Orchard Bank Approval... not discharged yet!

[momof5]

Just wanted to pass along that Orchard Bank approved me for a $300 unsecured card BEFORE discharge!(12 days after 341) 14.9%, not the best but not so bad for a card that I am just going to keep for emergency usage. The yearly fee of $39 is waived the first year.

I had tried my husbands name as they do a prequalification before you even apply and they offered him a secured card with a $200 opening deposit. I almost did it just so we would have something as a 'just in case'. I figured I would try and see what they offered me figuring it would be nothing. When the offer for the Platinum card showed up I kept reading the fine print looking for what the catch was. There seems to be none as far as this is a legit unsecured card.

After being unable to rent a car last month(due to not having a "real" credit card to rent) when we desperately needed one for a couple of days. I ended up having to bother my parents and borrow a car while ours was in the shop being fixed. The kids had finals and needed to be at 3 different schools at various times throughout the days so being without a car was not an option.

How awesome to already be on the road to repairing my credit before I have even been discharged! And the even better thing about Orchard Bank as I had one many many years ago is that they wont raise my credit limit!! I used to think that was a bad thing but now its a good way to help me learn to use credit very sparingly.

Have a great day!

[Flamingo]

Orchard Bank is BK friendly and most people are able to get a card with them that have filed. Don't take getting this card, however, as a sign that you will easily get approved for any future credit applications. Remember, you now have credit inquiries on your report along with a nondischarged BK appearing on your credit reports. Inquiries stay on two years. Also, as to Orchard Bank, they will bombard you with all sorts of insurance and other offers. Be careful and do not accept the offers cause if you go online and read all the horror stories about Orchard Bank and their offers, you will cringe. There are many catches they use to rope you in and before you know it, you may have agreed to something you didn't want and the charges start coming in whicih are almost impossible to remove. Plus all their calls go overseas for customer service.

Got the card also two months after discharge in 10/06 (14.9% also, $500 initial limit - now $1,800; watch, they always raise it prior to Christmas - be careful). I have no troubles with it because I pay it off in full when I use it and do not accept any of the constant offers I get via regular mail, with the billing or via email.

Congrats!

[momof5]

Thank you for the warnings Flamingo. I will most certainly be very careful with their 'extras'.

As for now I have no intentions of applying for any other credit. I was just so surprised to have been approved for this one. I really dont need this but it would have been really nice last month to rent a car. You can pay a car rental with cash but in order to rent without astronomical deposits $500+ you need to secure a car rental with a 'real' credit card. Not to mention the credit check if you use cash. While we dont rent a car very often (small fender bender last month) its nice to know that we can if we absolutely have to.

What got me reading on this site about Orchard Bank was that I had received an offer from Millenium Bank and was going to get one of those with a deposit of $300. So many fees though so I am glad I at least did the soft inquiry on Orchard to see what I qualified for. I wonder also if being a previous customer that left in good standing helped.

[Flamingo]

Thank you for the warnings Flamingo. I will most certainly be very careful with their 'extras'.

As for now I have no intentions of applying for any other credit. I was just so surprised to have been approved for this one. I really dont need this but it would have been really nice last month to rent a car. You can pay a car rental with cash but in order to rent without astronomical deposits $500+ you need to secure a car rental with a 'real' credit card. Not to mention the credit check if you use cash. While we dont rent a car very often (small fender bender last month) its nice to know that we can if we absolutely have to.

What got me reading on this site about Orchard Bank was that I had received an offer from Millenium Bank and was going to get one of those with a deposit of $300. So many fees though so I am glad I at least did the soft inquiry on Orchard to see what I qualified for. I wonder also if being a previous customer that left in good standing helped.

Yes, being a prior customer in good standing probably helped you a lot. I question your "soft inquiry" on Orchard above...when you apply for credit with them, that is a hard inquiry. Soft inquiries are done by creditors checking the status of your credit report for possible offers, employers checking your credit report, etc. When you actually apply for credit through a creditor, it shows as a hard inquiry on your credit report. Creditors are only interested in the "hard" inquiries which show how much one has been applying for credit and over what period of time. Those now stay on two years - used to be one year not too long ago.

You seem to be on the right road to handling things wisely. And I totally understand about the rental car situation - some now accept debit cards but it puts a large hold of like $400+ on your checking account which can cause items to bounce if those funds are not in there. Plus many agencies don't take them and if they do, there are certain restrictions (i.e., cannot take the car out of the rental state). If you travel and utilize hotels and rental cars, a credit card is a must in today's world.

[momof5]

. I question your "soft inquiry" on Orchard above...when you apply for credit with them, that is a hard inquiry. .

I guess I should have clarified that.. they do what I have heard referred to as a 'soft' inquiry before you actually apply. Once they show you what you qualify for then you can actually submit an application and it is what is then referred to as a Hard inquiry. I wouldnt have bothered applying as I would have just assumed I would be turned down and it would have been a waste. The prequalify option worked out great. This is an excellent feature for those who dont want to have a hard inquiry on their credit report but are curious as to what Orchard will offer them. Then they can decide how to proceed.

[AngelinaCat]

Hmmmm...... Any and all credit card come-ons that have been coming in the mail have been automatically shredded and burned. I thought we wouldn't even be able to think about a cc for those emergency-type needs until we were much farther along in the process. Hmmmmm...... Food for thought.

Are there any particular brand names we should avoid like the plague?

[Flamingo]

Hmmmm...... Any and all credit card come-ons that have been coming in the mail have been automatically shredded and burned. I thought we wouldn't even be able to think about a cc for those emergency-type needs until we were much farther along in the process. Hmmmmm...... Food for thought.

Are there any particular brand names we should avoid like the plague?

Aspire, if it is still around, is one of them. Anything that offers you, say, a $300 credit limit. However, withi all the fees involved, your first bill will be for about $275 leaving you with only $25 in available credit. Also there will be a monthly maintenance fee and possibly other handling fees involved. If you get anything like that, shred/trash/recycle it.

Once you file, you can bet you will start to get those offers because those creditors glean credit reports for those filing BK. We used to get one from Aspire almost every 3 months trying to get us to bite. All you have to do is read what is involved and you will trash it immediately. We never got an offer in the mail from Orchard Bank. I applied online a few months after our discharge and was approved immediately. Washington Mutual sent an offer via the regular mail several months after our discharge and we were immediately accepted online. Both cards have zero balances now and we only use them for car repairs, car rentals or hotel if needed. Both Orchard Bank and Washington Mutual are BK friendly and will work for you as long as you pay your bill on time and stay away from offers they send out and all the blank checks that Washington Mutual sends out trying to get you to borrow on your credit limit. Rip 'em up!

[lrprn]

There's two schools of thought about taking on new credit BEFORE a Ch 7 discharge. A few think it's a good idea to jump-start credit rebuilding. However, there's a danger to taking on new credit before you're ready.

There's nothing specific in the bk law preventing getting a new credit card before Ch 7 discharge (although there is a provision in the law which clearly states you can't take on new debt before a Ch 13 discharge without your trustee's prior permission). If lenders know your Ch 7 has not yet been discharged, most will not give you credit. What happened in this case is somewhet unusual.

Since overextended credit is what got most of here in the forums into trouble, many in the know think getting new credit even before your case is discharged is like offering an addictive drug to an addict before their inpatient addiction treatment stay is over . There's been precious little time to learn how to budget and live within your means without using credit as an ongoing crutch - not a good plan for maximizing your fresh financial start.

This is why most experienced bk lawyers and others wise in post-bk financial planning will recommend waiting until after discharge to get a new credit card. It's not that you can't have one - it's that you need more time to adjust long-ingrained habits using credit that got many of us into financial trouble in the first place.

Not saying this is the case for you, Momof5- just something for every Ch 7 filer to keep in mind if getting a new cc before Ch 7 discharge is tempting you.

[momof5]

Not saying this is the case for you, Momof5- just something for every Ch 7 filer to keep in mind if getting a new cc before Ch 7 discharge is tempting you.

I actually agree with everything you said. I started the research because of a the letter from Millenium and this is just what it led to. This is definately better than a secured card and the fact that it is only $300 is a good thing!

We filed nearly 84,000 in unsecured. We had over $100,000 available! So $300 is definately not going to be difficult to handle.