Old balances on new accounts ?

[tammy]

Hi there
Just a quick question... my hub and i both had our ch 7 discharged on 3-13-2008. He has a car loan in his name only since 12/31/09 but no CC's - we both had heard if we apply for a card but its owned by a bank we owed they can tack the old balance onto the new card. We were about 175K in the hole. just on CC's and a line of credit on a GE loan.

the car loan is just in his name i pay it on time. so his credit will come up and mine will not. his credit score is 607-631 mine is 632-649 as of yesterday

I would like to apply for a veteranarian Credit Care Card, but its owned by GE so if i am approved, and buy a 28.00 medicine for my dog, is the balance going to come in 20 something thousand dollars? because that is what i owed GE ... we were told this can happen by 2 people.

i want to get my credit up and figured the vet card and a gas card is a good start. the gas card is owned by citi .. also a big balance that was written off. just really nervous anyone have any info about this ? we are discharged over 2 years now.

thanks so much

[CCsAreEvil]

So many views or no replies? Well, I'll try.

First, you are assuming you will be approved for that card. Sometimes, issuers run checks against their "red flags" database. If you BK'd on the parent, most likely, they would perform this check and decline you.

Now, if you are approved and the issuer tags on balances on loans/cards which were previously discharged in a BK, that's breaking a federal law. I do not know who told you they would do this. It just sounds incorrect and highly illegal.

[BKDefender]

Tammy - what you describe is completely illegal for the banks to do. If they even hint at "If you pay what you owed us before you filed bankruptcy, we will grant you a credit card" then they are in violation of the bankruptcy discharge injunction. Make sure to get that in writing from them, hand it to your attorney, and have them reopen your case to file a sanctions - then collect your check.

Presuming they approve you for the card, they cannot tack on ANY debt that you owed them prior to filing bankruptcy - NO EXCEPTIONS.

--William

[backtoschool]

Tammy - what you describe is completely illegal for the banks to do. If they even hint at "If you pay what you owed us before you filed bankruptcy, we will grant you a credit card" then they are in violation of the bankruptcy discharge injunction. Make sure to get that in writing from them, hand it to your attorney, and have them reopen your case to file a sanctions - then collect your check.

Presuming they approve you for the card, they cannot tack on ANY debt that you owed them prior to filing bankruptcy - NO EXCEPTIONS.

--William

Amex does this all the time. They will not grant a corporate card or personal card to anyone who owes them, until the debt is paid in full. (apparently being a signer on a "business" card as opposed to a "corporate" card is different as I just learned in another thread) They do not put the old limits owed on a new card though, and they do not actively solicit the money post bk. But paying in full what you owe them, even if it was discharged in bk, is a condition of getting a new amex card.

As to the OP's question, she is discussing GE and I agree with you that it would be illegal for GE to tack her discharged balances onto a new card. It is not going to happen in my opinion.

[tammy]

thanks so much !

OK thanks everyone phew i feel better and will go ahead and see if i get approved for the veteranarian card for the dogs.
thanks so much you guys are great !