Were you approved for the Capital One, Wal-Mart, and Discover cards that you applied for?

The next step I would take is to see if you can get pre-approved for an HSBC card. If you paid off the CO, then they shouldn't blacklist you.

thank you meya for all your help
my scores are eq 666,exp 669, tu 684...which will going to get a hit as i applied for walmart,capital one,discoverand i was not approaved .and a citi sunoco card said they will let me know in 30 days ...i have a citi secured card(500$) and macys(600$)...i got through a nasty divorce so,i ve a paid tax lien and hsbc co(about 3 years old)......when should i apply for my next card and what card should it be?
thank you so much

Filed in 12/02. Stop using much of credit in early July of 02. So many of those accounts will go bye-bye in July / August of this year and bkrptcy in Dec. Merry xmas! I like Meya am hook on rebuilding and definitely need to stop applying. However, I was just recently approved for a Kays card (5K) and Hooters (1750). Waiting to here from BofA on secured card so that I may get rid of my moms BofA card and not be listed as an AU before bkrptcy is removed. It will help with boosting my score. I want to buy some rental property but that too can wait unless something is just too good to pass up. Thanks for the advise. You'd be surprise how your girlfriends will want to talk to you about all kinds of other stuff other than that to which is most important (like building your future firmly with responsible cash/credit management).

Oh I see, that's right, it stays on for 7 years, I was thinking 10 for some reason.
Applying can be addictive for sure and it sounds like you are on the right track.
Girlfriends eh? You've got more then one?

Filed in 12/02. Stop using much of credit in early July of 02. So many of those accounts will go bye-bye in July / August of this year and bkrptcy in Dec. Merry xmas! I like Meya am hook on rebuilding and definitely need to stop applying. However, I was just recently approved for a Kays card (5K) and Hooters (1750). Waiting to here from BofA on secured card so that I may get rid of my moms BofA card and not be listed as an AU before bkrptcy is removed. It will help with boosting my score. I want to buy some rental property but that too can wait unless something is just too good to pass up. Thanks for the advise. You'd be surprise how your girlfriends will want to talk to you about all kinds of other stuff other than that to which is most important (like building your future firmly with responsible cash/credit management).

famu:

Sounds good. And if you have a Chase and Barclays that is a good way to start.

I would hold of on any new applications for a while to let those two age.

First Premier is weird. My mom had what was called their Future Card back in 1998. And after a year all of the fees just stopped. The credit line was still the paltry $250 but no fees. If you can get them to waive the fees then they might be worth having around. I just don't see them ever growing with you.

As far as the bankruptcy; not having a bankruptcy will look much better no matter what. You filed 12/99? That seems forever ago.

colonative.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. I went ahead and closed 2 of the five so far... I called 1st premier to close the visa and mc, I was told by rep that it may impact my score and that TU suggest never clsng an acct. I responded that it may no sense to keep these account paying over 120 a year on both (annual fees and monthly participation) so she offered to only charge me 3$ for annual fee and to pay for my monthly participate for up to 6 months on visa and to waive annual fee and 25$ credit on MC.

I took it for now to at least get a few more months until after my insurance renews on auto and home. Then I will cancel for certain. I haven't contacted cortrust yet but as for now creditoneband 23.99% interest is clsd as is 1stNatl Bank Visa.

I was approved for a Hooters card with a 1750 cl to start (I havent received card yet) and a Kays card for (5K-just got card in mail).

I also applied for BofA secured (I currently am a AU on my mother's BofA Visa account) However, I want to step away for AU usage and solidify my own credit. I also have a WAMU (now Chase) visa and Juniper (Barclays) MC with cl of 2500 each (opened as of 2/08). Those are fair rated cards based on FG terms. Longer history with those and perhaps getting this bkptcy off my CR (in 12/09) and I can start off like others with fair credit hopefully and fair better.

But I heard that they look at you differently from scoring after your bkrptcy is removed . Like your score could go down due to you are now being compared to others without bankruptcy and they may have better accounts. So I will definitely need to rid myself of those other cards before then. I don't want any crutches and/or bandaids showing on my CR when I may be compared to others who are 'fair to good' too.

famu:

15% of your score is length of time. But it is a dubble whammy because payment history counts for 35% which in a way the two are connected.

Closing older trades will have the largest impact on your scores.
But think of it this way, those cards you have are not going to grow with you, best to get rid of them now before they get too old.

Before you go closing accounts though, you need to get a card from a better bank, such as Capital One or a secured card from BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo or US Bank, then I would close out some of those high fee cards. It will hurt short term but the score will come up within a year to 18 months.

Discover has always been very conservative with their credit issuing. I have heard they are not forgiving at all. Remember, even if your old Discover has fallen off the credit reports, they likely still have record of it in house.

If you feel that you have higher scores (upper 600's-lower 700's) then you might want to see about paying that charged off account and applying for a new one. If it is 10+ years old then paying it off won't effect your credit score.

One option is to apply online and if declined, Discover and HSBC might offer you the Direct Rewards Discover Card. But I only recommend that if you are truly mad about having a Discover network card because it is not the best card out there.

Another option is to get a Wal-Mart or Sam's Club Discover issued by GE Money Bank. The cash-back is very similar and in some ways better then Discover itself. And since it is issued by GE Money Bank you won't be judged by your previously charged off Discover.

Let us know what you decide.

I haven't had a CLI with Discover in over a year, with a perfect payment history. Each month I pay the balance in full.

Kforbes, collections and CO's will always hurt your reports and credit scores regardless of age. I'm not familiar with when baddies are supposed to fall off your report but I have read that they usually fall off within 7 years as you posted. Have you tried arranging a pay for delete (PFD) with the CA that's reporting the baddie?

I don't have any experiences with Discover in terms of collections but they are a conservative lender which might require more time and effort to earn their forgiveness.

I had a charge off with Discover in the mid to late 90's & wondered if they would give me a second chance? Anybody had this sort of interection with Discover under these circumstances?

Thanks
Woody

I have been trying to rebuild my credit. I have some collections and one charge off account through a card that i had around two years ago. as the charge-off gets older, willit have less of an effect on my credit? and i have noticed that the collections on my credit keep reporting every month, does this mean that they will be there forever since they stay for the 7 years, but keep being reported every month? and what are some other rebuilding accounts i can get with an equifax score of around 500? at this point will paying off old collections that are still being reported help my score?

Question? in reading the post it seems there is no magic formula when closing an account and how it impacts your credit score

I have these cards that I want to close because they charge $6 to $6.50 a month per card plus annual fees.

CreditOne - 650 1stPremVisa - 650 1stPremMC - 700 Cortrust - 800 1stNatlVisa - 400

However, they are some of the oldest lines of good credit I have on my record.

Should I .....

(1) close them all in the same time period/month and just take the big hit on my credit score (prefer to do this after May as my insurance renewal is coming up)
(2) close them one at a time based on having at least a two year solid history of payment and CLI.
(3) keep them open and sock them and continue to pay 30.50 a monthly (not including annual fee to report on my record)

I am torn.... I want them gone but I also don't want to lose that $3300 Credit that is not being utilized on my record as I have balances carried over on 3 other cards.

HELP... this is killing me. Because they like to nickel and dime you just for you to prove that you can handle credit again... DARN!

As of 3/15/09
Experian - 624
TU - 611
EQ - 639

Hey all, I called and spoke to a rep at cap 1 she said my credit line is $300. I am going to close my HSBC Discover has the same credit line and they will not budge on a CLI. Maybe I will have better luck with cap 1.

How long have you had the card? Do you have an annual fee? If you do not have an annual fee just charge a pack of gum and soda every month and pif and just sockdraw the card and develop some age to it.