Rebuilding credit - help!

[iwillriseabove]

We are 3.5 years into our 5 year ch. 13. We've been advised that we need to begin rebuilding our credit by getting a couple of secured credit cards. Do any of you have any suggestions as to GUARANTEED approval secured cards? We need the guaranteed approval b/c my husband applied a couple of months ago through our bank, put the money up for it and everything, and was declined b/c of the ch. 13. Apparently, we need to get ones that don't do a credit check b/c we don't want anymore hits on the score. We've found that Public Savings Bank offers what appears to be a good one. Do any of you know of any others? Not Orchard - it's a part of HSBC, which we BK'd several accounts on. Same with Capitol One. We'd like to get two, maybe three.

HELP!

[momofthree]

Did you already obtain permission from your trustee to incur debt? That needs to be step #1.

[andy158]

Under who's advice were you told to start applying for credit cards? I don't know about others here, but I will never have another credit card again! They were our demise and never will we be held hostage to outrageous interest and at will changing of terms by the Big Banks. I know the reform did some good, but they have already found loopholes in the new laws and are continuing to milk the poor souls that cannot pay off the balance each month. The key is to have a proper emergency fund even out of bk to fall back on. The only reason I can remotely see in rebuilding credit right out of bk or even while still in bk (it is going to be very difficult to establish any credit worthiness while still in bk13) is to purchase a home or vehicle and even then it is not impossible to get credit at inflated interest. Time will help rebuild credit. Look at the rebuilding credit section on this site. Lots of good advice there.

[LadyInTheRed]

First, have you checked with your attorney to make sure it is okay to get a secured credit card? Do that first. You made need the trustee's approval.

Bankrate.com is a good place to compare credit cards. I did a quick search and found that Public Savings Bank doesn't run a credit check. Here's my search results: http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/credi...s_SecuredCards

[iwillriseabove]

It was our attorney's advice and we have already obtained approval, which when seeking it, we were told that as long as it was a secured card and for the purpose of rebuilding, approval wasn't even necessary.

The reason is in fact for obtaining a mortgage. We know the steps to take. We have talked to the attorney and know that for a mortgage, we have to get trustee approval (obviously). This shouldn't be a problem, as the mortgage will be lower than what was included in our plan worksheet, and we have paid off both cars that had payments also in our worksheet, and all payments have been on time.

Currently, my scores are fine. However, my husband's are about 40 points away from FHA AND he is only showing one score due to the fact we have no recent tradelines. I'm only showing two and we are fearful that in the next 6 months, which is when we hope to purchase, mine will drop to one as well, and he might not have one at all. We NEED secured cards for this reason.

Thank you, LadyInTheRed - Public Savings Bank is the only one I have found thus far that offers that as well.