Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried to reaffirm a Sears account? My account was closed out due to a zero balance (a policy of Sears). I filed a BK, but had no balance on my Sears account so did not file them. My CRA states the account was closed due to filing BK with them, but I did not. My attorney attempted to reaffirm the account just prior to discharge, but Sears claims the account was closed due to a zero balance and could not be reopened due to the zero balance. Sears told my attorney to have me wait four months post discharge, apply for another account and that I would be granted a new account. I called Sears up last week and was told not to fill out an application, but to call earlier in the day and speak to a credit manager. I spoke to a credit manager on Thursday and the person I spoke to said they would contact me by phone with a decision by Monday. It is now Wednesday and I have not heard back. Should I call back (I don't want to tick anyone off) or should I wait and see if something comes in the mail? Anyone who has gone through this with Sears, I would like to hear your story.
I had an old Sears (opened in 85) account that closed due to zero balance. But it was still being reported on my CR's as open with a $2800 c/l and 0 balance and a couple of 30 day lates. I tried my best to get them to reopen. She told me it would basically be re-applying plus the hard inquiry. So I said forget it. She reported as closed to all CRA's and it went away, I guess from the 7 year rule. pat
My recomendation: If you dont plan to pay off your sears card EVERY MONTH, i would keep it closed. The interest rate of 20 something % would kill your. Your better off making your purchases on a major credit card with less interest! Psugirl
As discussed before, Sears has the added value of a 12 months SAC often on appliances (this is why I got my Sears card--specifically) In addition, if you do not have your balance paid off at the end of the 12 months you only pay interest on what is left, not on the whole amount from day one-unlike many places which offer similar deals. AnnMarie
Yeah Right! If you go into sears or open up your account agreement, it does state that "interest is accured on an AVERAGE DAILY BALANCE" That means what ever your balance is each day not just a portion of it! Good luck dlo64, i hope everything works out for your advantage!
I have a 12-month deal on my dishwasher AND 6 month deal on my carpet shampooer from Sears. 0% interest, 0 payments due. No interest is being charged until AFTER the deferral period. My computer (Office Depot) is under a 12-month, 0% DEFERRED interest, min payment due plan. You better believe interest is accruing; it is now at $300+. If not paid off by May 12, it gets tacked onto my balance. Same deal with Home Depot (washer/dryer) and FNANB. Two totally different financing plans.
I have a sears card,very rarely used due to high APR anyway they (Sears) closed the account because of non-use.I called and they reactivated account for me without any troubles.Note they have a peculiar formula to determine CL's so mine is 3660 which seems like an odd amount to me (has been this amount for many years) I am curious as to when/if they raise peoples limits on this card?
I've never heard of this policy and I've had a Sears card for 11 years. Much of that time has been spent with a zero balance and the account has never been closed. Right now my credit line is $9600 and I have had a zero balance for about 6 months. Is there some sort of cutoff time that you have to go over before they close the account? Thank you for any info.
Sears s#cks anyway, they are not as great as kauffmans or lord and taylors (my two favorite department stores) o, and nordstrom!
I bought a computer from Sears last December and they offer me 0% interest for 12 months. I still pay them each month and I haven't paid them a penny of interest. Sears offer you certain things 0% interest for 12 months for certain items. Ron.
As for how long you have to have a zero balance before you get closed, I don't know. I do know that it was less than a year without a balance that I got closed out. So far I have spoken to three people at Sears credit and they told me it is their policy to close out zero balance accounts. I just don't get where they get the BK from as I did not file them. Unless they got it from the court records and thought that was a better excuse to show on my bureau instead of being "closed by grantor." I have heard from my attorney that in the past, Sears credit has been in trouble for doing not so legal actions. All I want to do is re-affirm or re-open a new account a keep a small balance to rebuild credit for future use if I need it.
I was recently approved for Sears with only a $250 CL. I guess I won't be going on any shopping sprees anytime soon. I figured a 650+ was worth more than an initial $250 CL. I will never use it except for a small purchase to keep the account open.
HI all!! I am new to this board. I have literally spent all night reading the wealth of information here. I have a question in regards to Sears. I filed B/K about 4 1/2 years ago. I had two sears accounts listed and neither of them responded. My attorney said Sears always makes you reaffirm or return ALL of their stuff. I had several thousand dollars worth. I tried on countless occasions to reach them I was always told I had to speak to their b/k dept. which was never answered. Anyway, I later learned that because of the massive class action lawsuit they lost (or settled) about them forcing reaffirmations they just never dealt with me. My credit report showed it was under investigation with a statement similar to "this will not be viewed by creditors while being investigated" for a couple of years. Then it changed to straight b/k. So finally....my question is...does Sears give credit even if you were involved in a bk with them? Does anybody think I would have any danger of them still coming after me after 4 years? By the way....I never did sign a reaffirmation agreement. I was going to but could never get through to them and they never contacted me for one.
First of all Sears almost two weeks later, Sears has called me and informed me that they have re-instated my account with my original account number. Much to my surprise, they re-instated it with the same credit limit I had when they closed my account with the zero balance. In speaking with a couple of different sources I have found out that having a Sears account will help to increase your FICO score. I know the APR is lousy, but I am trying to re-build (due to bankruptcy) so I am glad to have the account reopened. Now all I have to do is make sure I put a little something on the card so that Sears doesn't close it out because of a zero balance again. As long as you don't go crazy and pay off in a relatively short time frame, I have no problem with the high APR. If you have not jerked Sears around, they will re-instate your account usually even if you have had a BK. The trick is to not have a balance on them and file them (I had no balance, therefore did not need to file them). As to getting an account after a BK where you filed them, I know someone that did file them and Sears did force them to re-affirm for a microwave (this was 13 years ago). Just before their BK came off (the 10 year mark), Sears did give them a new account.
