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So I called BoA to see if I could recon my application for the red card. They didn't budge because of my student loans are in rehab and the rep told me that my only option was a secured card. But he informed me that if I get a secured card now, and then in 6 months when my scores go up after the rehab is complete, I could apply for an unsecured card then. He then said if I am approved, that the secured card will graduate automatically and I will end up with two unsecured cards. Anyone have any experience with this? I thought there was a one year minimum for it to graduate, but he said there wasnt. He said it's an easy way to get two unsecured cards with BoA (obviously based on approval). He said he sees it all the time.
I don't know about that. I do know that lots of people were able to graduate as early as 5 months by calling in and asking for it. Most were a HP, but I've heard it can be a SP. I will say that I have had their 99/500 secured card for 13 months now and it has not graduated yet. I could call, but I'm stubborn. They're either going to auto graduate it one day or I'll close it before the next annual fee hits. If you want your foot in the door with them, then go ahead and get the secured card. Then call in 5 months and ask for early graduation (if your student loan rehab has been completed by then).
@JMCB wrote:So I called BoA to see if I could recon my application for the red card. They didn't budge because of my student loans are in rehab and the rep told me that my only option was a secured card. But he informed me that if I get a secured card now, and then in 6 months when my scores go up after the rehab is complete, I could apply for an unsecured card then. He then said if I am approved, that the secured card will graduate automatically and I will end up with two unsecured cards. Anyone have any experience with this? I thought there was a one year minimum for it to graduate, but he said there wasnt. He said it's an easy way to get two unsecured cards with BoA (obviously based on approval). He said he sees it all the time.
There have been a lot of success stories of BoA secured cards graduating. Based on your signature, you don't seem to be hurting for credit. If your student loan rehab will be complete in 6 months, then I would wait and apply for an unsecured credit card then. I would probably wait longer but that's just me. Come and hang out in the garden.
Thanks for the info guys!! My loans finish rehabing September 1st. Should take 30 to 60 days to update and I should see close to 100 point increase. No negatives except the 14 student loans in collection right now. But the reason this made me think of asking is because the rep said I could think about it and call back and open a secured card with the same credit pull from the unsecured application from a couple days ago. So no extra hard pull. I give them $500 or so and get a secured card. Then later in the year when my score goes up, I apply for a BoA unsecured card. He said once it graduates, the credit line will at least match the new card. So basically I'm getting an extra card with no hard pull since they already pulled my credit a few days ago. Only catch is, they are holding onto my $500 for 6 months, but worth it to get two cards with one pull at the end of the year. So thats what I'm thinking.
@Nerd - Wow! Has the DW applied for an unsecured card with BoA since then? Or has she just been stuck with a secured BoA Card for 3 years?
I had a strange experience with BofA. I've read so many positive stories here that I guess I'm just an anomaly. I also had a $300 secured card. My old mortgage was with BofA before it was sold. The mortgage was during a rocky period of my credit history and was long ago. Anyway, I requested to unsecure the card and was turned down. The woman on the phone was very nice, put me on hold and came back to say that "he" didn't like my mortgage history. By this time, I had cards with decent credit limits so it didn't matter much. But still, it was $300.
When I received the letter with the denial reasons, it said that I had too few funds invested with BofA as compared to my income. Huh?
That was a new one for me.
So I'm going to go ahead and advocate for getting the secured line. BoA was my first secured card. I had a Credit One and First Premier to start then went for the secured account through BoA. Scored were about 580 at the time.
Dropped $1000.00 limit on this bad boy and ran about $800 through it every month and always PIF before the statement cut.
Around the 6 month mark I called in to ask about a possible early graduation with only a SP. Rep asked me a few questions regarding income, residence, etc. Came back and said the card would be unsecured and they also gave me a $1500.00 CLI.
Scores were around 620 at the time of early graduation.
I called and got an early graduation at my 5 month mark and BOA tripled my CL. It was the 99/500 secured card