Approved then Declined for Orchards Secured

[FakeName]

I can't catch a break...

I was approved for an Orchards Secured Card, they cashed my check, they sent me a "welcome" packet, and then I get a notice in the mail that I am NOT approved.

I called to find out why and was told that since one of my BK'd accounts was with HSBC (a GM Mastercard) that my request for a secured card was declined and that my $200 deposit was on the way back to me as of today.

Well, crap.

Will being an authorized user on one of my wife's accounts help start the rebuilding?

[BassBoy]

Being an authorized user doesn't help because the account is not in your name and the history of the account is not reported to your credit. It's jsut reported as authroized user. To build the credit up, you'll need to have your own account(s), or have a joint account with your wife.

[StartingOver08]

Try www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com

He also has an ebook on getting secured cards right after BK. http://www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com/issue/68-bms/

[HakunaMatata]

You may benefit by becoming an authorized user on your wife's accounts.

In 2007, FICO decided to eliminate authorized users from credit scoring. FICO retracted this in 2008. AUs can benefit by being linked to upstanding accounts. The score model has been modified to prevent the former piggybacking that occurred.

http://www.credit.com/credit_information/credit_report/Consumer-Alert-FICO-Formula-Changes.jsp

[aces67]

It depends on the card I guess. I'm an authorized user on DH's Cap One card and it reports to my credit also.

[FakeName]

My wife added me as an authorized user on her AmEx. Let's see how that goes...

Can they decline me for that, too?

[backtoschool]

As HakunaMatata says, authorized user cards will report, but their significance to your fico score has changed significantly in fico's modeling since 2007. You will not get anywhere near the same bump in your score from being an authorized user as you used to pre-2007. What being an authorized user CAN do for your score is give you age, which will help boost your score.