Ok to open new account with old creditor?

[Pascal666]

Though I have read about vacating judgements due to bankruptcy in some places, it looks like in Illinois the judgements cannot be vacated and stay on my credit report, they are just noncollectable.

I have been looking at opening a couple secured credit cards to reestablish my credit. I don't care about interest rates as I have no intention of carrying a balance, I'm just looking for low annual fees. Looks like Capital One has a nice one.

I had two Capital One credit cards that I stopped paying in 8/2008. They sued me in 12/2009 and got default judgements in 2/2010 and 4/2010. I filed for Chapter 7 in 9/2010 and received my discharge in 1/2011. Though I have my discharge, due to other lawsuits I filed pre-bankruptcy that are still pending my bankruptcy has not yet closed. Though they have not yet received anything, it is still possible for Capital One to receive partial payment from the bankruptcy estate.

I know that because of the discharge they are no longer allowed to collect the judgements, but what if I send them money for some other purpose? If I send them a credit application with a $2,000 deposit, can they just apply that to what I used to owe them? Any difference if I try to open a checking or savings account with them?

I also stopped paying my Citi mortgage in 8/2008. It was also part of my bankruptcy. They filed for foreclosure in 3/2009. It is still pending. Will I run into any trouble trying to open a secured credit card or bank account with them?

[bcohen]

If the judgments cannot be vacated, they should at least be marked as satisfied with the issuing court. Otherwise, with judgments showing as open and unpaid, your credit will not recover, which defeats the purpose of obtaining a credit card, secured or otherwise. Also, having open judgments can hurt your chances of obtaining employment, renting an apartment, etc.

As a side note, even though the underlying debt is discharged, the judgment still exists until it is vacated, set aside, or marked as "satisfied". Although technically illegal, I have heard of cases where a person has their wages or bank account garnished after bankruptcy because of a judgment that took place prior to bankruptcy--even though the underlying debt was discharged. Be careful.

[ace300s]

From what I've read on this forum and others, getting a card through Capital with your history with them can go eigher way...

I had two Capital accounts in my recently discharged BK7. I'd read people on this site got Capital cards right out of BK. So I made sure my credit reports were cleaned up and then tried to get a Capital One Secured card. They declined me!

Good luck and please post if they approve you.......

[Pascal666]

Both of the CapitalOne judgments show on my TransUnion report as "CIVIL JUDGMENT IN BANKRUPTCY" with a "Date Paid" of the date I filed for Chapter 7. Neither shows up on Experian. Equifax shows them as "Satisfied Judgment" "Included in bankruptcy" with a "Satisfied Date" of the month and year I filed for Chapter 7.

I'm not worried about them declining me, I'm worried about them stealing my money.

[tobee43]

i don't think they will steal your money. they can't do that after the debt was discharged.

we actually got two cards from old creditors...it's so weird, one in fact when i go on line to pay, still shows the other account as open! that is my card alone and it is unsecured with a 2500 limit no fee per year. the other is capital one also no fee and now a 2500 limit, we also listed them as creditors in our bk. we waited a bit before we applied for anything. once we did we really didn't have a problem.

offers should be coming in the mail, if they haven't already begin to come to you. some people just to get started will pay the fees or accept high interest until they can apply for a better card. i think it was orchard that was our first, but as soon as we could we got rid of them and closed the accounts.

[Epic]

You'll be fine. I had the exact same concerns and our situations were the same. I BK'd two CapOne cards. Here is how I handled it.
- Applied online, received a message stating that they are reviwing my application
- Two weeks later, I received a letter that I was approved for the secured card
- Sent in just $200 bucks to see how they would handle it
- They did hold the funds for about two more weeks and then I received my secured card in the mail
- I then sent in another $1K, they waited another two weeks and applied it to my account. HOWEVER, they put a hold on my account until I called them and they did a joint conf call with them, myself and the 800 number to my bank. Funds were released within 10 seconds
- So far, so good.

Hope this helps