Credit Card with 5K limit

[BCA2009]

Well I was discharged 11 days ago. The before yesterday, I got a credit card in the mail. It is a credit card I had thru a bank I used several years ago. when I left that bank I stopped using the card. They stopped sending statements and I forgot all about it. It hasn't been used in probably 3 or 4 years.

Well I guess the expiration date came up and they automatically sent me a new card. I activated it and asked the limit and it is $5,000. I assume they didn't check my credit before thay re-issued the card which surprises me since I filed 4 months ago.

My wife needed a new computer and we have the cash in hand to pay for it.
But I figured why not try and start rebuilding my credit now. so we put the computer on that card last night. It was $700. The minute the bill gets here, I will take the money out of savings and pay it off.

I felt really wierd making the charge on the credit card. I didn't like it. I haven't charged anything since early last November. An I have no desire to use a card other than to re-establish credit and for work related travel.

I wonder if they will lower the credit limit at some point in the future?

Oh, well! I just wanted to share my experience. My wife also has a card that had a zero balance (2K limit), that we haven't heard from. I wonder if it is still open too?

[Flamingo]

Be careful and don't get sucked back into the credit trap. If you had the cash, you didn't have to use the card. Here you are right out of Chapter 7 and making large purchases that will show up on your credit reports close to your date of discharge. Not a good thing...also note that that card could be closed out at any time without notice to you - you could go use it and be denied at the counter with your purchases. Some cards do stay open if they are zero balance and not included in a BK filing; but the majority are closed out within several months after discharge. Best of luck to you.

[Logan]

Well I was discharged 11 days ago. The before yesterday, I got a credit card in the mail. It is a credit card I had thru a bank I used several years ago. when I left that bank I stopped using the card. They stopped sending statements and I forgot all about it. It hasn't been used in probably 3 or 4 years.

Well I guess the expiration date came up and they automatically sent me a new card. I activated it and asked the limit and it is $5,000. I assume they didn't check my credit before thay re-issued the card which surprises me since I filed 4 months ago.

My wife needed a new computer and we have the cash in hand to pay for it.
But I figured why not try and start rebuilding my credit now. so we put the computer on that card last night. It was $700. The minute the bill gets here, I will take the money out of savings and pay it off.

I felt really wierd making the charge on the credit card. I didn't like it. I haven't charged anything since early last November. An I have no desire to use a card other than to re-establish credit and for work related travel.

I wonder if they will lower the credit limit at some point in the future?

Oh, well! I just wanted to share my experience. My wife also has a card that had a zero balance (2K limit), that we haven't heard from. I wonder if it is still open too?

I did the exact same thing and I bet this will help your credit. If I were you I would use it and keep the balance below 1K and pay it off every month.

Good luck,

Logan

[BCA2009]

I did the exact same thing and I bet this will help your credit. If I were you I would use it and keep the balance below 1K and pay it off every month.

Good luck,

Logan

I don't carry it and I am only going to use it for purchases that I already have cash in hand for. The money is in a savings account and I will pay the card off the day the bill comes in. I do agree that is very dangerous to use credit again. I will not use it for groceries and daily expenses. We'll see what happens.

Actually credit cards were not a real problem for us. We did BK on several, but our BK was due to my wife losing her job and a large real estate investment that went bad. Had it not been for that real estate investment, we would have been fine even with my wife losing her job. But we filed to get out of 250K in debt related to that investment. Two years ago we had no credit card debt, and what we did run up in those two years was all related to trying to stay current on the real estate payments.

But I'm still very aware of the risks of using credit cards. But I want to build back my credit as soon as possible.

[Majakat]

Scary! I think I would have used it for a gas purchase, lol -

just an idea though, why wait till you get the bill? you could go into bill pay if you use it, and pay it right now - but that would make it feel better-

I am still a couple months from filing, but just cannot wait to have none of it - my bank debit visa card and my paypal debit visa should do just about everything i need for a long while -

Catherine

[BCA2009]

Scary! I think I would have used it for a gas purchase, lol -

just an idea though, why wait till you get the bill? you could go into bill pay if you use it, and pay it right now - but that would make it feel better-

I am still a couple months from filing, but just cannot wait to have none of it - my bank debit visa card and my paypal debit visa should do just about everything i need for a long while -

Catherine

I don't have an address to mail the payment to. I haven't received a statement in 3 or 4 years on this card. If I knew where to mail it, I would go ahead and send the payment.

[Majakat]

Do you have a bill pay acct? they can usually do a lookup for the payment address right there and you can send it through your bank -

[Logan]

I don't carry it and I am only going to use it for purchases that I already have cash in hand for. The money is in a savings account and I will pay the card off the day the bill comes in. I do agree that is very dangerous to use credit again. I will not use it for groceries and daily expenses. We'll see what happens.

Actually credit cards were not a real problem for us. We did BK on several, but our BK was due to my wife losing her job and a large real estate investment that went bad. Had it not been for that real estate investment, we would have been fine even with my wife losing her job. But we filed to get out of 250K in debt related to that investment. Two years ago we had no credit card debt, and what we did run up in those two years was all related to trying to stay current on the real estate payments.

But I'm still very aware of the risks of using credit cards. But I want to build back my credit as soon as possible.

I use quicken and Mint.com for my finances which allows me to look at the big picture very easily rather than how much credit I have used.

Last month was an expensive month for me and I charged over 3K but when I look at my total available money in Quicken and Mint they have already subtracted out the spent money from the credit card so when I go to pay the credit card it's already factored in.

Unless you have an Emergency no one in this forum should be spending money they do not have in the bank.

If you get paid tomorrow but spend the money today you will fall right back into BK.

Logan

[Universal]

I know it is not realistic, but I never want to see another credit card!

[Logan]

I know it is not realistic, but I never want to see another credit card!

I just received a cash back rewards card so I plan on using all purchases with this card. I figure I'll get a few hundred dollars a year back. Also, my checking account gets 4% interest so the float I have every month also earns me money.

I recently was only using my debit card due to a possible layoff but I decided to switch back since the layoffs did not go as deep and my wife was offered the credit card with cash back.

Credit is tool that used correctly can benefit all of us and if used incorrectly can really get us in trouble.

Logan

[BCA2009]

I just received a cash back rewards card so I plan on using all purchases with this card. I figure I'll get a few hundred dollars a year back. Also, my checking account gets 4% interest so the float I have every month also earns me money.

I recently was only using my debit card due to a possible layoff but I decided to switch back since the layoffs did not go as deep and my wife was offered the credit card with cash back.

Credit is tool that used correctly can benefit all of us and if used incorrectly can really get us in trouble.

Logan

I agree with everything you are doing in theory, but for us, I don't want to use the cards for anything but specific purchases that I already have the money set aside for. I don't want to get into the habit of just using a credit card. For us it could possibly be a slippery slope. And I don't want to take a chance.

[SMinGA]

Do you mind telling which bank? PM if you'd rather not post publicly... Can't find anything with REAL interest on checking, and ING savings is down to only 1.1%!

Also, my checking account gets 4% interest so the float I have every month also earns me money.

[mermaids614]

Credit Card

My credit situation didn't get this way because of credit cards. But if I ever get another card, I am going to set it up for direct pay on my electric bill, cell phone bill and cable bill every month and pay it off each month. If I want a new dress or a new purse, I plan to pay cash for it. It's tempting to charge a bunch of things you don't need when you have a credit card.......but with a credit card with a tiny limit of a couple hundred bucks, I don't think it's possible!LOL

[Logan]

Do you mind telling which bank? PM if you'd rather not post publicly... Can't find anything with REAL interest on checking, and ING savings is down to only 1.1%!

Danversbank