topic Secured vs unsecured in Credit Cards

Secured vs unsecured

TrishN — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:02:37 GMT

My question is:

Secured and Unsecured. Is it same reporting and they both reporting like credit card?

Re: Secured vs unsecured

Revelate — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:09:19 GMT

TrishN wrote:
My question is:
Secured and Unsecured. Is it same reporting and they both reporting like credit card?

Generally secured cards report as secured (few exceptions, NFCU, Cap One, USAA secured credit card to my knowledge); however, they make no difference as far as FICO scoring is concerned and both report as revolving accounts - credit cards; the secured detail is a note in the margins which doesn't factor into the scoring algorithm and as such they're useful for building or rebuilding one's credit report and score.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

TrishN — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:12:14 GMT

What about BOA secured card. Do they report secured or just revolving ?

Re: Secured vs unsecured

distantarray — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:13:14 GMT

Revelate wrote:
TrishN wrote:
My question is:
Secured and Unsecured. Is it same reporting and they both reporting like credit card?
Generally secured cards report as secured (few exceptions, NFCU, Cap One, USAA secured credit card to my knowledge); however, they make no difference as far as FICO scoring is concerned and both report as revolving accounts - credit cards; the secured detail is a note in the margins which doesn't factor into the scoring algorithm and as such they're useful for building or rebuilding one's credit report and score.

it's good to note that even if your Fico is ok some companies watch out for sub predatory lenders so you have to be very careful. Don't settle for a terrible company like First Premier where you'll just waste your money. if your building or rebuilding always use secured no matter what imo. Also get a secured card that graduates. Digital credit union, Navy Federal, and many other banks are the ones you want. have those cards for a year and start applying for prime credit cards. In a manual review secured cards are great cause it can show lenders that you do not live paycheck to paycheck.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

tattooedhusker — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:13:46 GMT

OpenSky reports as a normal revolving CC, all depends on the bank I suppose

Re: Secured vs unsecured

Revelate — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:14:21 GMT

TrishN wrote:
What about BOA secured card. Do they report secured or just revolving ?

Secured but it graduates reliably. Personally I don't worry about secured vs. unsecured when it comes to building, and the BOA secured with the 1-2-3 rewards package is really about as good as you can possibly do from a secured card perspective.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

ccnewcc — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:14:32 GMT

Revelate wrote:
TrishN wrote:
My question is:
Secured and Unsecured. Is it same reporting and they both reporting like credit card?
Generally secured cards report as secured (few exceptions, NFCU, Cap One, USAA secured credit card to my knowledge); however, they make no difference as far as FICO scoring is concerned and both report as revolving accounts - credit cards; the secured detail is a note in the margins which doesn't factor into the scoring algorithm and as such they're useful for building or rebuilding one's credit report and score.

I've read that USAA secured cards do report as Secured.

Don't know as I don't have experience, but thats what some ppl on here have reported.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

Revelate — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:17:38 GMT

ccnewcc wrote:
Revelate wrote:
TrishN wrote:
My question is:
Secured and Unsecured. Is it same reporting and they both reporting like credit card?
Generally secured cards report as secured (few exceptions, NFCU, Cap One, USAA secured credit card to my knowledge); however, they make no difference as far as FICO scoring is concerned and both report as revolving accounts - credit cards; the secured detail is a note in the margins which doesn't factor into the scoring algorithm and as such they're useful for building or rebuilding one's credit report and score.
I've read that USAA secured cards do report as Secured.

Don't know as I don't have experience, but thats what some ppl on here have reported.

USAA secured loans definitely report as secured (personal experience); however, whenever I have mentioned that fact as a possibility with their secured credit cards, it has always been stated differently by people who currently have one. That may have changed at some point again as I can't remember the topic in the last 2-3 months, but as of latest information that's what's been stated.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

TrishN — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:18:26 GMT

Is it the best if you handle big CL like 10k better than 1k secured?

Re: Secured vs unsecured

distantarray — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:22:04 GMT

TrishN wrote:
Is it the best if you handle big CL like 10k better than 1k secured?

like stated secured cards are best option when building or rebuilding, but if your in prime credit score territory 720+ then apply for the best cards and for the ones you want, higher limits are good cause it makes your fico score a steady stream instead of a rocky road with credit/debt utiity.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

Revelate — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:25:51 GMT

TrishN wrote:
Is it the best if you handle big CL like 10k better than 1k secured?

If you can afford to put 10K on a secured card, then yes typically it is better than a 1K line on a secured card for future underwriting concerns. Many forum members have reported vastly shortened walks to higher unsecured credit limits with a larger secured deposit, than those who started with more modest amounts.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

distantarray — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:30:59 GMT

another thing to note as well you can put upto $100,000 in a secured credit line if you really want to with some banks, but anything over $50,000 is not recommended because it will not report balances to the CRA and be more of an invisible tradeline, this is because extremely rich people or business expenses can total up a lot and it isn't fair that their personal score goes into a roller coaster mode every month.

At the Max I would say $20,000 per card

Re: Secured vs unsecured

cashnocredit — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:43:02 GMT

Revelate wrote:
TrishN wrote:
Is it the best if you handle big CL like 10k better than 1k secured?
If you can afford to put 10K on a secured card, then yes typically it is better than a 1K line on a secured card for future underwriting concerns. Many forum members have reported vastly shortened walks to higher unsecured credit limits with a larger secured deposit, than those who started with more modest amounts.

Yup, No way would I have over 50k in Cls today when I had no CCs 4 years ago without high deposit secured accounts. Both of my secured cards were unsecured while I still had CAs and a PR reporting. Without the secured cards I'd have been lucky to get an unsecured Orchard or anything over $1000 more likely than not.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

newportguy — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:58:01 GMT

11-14-2012 02:13 PM

OpenSky reports as a normal revolving CC, all depends on the bank I suppose

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I had OpenSky for 2 years till yesterday. Begining this month on my EQ report it started reporting as a Secured Credit Card.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

Cadillac-XTS — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:44:44 GMT

50k is alot on a single card especially if it was my own money lol

Re: Secured vs unsecured

TrishN — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:25:17 GMT

I just put 10k to BOA secured card hopefully they will change to unsecured when it past 1 year.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

TrishN — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:26:37 GMT

Opensky do they change to unsecured credit card after 1 year perfect payment?

Re: Secured vs unsecured

bahbahd — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:53:43 GMT

I thought BoA had $5k limits on their secured. I've not yet seen secured cards over $5 limits, but would like to know who has them.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

HiLine — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 04:37:12 GMT

Lol at the 50k+ credit lines. Give me 40k for a year and I can show you a better way to build your credit. After 1 year I wil return your 40k. Win-win. ;)

+1 for BofA Bankamericard ~~Travel~~ Cash Rewards secured card being the best of its kind. The upper limit for the credit line is 10k. The card is reported as a secured card, which is not as valuable as an unsecured card with the same credit limit from a prime lender when you apply for a card and get your application manually reviewed.

Edited: I meant to say Cash Rewards, not Travel Rewards. Sorry about the confusion.

Re: Secured vs unsecured

bahbahd — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:15:23 GMT

HiLine wrote:

+1 for BofA Bankamericard Travel Rewards secured card being the best of its kind. The upper limit for the credit line is 10k. The card is reported as a secured card, which is not as valuable as an unsecured card with the same credit limit from a prime lender when you apply for a card and get your application manually reviewed.

I'm not sure if they offer this card (anymore?) I've never seen it and don't see it on their site.