Best Secured Credit Cards in 2014?

st789 · ‎03-11-2014

Hi all,

I initially intended to sign up for the Capitol One Secured Card because they have a branch close to my home and their lenient requirements, but I do not like that they do not refund the deposit without me having to close the account. I do not want to have to close this account in the future because it will be my oldest CC account (I do not have any other CC's). I'm looking for cards that will refund me the deposit after a few months of good payment history. Can anybody give me some suggestions? Thank you.

hajew86 · ‎03-11-2014

I'd do some more research on what CLD cards will do and wont do in terms of affecting your credit.

Try this link for clarification: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Closing-Credit-Cards/td-p/347190

Are you sure you won't be approved for an unsecured card of some kind? At least Credit One or First Premier?

baller4life · ‎03-11-2014

Bank of America. It graduates and they return your deposit. Many have been graduated as soon as 6 to 9 months.

Creditaddict · ‎03-11-2014

@st789 wrote:
Hi all,

I initially intended to sign up for the Capitol One Secured Card because they have a branch close to my home and their lenient requirements, but I do not like that they do not refund the deposit without me having to close the account. I do not want to have to close this account in the future because it will be my oldest CC account (I do not have any other CC's). I'm looking for cards that will refund me the deposit after a few months of good payment history. Can anybody give me some suggestions? Thank you.

closing your oldest account is okay... it will report as positive history for 10 years after that.

Bank of America has one of the best secured cards that can unsecure though so you wouldn't have to close... and one of the fastest at about 9-10 months to unsecure.

but have you checked the pre-qual online for capitalone? you might qualify for unsecured.

discover has a great pre-qual too.

chase, citi, and bank of america too for that matter.

mnosal9 · ‎03-11-2014

I used BofA. Graduated in 9 months

Starting: 6/2012 : EX: 485(FAKO) EQ: 490(FICO) Trans: 482(FAKO)
Current : 4/2014: EX: 650(FICO) EQ: 664 (FICO) Trans: 681 (FICO)

Cards: NPSL Amex Green (AU), $11500 Discover IT, $4000 Quicksilver One, $3500 Bank of America Travel Rewards,$3000 Amex BCE,$3000 Quicksilver One, $3000 AA, $2500 Sallie Mae MC, $5000 Citibank AA, $1500 Barclay, $1200 Macys
~Back to the Garden~

Goal Score: 700 Across!

Gardening til 8/2014!!

st789 · ‎03-11-2014

Thank you for the replies!

BOA would be ideal considering my checking/saving accts are with them. Do you know how strict their application standards are? Currently my CS is in the 570s.

baller4life · ‎03-11-2014

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Bank-Of-America-Secured-Card-Requirements/m-p...

grinlikechelsea · ‎03-11-2014

@st789 wrote:
Thank you for the replies!

BOA would be ideal considering my checking/saving accts are with them. Do you know how strict their application standards are? Currently my CS is in the 570s.

While BoA does have a secured card, they are looking for a reasonably clean file with no recent derogs. People have been declined for this card unfortunately. I don't know how low BoA's approval threshold is.

If you do get it, be sure to add the 3-2-1 rewards on it. The best secured card is one that graduates and has rewards!

st789 · ‎03-11-2014

@baller4life wrote:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Bank-Of-America-Secured-Card-Requirements/m-p...

I don't think I would be approved. I have a Chase CC that I did not pay off 5-6 years ago. Balance was around 3.5k. I'm guessing that would be considered an "unpaid charge-off account"?

baller4life · ‎03-11-2014

It says less than 3 years. Yours is double that.