Advice on Cap1 Secured Card .. keep or drop?

[handle_free]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to start by saying that I've been lurking around these forums for quite some time now and have found the information provided on this forum to be exceptional. Before coming across this site I knew v v little about the intricacies of proper credit management and score building.

 A little history first (will try to keep it short). I moved to the US almost 2 years ago at the end of 2011. I have a v good job that pays above 100K. Back from my home country I used credit cards sporadically so but not so much due to the high transaction fees associated w each transaction. In any case always pif and had aprox 24K in credit card spending available to me. Never came close to using the max though. Now after moving to the US I found myself needing credit cards and was astonished that my history did not carry over and I had to start over from scratch. I did deposit a sizable amount in my Chase acct but that did not matter. According to my Chase banker they would not take a risk in granting me a credit card even after citing my large deposits.

I was advised to either apply for a store card or a Cap1 card. I didn't want to go for a store card since I had a feeling I wouldnt be approved so I opted for a secured Cap1 card. I did however drop $1000 into the acct thus increasing my limit to $1200.

From time to time I would receive offers CC offers in the mail mostly from Citi w pre-approvals for their AAdvantage cards (I do a whole lot of traveling w AA) and stupid me I applied once or twice only to be rejected. So unknowingly I went into the "garden" and stayed there for aprox 1 yr until about 2 months ago. I app'd for the Amex PRG and was instantly approved and after that about 2 weeks later I app'd for the CSP and got that 1 as well with a 5K limit (did receive the 7-10 day msg and called to recon and was approved right away). Now all my spending including bills are going through these 2 cards where before I used my debit card and/or auto checking acct payments.

Now due to these 2 new acct inq my AAOA as dropped to 6 months. My oldest acct remains the secured Cap1 card but after reading various threads it seems that graduating that card to unsecured is practically impossible.

Any advice on what to do? I have 1K locked in that acct, have received zero CLI's even though the acct has been managed impeccably for almost 2 years now. I did call a CS about a year ago to inquire about a CLI and was denied. He did mention and thanked me about how great I have managed my credit w them and my acct is periodically being reviewed. Now what to do?

Should I close it or keep. I'm all ears on any advice you experts can provide.

Thanks in advance and sorry again for the long story.

My latest FACO's from Credit Secure for all 3 (Exp, TU and Eq) range from 725 to 735.

[mnosal9]

I kept my Cap 1 secured card until I got my Discover and Citibank which was 8 months later.

[528491]

Close it. Its usefulness has run its course and it'll still report for up to 10 years after its closed. With you having the CSP and the PRG, I wouldn't think twice about closing it.

[Laugh]

You can leave it open or not. Your choice.

I was going to say that you should contact Capital One's EO, but in my opinion, the two cards you have acquired, surpasses that which Capital One can offer.

[handle_free]

Thanks for the advice guys. Question though on the reporting years. So other than the drop in available credit if I close the acct the reporting will continue for another 10 yrs?

Does this apply to my wife's reports as well since she's an AU on the Cap1 card and gets a boost from having it open at the moment?

Thanks

[myjourney]

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@handle_free wrote:

Thanks for the advice guys. Question though on the reporting years. So other than the drop in available credit if I close the acct the reporting will continue for another 10 yrs?

Does this apply to my wife's reports as well since she's an AU on the Cap1 card and gets a boost from having it open at the moment?

Thanks

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Correct

[Wolf3]

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@handle_free wrote:

Thanks for the advice guys. Question though on the reporting years. So other than the drop in available credit if I close the acct the reporting will continue for another 10 yrs?

Does this apply to my wife's reports as well since she's an AU on the Cap1 card and gets a boost from having it open at the moment?

Thanks

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It may be time to close it from your credits point of view.  

However, It may not be good for her credit to close it.   What does her credit look like?

[handle_free]

She has a thin file so no luck pulling a FICO score from this site, however Credit Sesame reports a 724 and Credit karma reports a 750 score. She just recently at the beginning of March app'd and was approved after waiting a few days for own Amex BCP card starting w a 2K limit. As of last month this has now been increased to 6K thanks to the 3x CLI.

I have added her as an AU to both of my new cards as well being the Amex PRG and CSP.

So the question is now; will keeping the Cap1 card open be good for her and in the long run bad for me from other lenders perspective? especially since I want to grow my CLI's and maybe app for 1 more card to compensate for the available credit i'll have after dropping the Cap1?

Or will closing the card not have that much of an impact on her AAoA and score?

I know its kinda like catch 22.

Thanks again guys