Just did an App-O-Rama!

[KAM465]

I sent you a PM.

Got it, thanks for the info

[pathfinders]

Amy could you please send me a PM as well as far as the BK friendly.

Thanks, all your posts are very helpfull ............

[jmh]

I've done a lot of learning over the past 5 years regarding credit, FICO scoring and so on. While I'm hardly any kind of expert, everything I've learned suggests that this approach is very counter-productive.

Ran my free annual credit reports a little while ago and my BK discharge is showing already. Just caused my first inquiry in many years, for an Orchard Bank secured card. Figure I'll start slow but push forward when my scores open new opportunities. I don't even really want credit cards anymore, but having access to better mortgage and auto loan rates down the road is important, and one CC is handy for hotel check-ins and some reward programs (and just good to have in a few spots where debit doesn't get it done).

But this nuke-from-orbit scheme of applying to everything seems like it would have the exact opposite of the intended effect, all those inquiries will hurt. I can't see applying for anything unless you're at least 80% sure you'll be approved. And there are some resources available for you to figure out approval requirements ahead of time, in fact I asked a loan officer at my bank what kind of credit requirements they would need for something I'll be interested down the line and she had no problem telling me. Why nick yourself with a wasted inquiry if you can avoid it?

[df04527]

I've done a lot of learning over the past 5 years regarding credit, FICO scoring and so on. While I'm hardly any kind of expert, everything I've learned suggests that this approach is very counter-productive.

Ran my free annual credit reports a little while ago and my BK discharge is showing already. Just caused my first inquiry in many years, for an Orchard Bank secured card. Figure I'll start slow but push forward when my scores open new opportunities. I don't even really want credit cards anymore, but having access to better mortgage and auto loan rates down the road is important, and one CC is handy for hotel check-ins and some reward programs (and just good to have in a few spots where debit doesn't get it done).

But this nuke-from-orbit scheme of applying to everything seems like it would have the exact opposite of the intended effect, all those inquiries will hurt. I can't see applying for anything unless you're at least 80% sure you'll be approved. And there are some resources available for you to figure out approval requirements ahead of time, in fact I asked a loan officer at my bank what kind of credit requirements they would need for something I'll be interested down the line and she had no problem telling me. Why nick yourself with a wasted inquiry if you can avoid it?

Not on either side of this debate...the answer to your why is because he doesn't care about the nicks...he is not going for credit for two years and the nicks will be gone at least.

[Amy26]

Amy could you please send me a PM as well as far as the BK friendly.

Thanks, all your posts are very helpfull ............

KAM465, can you cut and paste what I sent you and send it to pathfinders? Would be easier than me retyping it all... I tried to find it in my PMs but it didn't save my sent message. :/

[KAM465]

KAM465, can you cut and paste what I sent you and send it to pathfinders? Would be easier than me retyping it all... I tried to find it in my PMs but it didn't save my sent message. :/

Here is what Amy26 sent me.

Other Forum



Hi there, I can't actually paste a link...which is silly. But if you do a good search for "credit boards", it should be the first link that shows up. Its basically credit boards with a dot and a com .... no space between the credit and boards. I have found this website incredibly helpful in my rebuilding and gaining knowledge. If you register there, there is a bankruptcy forum you can look in and there is a sticky thread at the top called "bankruptcy friendly creditors" and everyone has posted all their approvals in that thread...Its quite huge so I suggest maybe reading from the last page backwards.

There is also a credit pulls database where you can do searches to see who got approved for what or denied.

Let me know if you have any trouble.

[JackBondLove]

Just got declination letters from US Bank (this is the 3rd one - must be for a different nominal account), with all 3 saying that my "residence is outside the trade area", and a rejection from Eddie Bauer (from some outfit called World Financial Network Bank, whatever that is!), which said I had a credit score of 676. Interestingly, some of the reasons cited are "no real estate accounts with valid credit amount" & "no installment accounts with valid credit amount". So I guess that Eddie Bauer only likes to extend credit to folks that have a home loan, but not to folks that OWN OUTRIGHT their home?

But, got approved by Speedway, so I'll be on the lookout for such truck stops to fill up on gas.

So, I now have 4 open accounts - 2 general CC and 2 store specific CC. This should probably be enough open credit lines so that a potential creditor would say that I don't have enough open lines.

[JackBondLove]

No, not getting an automatic approval does not mean you have been rejected.

After getting my Speedway CC - which was was without an automatic approval - I agree, but for every other account, it has meant NOT approved.

There is also a way to get credit through WFNNB (store cards) without a hard inquiry at all. If you go to a WFNNB sponsored website and do some shopping, put some stuff in your cart and go to check out you can get a "you're preapproved for credit" message and if you accept it you just get the card no credit check. You have to bee opt'd in for this though. If anybody wants a list of these please let me know.

I'll have to try that! I'd like a list. (You can PM me.)

[JackBondLove]

So JBL – was it worth it? Did you get the results you wanted?

26 applications – 4 approvals (I assuming you were approved for PayPal but rejected it due to the annual fee) – 15 declines – 8 awaiting decisions – to date your success rate is 32%. Seeing that OfficeMax, Conoco and Sears are financed by companies that already declined other apps your success rate could drop to 18% - I personally don’t see this as financial smart thinking.

You recently closed your Cap One due to the annual fee, but replaced it with Barclay – so that only puts you ½ way to your goal of 6 trade lines, Barclay’s, Firestone and Discover. Now what?

With score drops due to 28 inquires, 1 closed account, and 3 new accounts are you sure you will be able to still qualify for that HELOC? As of today you would need a % rate of 3% or lower to have a 200 payment – and don’t they treat HELOC like a purchase meaning you should have a minimum score between 620 and 630? Do you think your score will climb back up - I mean if Macy's is calculating you at 527 what you think a bank will calculate you at?

I wish you the best of luck; I personally wouldn’t have done it but I mean it when I say good luck.

I think it was worth it. Like I have said, I won't be needing any new credit in the next 2-3 years, so the hard credit pulls are meaningless to me.

The HELOC would be for $25K, so at 4% interest, it would be a note of about $90/mo. I can have an income of $500/mo and qualify for that!

Macy*s said that it was an internally generated score, not the FICO that the credit bureaus give out. And in any case, in 2 years, if there had been a drop in my credit score because of the hard pulls, it will be gone in 2 years.

I think it was worth it. I now have 3 more CC's that I would have (I'm counting the recently arrived Speedway) if I had stopped at the Barclay's Bank CC. Those accounts will be well seasoned (i.e., a small purchase paid on time) by the time I need to qualify for that HELOC in the future.

[CCsAreEvil]

Got to hand it that you were brave to do this. I would never have done it. It's not surprising that the vast majority rejected you (BK obvious?).

I know you said you don't care for your score for the next 2 years but still, seems like a lot of unnecessary work and drop in score even though you said you don't care for it (the score).

If you did the normal "after BK" homework, you would have just done the "tried and true" mini-app-o-rama for BKers, just using the knowledge from this forum from the experience from past BKers. Your success rate would be closer to 100%.

In the end, if you think it was worth it "for you", then I guess that's all that matters. I honestly don't recommend anyone doing this, however.

Lastly, I had read about app-o-ramas years ago from (is it allowed to mention other web sites?) f-a-t-wallet on their finance forum. I learned a lot about how to manipulate your FICO scores (pre-without a BK of course). But those guys are elitists and "hate" BK type people. They all seem like rich, greedy people. Although, they do have the right mentality of not overspending, saving, etc. If you mention that you BK'd, they'd vote your thread down to China. And that's why forums like "this one" exist.

Edit: The only one I'm rather shocked about is Discover approving you. From my experience, no one has been successful in obtaining a Discover card after BK. It would be nice to know if they send you an actual card and in a couple of months if they start reporting your account as an active line of credit on your credit report(s). Please keep us posted.

[JackBondLove]

[QUOTE=CCsAreEvil;555756]Got to hand it that you were brave to do this. I would never have done it.[.QUOTE]

Thank you for the complement!

If you did the normal "after BK" homework, you would have just done the "tried and true" mini-app-o-rama for BKers, just using the knowledge from this forum from the experience from past BKers. Your success rate would be closer to 100%.

<snip>

The only one I'm rather shocked about is Discover approving you. From my experience, no one has been successful in obtaining a Discover card after BK. It would be nice to know if they send you an actual card and in a couple of months if they start reporting your account as an active line of credit on your credit report(s). Please keep us posted

So had I followed the standard advice, I would have been thoroughly discouraged from applying with Discover. I guess it's like that metaphor in sports about a severe underdog playing - that's why they play the game!

Lastly, I had read about app-o-ramas years ago from (is it allowed to mention other web sites?) f-a-t-wallet on their finance forum. I learned a lot about how to manipulate your FICO scores (pre-without a BK of course). But those guys are elitists and "hate" BK type people. They all seem like rich, greedy people. Although, they do have the right mentality of not overspending, saving, etc. If you mention that you BK'd, they'd vote your thread down to China. And that's why forums like "this one" exist.

I divulged my BK experience there, including the part of about me maximizing my asset situation going forward (i.e., buying a home & appliances on the eve of BK, etc.), and was told by a few folks there that it sounded like I had committed fraud, and that a f-a-t Wallet member is someone who pays his debts! It seems that the BK Forum is the only one that will advise a person to file for BK rather than do anything they can to avoid it - so long as it is a good business decision (which it almost always is!) With that kind of advice floating around, I can see why so many folks here have done unwise moves like emptying out their IRA first before succumbing to BK.

[Amy26]

Well I gave you many reasons to not think what you did was wonderful and great... and I will mention again that just because you don't care about obtaining credit for the next 2 years doesn't mean you won't need to use it in the next 2 years. And also don't forgot that just because the inquiries will fall off in 2 years doesn't mean that your score will rebound completely by that time.

Also the other forum I mentioned in the message I had PM'd to someone is a great place for Bkers and Credit users alike and doesn't chastize people for filing etc.

[JackBondLove]

Just got rejected by Target & Conoco.

[tobee43]

JBL aka the sacrificial lamb for the: Who Will Give Credit After Bankruptcy Experiment, better known as WWGCABE.

i wasn't going to comment on this thread and i hear everyone asking you why you did it and so on and so forth. i have to just say that those that haven't watch or read your less than candid threads and posts before, JBL pulls no punches LOL!! (actually i think i got a few myself, and not meant to mean nor nasty, just lets call it inquisitive inquires, LOL! again!)

was this brave?..i dunno, was this purposeful?...i dunno, was it good bk science?...i dunno. but what it is, is interesting...absolutely. (personally i would never do it!)

knowing or i really don't know you, just your posts, i'm thinking you didn't feel you had much to lose anyway and it was just something you needed to know, i suppose. those hits on your report will disappear most likely before you really can get any type of "good" credit anyway

[Bell30656]

Before bankruptcy, I had several small loans with Covington Credit, Reliable Finance and Security Finance. I paid all three through the bankruptcy and have kept small loans with them. Every time I "renew" it closes the old loan and starts a new one. My credit score with Equifax is a 661. My credit score with CreditKarma (which I know isn't accurate) is a 638. Rebuilding my credit is important because I am in upper management. My next promotion will be to a VP position. Time heals all wounds, showing a great comeback after the divorce and bankruptcy is much better than still festering at the bottom trying to explain it away.

Since bankruptcy, I've managed to get Orchard Bank Visa $320, Capital One Master Card $750 and PayPal's Credit of $500. I've managed to keep the utilization under 18% every month sometimes by robbing Peter to pay Paul but usually by not spending it if I don't have it. I run the cards up every month by using them to pay bills that I normally paid from my checking account debit card then pay them down to 10-18% before statement date. In addition, I was able to purchase a 2008 Toyota Prius with Southeast Toyota Finance approving me at a ridiculous interest rate of 15.5%

Best advice I can give the OP is to look into these small loan companies. Yes, their fees are high percentage wise but if you are borrowing a small enough amount of money it doesn't matter.