I wanted to know if it is better yo go for the unsecured first premier bank credit card with the 95.00 program fee 48.00 set-up fee and all that. Does it make it better to have an unsecured card and pay that money or get a secured card.
I would try Orchard unsecured. You may get a $300 credit limit at about 27-29% with an annual fee. With a recent discharged BK, its going to take some time. Good luck. I filed and discharged BK in 99 (7 years now). Orchard was my first unsecured card. Also as time goes on start working on your credit report to get all the BK discharge crapola off of them. And the best advice is to use it wisely. NEVER max it out or carry a balance. Today I have no tradelines on EQ, FU, EX associated with my BK. However, the BK is still listed as a public record. EQ 757 EX 763 TU 777
I too filed bankruptcy last year...Orchard was the first one to grant me an unsecured card with a $300 limit...they do not charge you all of the hidden fees, it arrived with a $252 avalible credit line ($300-48 processing/annual fee). I have never charged more that half the limit and made sure I paid it off in full every month. Since then I have received many "preapproved" credit cards, but I tore them and now I only have a Discover card and the Orchard card. We are looking to buy a house in the next year or so. Be careful of what CC you choose, because some of them do not report to all 3 Agencies. Do your research, but the Orchard is a good start, you can find it from an ad on yahoo's home page. GOOD LUCK!
If you can find a good secured card that doesn't report as secured, that may be the best bet since there won't be as many fees. I don't know which ones report as secured and which report as unsecured, but you can search here and find some information. I think Bank of America may report as unsecured, and also let you "move up" to an unsecured card later. I think that if you get a secured Cap One card, you're stuck with a secured card and it will never unsecure. With a secured card, you can get credit limit increases by paying more money in, but at least the higher limit reports. But, with a secured card, your money is tied up. You need to do a little research and decide what works for you.
