, and I do realize that you probably don't mean to be snide or condecending... but how can you say the above statement wasn't snide?

I am totally with the other people's opinions about this being a credit rebuilding forum... so, the posts people ask here about rebuilding their credit shouldn't be replied to with: OMG why are you trying to get credit again????

It's not snide, I am asking a legit question. If you could afford everything and credit was not the problem then why in the world were there charges on credit cards? Was it seriously for fun? Was it because you (and by you I don't mean you, I mean whoever is answering this) were committing fraud by simply charging things you could pay for knowing you were filing for other reasons? I mean there has to be a reason, no?

The whole problem here is REBUILDING CREDIT does NOT equal GO OUT AND GET A BUNCH OF CREDIT CARDS. If this were a forum entitled CREDIT CARDS I could understand that, but I would still likely be on there warning people. I literally loathe those people. There are other way to rebuild credit, so no I don't accept that on this forum that I am not entitled to talk to people about other ways to rebuild their credit. For that matter, the whole notion that your credit HAS to be rebuilt. I know no one wants to hear it but there are ways to buy things without credit and yes cash is the main way. There are also programs out there for say buying a house that does have as a requirement that you have a rip off trash credit card. If I am doing underwriting on a loan and I see you with 5 credit cards at crappy rates that you are paying obsurd fees on, I see someone who didn't learn their lesson and once again is desperate for credit. I see someone who is going down the same road they were just rescued off of.

I just figured that more people on a BK forum would hate debt after what they just went through. Boy was I wrong.