The credit card
for life after Chapter 7.
Just discharged? Here's how the rebuild starts. $200 to $2,500 deposit, 13% APR on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex, monthly bureau reporting, and an automatic review loop that graduates the deposit at 6–8 months — same terms as every member.
Deposit in. Line out. Deposit back at graduation.
Eleven months after discharge is the legal sweet spot for opening a new line — your old debts are gone; the slate matters again. A secured credit card is the simplest form of revolving credit: a cash deposit backs the line, the line equals the deposit, and the deposit returns when the line graduates. No hard credit pull to open. History reports to all three bureaus the same way an unsecured card does — on every billing cycle.
$200 to $2,500 deposit. $200 is the default. Same 13% APR on every network.
13% APR — same on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex.
Same APR whether you're one year post-discharge or one year post-graduation. There is no teaser promo. The 13% APR you see on the marketing page is the rate on the statement in month one and month sixty — no tiered pricing.
- Visa. Accepted at over 200M merchants in 200+ countries — the default wherever a card is taken.
- Mastercard. Same reach as Visa, with Zero Liability protection built in. Useful online and for international travel.
- American Express. Where Amex is accepted, the limit and the 13% APR are identical to Visa and Mastercard, and the network serves you for higher-ticket purchases.
Reports to all three bureaus — every cycle.
Bureaus don't wait for you to be ready — they need to see the file grow. We make that visible every billing cycle, not just at origination. All three — Experian, TransUnion, Equifax — every cycle.
On-time payments, balances, and graduation all flow to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax on the same cadence. The file grows whether you swipe, tap, or pay online — and the bureau report is governed by the same Reg Z / CARD Act disclosures the partner bank uses.
First automatic review at 6–8 months.
The underwriting loop runs on what the statement already shows — not on the bankruptcy that's already on file. At the 6–8 months mark the account goes through an automatic review. Inputs: on-time payment history, no past-due balance, and a minimum account age. Same inputs every month — the underwriting model runs on what the statement already shows.
What graduates get: deposit returns, line becomes unsecured, the 13% APR continues. Cadence afterwards: automatic, ongoing at graduation. If graduation isn't automatic, we tell you why and what would change it — in plain English, on the statement, next to the rate.
You are not your Chapter 7.
Discharge behind you, more than six months elapsed — eligible from day one. Zodiac prices you as a clean file: same $200 to $2,500 deposit band, same 13% APR, same graduation loop as every other Zodiac member.
The bankruptcy stays on the bureau report by federal mandate, but it is not a rate tier and it is not a longer calendar. What the statement shows from this point forward is what the underwriting model reads. The older line on the report is history; the new line is the present and the future.
Six questions post-discharge applicants ask first.
Plain English, bankruptcy-specific. Same positioning as the rest of the funnel — a single edit to the shared constants updates every page.
- How soon after a Chapter 7 discharge can I get a credit card?
- No waiting period required. As soon as your Chapter 7 is discharged — typically six to twelve months after filing, depending on the trustee — you can open a new line. Eleven months post-discharge is the legal sweet spot: the old debts are gone, the slate matters again, and the rebuilt file starts compounding immediately.
- Does the bankruptcy on my credit report disqualify me from opening a new card?
- No. A discharged Chapter 7 stays on the bureau report for up to ten years by federal mandate, but it is not a disqualifier. Zodiac prices a post-discharge file the same way it prices any clean file: $200 to $2,500 deposit, 13% APR, same graduation loop. The bankruptcy already happened — what matters from this point forward is what your statement shows.
- Will opening a new card after bankruptcy hurt my score more?
- Short-term yes, long-term no — and the long-term direction is the only one that matters. A new account is the typical small initial inquiry and the standard hard pull every card opening carries, then on-time payments start reporting every cycle to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. By month six the new line is the dominant positive signal on the file; the bankruptcy recedes into the historical tail.
- What's the minimum deposit, and do I still get it back at graduation?
- $200 to $2,500 deposit, with $200 as the default. The deposit is fully refundable — you get it back, in full, when your line graduates to an unsecured one. Same mechanics for a post-discharge file as for a thin file: collateral in, line out, collateral back at graduation.
- What APR will I see, and does the bankruptcy put me at a different rate?
- 13% APR on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. No "Chapter 7 penalty tier" — pricing is the same flat rate for every Zodiac member.
- Do you report to all three bureaus so the rebuild is visible?
- All three — Experian, TransUnion, Equifax — every cycle. On-time payments, balances, and graduation all flow to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax on the same cadence. The file grows whether you swipe, tap, or pay online — and every cycle the bureaus see the line mature, not the historical bankruptcy.
Same deposit. Same 13% APR. Same graduation loop.
$200 to $2,500deposit on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. Reports to all three bureaus every cycle. Deposit returns at graduation, full stop. Apply now, or get on the list and we'll let you know when your window opens.
Same discharge window, same deposit, same APR — but maybe a few weeks out. Drop your email and we'll send one message when your window is open.