Secured cards while in chapter 13 BK

[riisey007]

Hello all,
I am brand new to this site. I filed BK in June of this year and I have questions! I know that I am new to BK but I would like to know if I can rebuild my credit with a secured card while I am in BK( ch 13) and if so, how long is appropriate to wait? as far as secured cards, have anyone had success while in BK getting one and through who? I know that I need to ask my attorney and trustee for approval but just wanted to find out through you all if it's possible. I have a mortgage and of course they took it off of my credit report, I have a lease( it's taken off of my credit report) I'm looking at buying my lease when the lease is up in 3 years, I only wanted the credit so that I can finance my car when it's time. Thanks

[shipo]

Welcome to the site!

The answer to your question is, "It depends"; as I understand it there are three possible answers:

1. Your Trustee doesn't consider a secured credit card to be "credit" per-se, and as such has no issues with you having one or more secured cards.
2. Your Trustee may allow you to have a secured credit card either immediately or after some number of on-time Chapter 13 payments.
3. Your Trustee will not allow any credit without you making a very compelling argument for the need for a secured credit card.

In my case, Option #3 was the rule I needed to live with for the full 5-years.

Circling back to your question, you basically answered it for yourself, you either need to talk to your attorney or you need to go through the terms of your plan with a fine-toothed-comb to figure out what you can and cannot do.

[riisey007]

Thank you

[Kimbergrl]

My Trustee allowed me up to $1500 in credit limit. I filed in Oct 2023. It was in the court paperwork though.