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My DH and I both got secured cards in May 2012 in attempt to start fixing our credit. I paid $49 for a $200 CL and he paid $200 for a $200 CL. The first 2 months, I pretty much maxed it out, but PIF. I added another $100 to increase my CL. I probably used about 70% of the CL, but continued to PIF. At the same time, my husband maxed his out and was paying about $30-$50/month on it. Cap1 gave him an auto CLI of $100, while mine remained the same. Why is that? What am I doing wrong or what is he doing right? What can I do to possibly get a CLI without an extra deposit?
Ravensfan2001
I can tell you from my experience what happend with my Cap1 secured card. I basically did the same as you charged almost max and PIF for a couple of months. Then after I paid on my card month to month for about 3 months they gave me a 100 CLI. So I can't say that's exactly what it was from but from all the research I did from what others did it seemed to be inline.
Seems like CAP 1 likes to make the most money on you and to do that if you charge alot and then pay month to month they really like that. But as always YMMV
I emailed EO and when they called the said my cards do not qualify for a CLI since they are secured. I paid 29.00 on one for a 200 line of credit and the other - I think I put the full dollar amount in this was 2 years ago. So on both accounts she said since they are Secured that the only way for me to increase is deposit more but that I was welcomed to apply for a different type of card with them.
This was my experience with them two days ago.
@Ravensfan2001 wrote:My DH and I both got secured cards in May 2012 in attempt to start fixing our credit. I paid $49 for a $200 CL and he paid $200 for a $200 CL. The first 2 months, I pretty much maxed it out, but PIF. I added another $100 to increase my CL. I probably used about 70% of the CL, but continued to PIF. At the same time, my husband maxed his out and was paying about $30-$50/month on it. Cap1 gave him an auto CLI of $100, while mine remained the same. Why is that? What am I doing wrong or what is he doing right? What can I do to possibly get a CLI without an extra deposit?
You are both doing it right. My guess is you started out with $150 unsecured CL and he started with $0 unscecured CL and now has $100 unsecured You are still ahead by $50. I think the unsecured CLI is a 1 time thing at 6 months, and not everyone gets it.
Adding to the deposit is a good thing if you can spare it. It can help you get a larger CL when you apply for unsecured Cap1 later. I built my deposit to $2200 over 1.5 years time and applied for unsecured with Cap1. Got a $3000 cash back card with $500 step at 6 months.
Wolf3, I do have another secured card - $500 rewards Visa with SDFCU with no AF and 6% APR. I'm thinking that if I can afford to put more money into a secured card, it would be that one. It doesn't graduate, either. I'm sticking with Capital One only because it's my oldest card. Should I put money into both?
@Ravensfan2001 wrote:Wolf3, I do have another secured card - $500 rewards Visa with SDFCU with no AF and 6% APR. I'm thinking that if I can afford to put more money into a secured card, it would be that one. It doesn't graduate, either. I'm sticking with Capital One only because it's my oldest card. Should I put money into both?
Assuming you expect a long term relationship with SDFCU, I would put money there first. If you are planning to apply for unsecured Capital One in the future, putting some extra deposit there will help with that, if not I would not bother.