Exactly, Cap1, Providian and others give us credit when no one else would, and that is the thing I do not understand about his statements. * Only have 2 cards * Never close anything It is impossible to do both, unless somehow you start out with two great prime cards. Personally I wish companies like Cap1 and Providian would add more Prime products, I guess they have some cards that are near there, but they are still lacking in customer service and other areas... because I would stay with them for the long haul, instead of Chase, Citi etc. who treat me like a leper at this point. A company that gives me a chance and treats me right, Ill stick with them.
I agree with radio. Also, this stuff about paying early means don't wait until the last moment to pay your credit cards. My Camry loan is four years. It will be paid in 4 years not paid early unless I buy a house. 4 years of never late payments builds trust. Without a BK, if I pay it off early it is no big deal. But with a BK I have to be careful what I do.
I also disagree on Stephen's comment about Capital One. Capital One has personally treated me very well. I started with a classic visa then I was upgraded to gold and I have just recently been upgraded to a Platinum Visa card. My a.p.r. has went from 19.8% to 12.9% and my annual fee has been eliminated. Capital One has rewarded me along the way and that makes me feel good and I plan on being a loyal Capital One customer for life !!!!
My roommate has had the completely opposite experience with Cap One. She applied for a Platinum Cap One card and received a classic card with a $200 credit limit. This despite credit scores over 700, no late payments and a MBNA card with a $17,000 credit limit that she's had for 18 years. She kept Cap One for two years and her credit limit was increased to $400. She finally called and PFB'd Cap One to increase her credit limit and was turn down flat. She then applied for Bank of America and Chase cards and was approved for $6000 each. Cap One is nothing but a bad memory and MBNA, B of A and Chase now has her business
I think what Stephen was trying to say was have only two cards to get the highest FICO scores, but once you've boosted your scores high enough, apply for one prime card and close an account then a few months later, apply for another prime card, then close an account. He suggested two cards, but as they FICO scoreboard indicated a person can have up to 5 cards before FICO scores take a serious hit. As for never closing anything...I believe you have to take a look at the situation. As soon as my bk is discharged, I'm going to apply for a FCNB Visa and MC. I plan to keep both of them for 3-4 years. After that point, I plan to apply for a "prime" card. If I get it, I will cancel one and keep on trucking with the other FCNB card. Then in another year, I will apply for another prime card for a total of three cards. That way I have one card with a 5+ year credit history and two prime cards. Once my bankruptcy falls off in 10 years, I can then replace my FCNB cards and have three prime cards. I think closing a bunch of accounts or switching cards like crazy looking for lower rates sends up warning flags to creditors. If I was Citibank or Chase or B of A and saw a customer opening and/or closing a bunch of credit card accounts I would get nervous or suspect fraud. Plus if you're applying for new cards, your CR is getting hit with inquiries.
What is so ironic about my situation is the judge refused to reaffirm my loan with Mazda so I'm making payments on a car that I will never get credit for on my CR. However since I'm current on my loan I can keep the car, buy another one from Ford (I spoke to the Finance Manager at the Ford dealership) and just turn my Mazda in since it's already included in bankruptcy. Personally I'd prefer to keep the car and refinance the car so I can get the info reported to the CRs.
You have a good plan, I was just thrown off by that statement of "never close a credit account". How long did it take him to get to 800? I saw fingerhut on my friends report, and I told him to close it 50k in lines and he had a fingerhut $140 high balance on his report because there was something in the catalogue he liked
Stephen Snyder recommends applying for a secured Visa and/or MasterCard from First Consumer National Bank. They only require a $100 deposit and they will offer you up to 3 times your deposit. The accounts are reported to all the credit bureaus and will be unsecured after one year of good payments. As for getting a car....Stephen said you needed to interview dealers and get pre-approved BEFORE shopping for a car. Just like buying a house, you don't fall in love and then fall to pieces when your mortgage falls through at the last minute. Basically Stephen said call your local dealership and ask to speak to the finance manager. Then give the finance a 30 second sound bite explaining your situation and your accomplishments. For example: "I'm Jane Doe and my bankruptcy was discharged three months ago. Since my bankruptcy I have paid all my bills on time and opened two secured credit card accounts. I have worked at XYZ company making $2000 per month and I have $1000 to put down on a new or used car. Can you finance me with a mainstream lender (i.e. Ford Motor Credit, GMAC, Toyota Motor Credit, Honda Finance, Mazda American Credit, etc. or a bank like Chase, B of A or Wells Fargo)?" If the manager says "No"...Thank him for his time and move to next dealership on the list. Don't let him talk you into Household, AmeriCredit, American General...you've declared bankruptcy...not committed mass murder. If the manager say "Yes"...Ask the following questions: 1. When was the last time you financed someone with a bankruptcy? 2. What would be the down payment range be on a deal like yours? 3. Ask if the credit manager will review a copy of your credit report to determine your chances of being approved (the key...pull your own credit report so it's not a strike against you...don't give out your SS# left and right and allow finance manager to pull your CR like crazy) 4. Once the finance manager has approved the loan and given you an amount, estimated monthly payment and interest rate, ask him to introduce you to the best salesman in the dealership. You don't want to deal with Junior who just started last week. 5. Now just because you have bad credit doesn't mean you have to pay through the nose for interest or for the car itself. Check out the True Market Value on the Edmunds.com website and be prepared to negotiate. http://www.edmunds.com/products/tmv/index.html?id=lin9137 No matter what, you still have the power to walk away from the deal. If it's helpful...take a friend/spouse with you to the dealership and play "Good Cop...Bad Cop" with the dealership if they refuse to deal with you (When I bought my first car I took my mom with me who pulled her "crotchy old woman" routine at the dealership and managed to knock a $1000 off the price of the car). As Stephen pointed out, people who have filed bankruptcy are a pretty safe bet; we can't file for bankruptcy for seven years. Creditors are starting to realize this and are reaching out to this market. Some like Ford are trying to be helpful; some like Cross Country Bank are trying to screw us poor unfortunates like crazy. What's going to save all of us is knowledge. Knowledge from books. Knowledge from seminars. Knowledge from our fellow credit reprobates <weg> Once we stop letting people screw us, they'll start respecting and helping us. Cynthia <---getting off her soap box and going to bed
Stephen filed in 1993. He admitted he made mistakes because he didn't know any better and tried the "cash only" basis for a while. He signed on with Bradley Ross in May, 1999 and by October, 1999 they had deleted his bankruptcy off all three CRs and two of his scores hit 800. Now he tracks some of his success stories and he says many of his attendees have hit 700 within one year after bankruptcy following his suggestions. He figures if he knew then what he knows now, he would probably would have hit 800 in 24-36 months after bankruptcy.
Bradley Ross must be associated with Lexingon in some way, some of the verbage on the site is word for word... or is someone just cut and pasting off the other? Anyone know?
I emailed Stephen Snyder with questions. I'm sharing his responses: Question: I attended your morning seminar session on March 2nd in Costa Mesa, CA. I really enjoyed the seminar and learned a great deal Glad to have you. I do have one question. In the seminar you recommended First Consumer National Bank as a good place to get a secured card. However FCNB is about to be sold...possibly to Household. Here are the links: http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020221/200202211831000739_4.html http://consumers.creditnet.com/stra...read.php?s=&pgnum=16&postid=146954#post146954 Based on this information, do you still recommend them and/or do you have any other credit card recommendations? I've been watching this closely. And if they, fcnb, is sold. It will depend on who they are sold to and how they change their current program. So I will need to get back with you once a buyer is found. Right now its wait and see. This is another reason we are starting our own bank. We think we can do the same as FCNB, maybe better. : ) I know you dislike Capital One and Providian...do you have any opinions about Orchard Bank or American Pacific Bank? I use to like both of them. I stopped recommending orchard when household bought them. However, american pacific is great. In fact, they were the first bank card we received after our bk's. Thanks in advance!! Thank you. Good questions. Keep smiling, Stephen P.s. And thanks for the good post on creditnet.net (one correction though. Equifax DOES sell their fico credit score. Only experian and TU play games. That is why its best to go through a mortgage lender for all 3. (its a lot toabsorb in 4 hours. You did great)
BTW... If you'd like to ask Stephen Snyder questions, his email address is: stephen@afterbankruptcy.com I emailed him on Saturday and I got a reply on Monday. That's not too bad considering he must get innudated with emails every day.
To Topazmoon: So Mazda told you the only way they'll report your payments is if you reaffirm?? I've never heard of that in all the bankruptcies I've read about. If you're paying, what's the difference? They're still getting their money. Maybe you should wait and see what will be reported. I didn't reaffirm and my car payments are showing up just fine. No notation of the bk either.
When I checked my credit reports two weeks ago, Mazda showed as either "discharged in bk" or "included in bankruptcy." I'm strongly leaning towards turning in the car, saving the money I would have put towards car payments in my savings account and buy another car later this fall. A friend just bought a Hyundai Accent and is very happy with it and her payments are $150 less than my current payments. Right now I'm more willing to give Hyundai a shot than Ford.
Yes that was a good post. I wonder did it cost to attend. I agree with the 2 credit cards and good credit. I'm 6 years out Ch7 and I have 5 cards. I think my ideal situation would be to have two PRIME bank or LOCAL BANK 10k plus Visa or MC's with some perks (cash back or miles), a store or Gas card and an Amex product.
Toyota Motor Credit 4.9% apr. They had even lower rates but I did not qualify for them yet. I did get a terrific price onthe car.
Thats true.. My oldest active account right now is a Providian. I'll keep this card a couple years past totally clean reports and sporatically put some gum and candy on it just to keep the activity. And of course they will still get the Annual fee from me. I'm thinking you can get to the point where you could get the other cards that you want and afford to close your oldest "subprime" card and take the it on F.I.C.O. After all if you have the two credit cards that you want what else would you be applying for (regularly)?
One thing he said about mortgages is wrong, though. You can get a mortgage after 12 months, but it will be at a high interest rate. Most "A" rate lenders now want to see 4 years after a bankruptcy. I just refied and I called all over town, the answer was the same - 4 years to get "A" rates.
The seminar was free of charge as was the parking at the hotel. Stephen said each seminar costs approximately $62,000 to put on in each city. He covers the costs by asking creditors to donate money towards the After Bankrutpcy Foundation which is non-profit. He doesn't sell any videos. He doesn't sell tapes. He does sell a few of his book "Credit after Bankruptcy" at the seminar, but he emphasizes that everything that's in the book is discussed at the seminar. He's funny and articulate and it wasn't a bad way to spend four hours on a Saturday morning.
