I recently applied for a Bank of America Fully secured card and was recently declined. I read the forums and decided to try a Capital One Secured card even though I had a charge off about 5 years with them that was PIF on Dec of 08. The rep I spoke to was friendly and assured me that I should be in good standing to be accepted depending on the rest of my history, which most recently has no delinquent accounts. They accepted it and I gave them 49 dollars for a 200 dollar limit. I know its low but plan to put about 500 more into it this friday.
I was still mad that I had a hard inquiry from bank of america and found out (from this site) about backdoor numbers. The rep I spoke to read my history back and stated why I was denied. I then politely argued back that since May of this year I can provide documentation that those accts were PIF and on my experian report it reflects that. She then placed me on hold and when she picked up she recon'd my application and stated I am showing responsibility and she recommended that I use the card sparingly and they like to see PIF's every month even though its not required. Thanks to the knowledge of this site I was able to get credit lines over four times my deposit and yes backdoor number work like a charm.
