I just Got Approved for my 2nd Credit card since my discharge (Hooters Mastercard)

[Logan]

Hard inquiries are on credit reports for two years for a reason - the creditors can determine from the amount of inquiries how much one is attempting to obtain credit and with who covering that time span; it used to be only one year and was changed a few years back to two years. If any credit is approved, it hits one's credit report almost instantenously as anyone with a credit monitoring service can attest. I recently applied for and was granted a Kohl's charge and it was on my credit reports the next day as Kohl's along with the credit inquiry. A lot of inquiries with no new credit can indicate a lot of denials.

i agree but inquiries aren't that big of deal. I just applied for credit with a company my dentist uses because I'm about to get about 8K in dental work completed. Unfortunately I was given false information and applied for the credit but was never going to get approved because of my BK (they had told me 3 yrs out of BK but it's actually 7). Just out of curiosity I ran my credit and I was 1 point lower than the previous month--Not much of a hit. It also showed 9 hard inquiries over the past 2 years and I had a 706 FICO.

Fortunately I have a wife with good credit so I just applied for the credit under her name and I got it.
BTW--I hate going to the Dentist.

Logan

[Amy26]

Well there are two sides to inqueries... the score impact and the lender acceptance impact. Logan you are correct in that inqueries don't really affect your score all that much. They also stop affecting it so much after a certain threshold number. However, the other side to it is the creditor acceptance threshold. Most creditors will flat out deny you because of "number of recent inqueries". Your credit could be spotless otherwise but deny you strictly on your inquery count. There is quite a large movement in the credit world for having all inqueries removed from reports (can do a google search for the term "bumpage").

So, while an inquery may not do you much harm in regards to your score they can severely hinder your ability to obtain credit just due to their existance. Managing inqueries is quite a science from what I've learned.

[Logan]

Well there are two sides to inqueries... the score impact and the lender acceptance impact. Logan you are correct in that inqueries don't really affect your score all that much. They also stop affecting it so much after a certain threshold number. However, the other side to it is the creditor acceptance threshold. Most creditors will flat out deny you because of "number of recent inqueries". Your credit could be spotless otherwise but deny you strictly on your inquery count. There is quite a large movement in the credit world for having all inqueries removed from reports (can do a google search for the term "bumpage").

So, while an inquery may not do you much harm in regards to your score they can severely hinder your ability to obtain credit just due to their existance. Managing inqueries is quite a science from what I've learned.

All I care about is getting a Mortgage in the future and when applying for a mortgage they may ask you to explain inquiries made in the past which in my case is easily done.

Also, in my case I would not have made so many inquiries if I wasn't obtaining credit. The only denials I've had are because I'm not far enough out of BK and had nothing to do with FICO and number of inquiries.

Logan

[Logan]

Something else I've learned after BK is once you've cleaned up your credit it's the BK that becomes the limiting factor no matter how good your credit has become. I've been approved for a Mtg at decent rates, 3 car loans with one at the dealer incentive of 3.9%, and multiple credit cards. The credit that I have been denied for didn't deny me because of FICO, payment history, inquiries etc..but because of my BK. I could have had a 800 FICO and still been denied those 3 times because they will not lend to people out of BK for a long time if at all.

There is too much emphasis on FICO scores, credit inquiries etc..Today I will be buying a $800 computer from Best Buy and considered applying for the 0% interest card. I would expect to be denied because of my BK and if my score was 50 points higher I would still expect to be denied because of my BK so I will just pay the old fashioned way with a credit card.

Logan

[dumpinmydebt]

A few points can make a difference, and having too many inquiries can knock a couple points off. I worked for a mortgage broker and saw people with a crapload of inquiries, some lenders did not like that at all. They viewed it as irresponsible. Some people were also just below the required credit score because they recently kept applying for credit.

[tobee43]

Thanks to EVERYONE for the Feedback!
_____________________________________________

How long would you say before applying for a 3rd credit card? Its been almost 3 years since discharge.

Others - Please VOICE In...

Much Appreciated!

-C

we also have two....that's it.
we don't need them any longer really. but of course, would like to rebuild our credit slowly.

i personally think time is most important...the more time between you and your bk will help you credit just as well....we are finding that out now. offers for car loans have piling in and really that was what we were worried about.

we did want to get a mortgage on this house, but the owner has agreed to hold the mortgage so that it for us!

[Amy26]

Nobody is incorrect at all... everyone has valid points but the denial reasons will be different depending on where you go. For example, a CU can be very bankruptcy friendly but still deny you because you have too many inqueries or require a certain credit score (even with the BK) before they will approve anything. And, as Logan said some mortgage lenders will overlook the inqueries if you can explain them... it just all depends on the lender. Credit is stupid and I hate it utterly but unfortunately its a neccestity for *some* things.

Time does help credit yes, but if your report is all screwed up and reporting bad things the only thing time will do is make it worse. Even after you clean up your credit you run the risk of the nasty BK'd creditors sneaking stuff in again. I cleaned up my report right after discharge and now I have the creditors deciding they wanna start reporting delinquency dates and charge offs. So, you do still need to monitor it and dispute when necessary. This of course should not turn into an obsession but definately something to keep in the foreground.

My employment is actually dependant on my credit (another stupid thing) and when they recertify us and redo our security they always check my credit again and we have to explain anything that they don't like or didn't know about previously.

Personally, so far, I haven't found the actual BK to be the hinderance for me...but I'm sure there will be times that I do. I've certainly had to do my fair share of explaining it and I know I will never get credit with companies like Chase and Citibank again but ... who cares. I have an awesome credit union now and now I will be doing what tobee is doing and just letting my credit age (assuming I can get the rest of these stupid delinquency reports off!).

[tobee43]

Nobody is incorrect at all... everyone has valid points but the denial reasons will be different depending on where you go. For example, a CU can be very bankruptcy friendly but still deny you because you have too many inqueries or require a certain credit score (even with the BK) before they will approve anything. And, as Logan said some mortgage lenders will overlook the inqueries if you can explain them... it just all depends on the lender. Credit is stupid and I hate it utterly but unfortunately its a neccestity for *some* things.


yes, i hear you ...you have to be on top of it all.....and like you are saying you had it all cleaned up only to find creditors reporting incorrect info...which personally i would file a complaint with the FTC if it happens to us...i'm tried of the misinformation they provide...it's so frustrating.

and i also think you're right...no one is incorrect...this is actually "personal"....and it's odd to find out all is not "equal" in credit reporting...so we are our own BEST advocates!

LOL!! yes, my credit will continue to age...along with me!!!
Time does help credit yes, but if your report is all screwed up and reporting bad things the only thing time will do is make it worse. Even after you clean up your credit you run the risk of the nasty BK'd creditors sneaking stuff in again. I cleaned up my report right after discharge and now I have the creditors deciding they wanna start reporting delinquency dates and charge offs. So, you do still need to monitor it and dispute when necessary. This of course should not turn into an obsession but definately something to keep in the foreground.

My employment is actually dependant on my credit (another stupid thing) and when they recertify us and redo our security they always check my credit again and we have to explain anything that they don't like or didn't know about previously.

Personally, so far, I haven't found the actual BK to be the hinderance for me...but I'm sure there will be times that I do. I've certainly had to do my fair share of explaining it and I know I will never get credit with companies like Chase and Citibank again but ... who cares. I have an awesome credit union now and now I will be doing what tobee is doing and just letting my credit age (assuming I can get the rest of these stupid delinquency reports off!).

yes, i hear you ...you have to be on top of it all.....and like you are saying you had it all cleaned up only to find creditors reporting incorrect info...which personally i would file a complaint with the FTC if it happens to us...i'm tried of the misinformation they provide...it's so frustrating.

and i also think you're right...no one is incorrect...this is actually "personal"....and it's odd to find out all is not "equal" in credit reporting...so we are our own BEST advocates!

LOL!! yes, my credit will continue to age...along with me!!!

[nc73]

Just curious, but why did you wait so long? I got one cap one card at 500 the day after bk and another cap one 2 months later at 2k limit. Capital one is weird...

I just Got Approved for my 2nd Credit card since my discharge (Hooters Mastercard)

My first card was a 5/3 Optimum with a $500 Credit Limit back in 2008

Around November of 2010 i applied for the HOOTERS Mastercard and they approved me for $1250.

Now i will earn back the trust of the lenders...Lookin forward to doin this.

It's been hard!

-C