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BoA and WF secured cards...

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IneedAlotOfHelp
Established Member

BoA and WF secured cards...

Hey guys,

 

I am going to be applying for 2 secured cards, one for Bank of America

and another to Wells Fargo and I have a quick question about a CLI.

 

If I start with a low CL, say $1000 each now, could I increase it them

both to $3,000 in a few months if I just deposit more into the accounts?

 

Thanks!

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Probably not.  CLIs that are initiated solely by the creditor, without your request, are slow, and totally at their discretion.  Secured cards dont grant many CLIs on their own intiative.

If you request a CLI by communication with them, they can consider it a request for the extension of credit,and post a hard inquiry to your CR.

 

Message 2 of 11
Red22
Contributor

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Yes. With BofA you can increase your secured credit limit by going inside the your BofA branch or if you have an account with them, you can deposit the funds into your account and call the 800 number on your statement and request a CLI.  Usually takes about 3-5 days to post.

 

Note:  I have this CC and this is what works for me.  Sure it will work for you.  I increase my CL every month $200.00 since March 09.

 

I don't have any info. about Wells Fardo Secured CC.  Maybe someone else will respond!

Crawling At A Snails Pace . . .
.
*9/01/08 FICO; EQ:524 TU:532 FAKO;EX:536
*12/07/08 FICO; EQ:548 TU: 562 FAKO;EX:565
**03/10/09 FICO;EQ: 624 TU:563 FAKO;EX:585
**09/21/10 FICO;EQ:661 TU:679EX:663(FAKO)


Message 3 of 11
Tons_of_Debt
Established Contributor

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Yes for BofA. I started out with a $300 card and increased gradually to $1000 over the 9 months it was secured. I think it was $500 until month 7, then I bumped it to $1000 because I wanted a higher CLI once it went unsecured.

 

Once BofA unsecures you, you'll keep your CL and get an extra $500 added to it. That being said... wouldn't be a bad thing to pump some cash into it around 7 months just for the higher CLI.

 

FYI, I paid in full every month and made sure my balance was never too high when it did post. I did this by making several payments during the month.

08/01/2008 - 472 EQ; 523 TU; 454 EX
03/01/2009 - 574 EQ
08/08/2009 - 648 EQ
01/27/2010 - 671 EQ
07/04/2010 - 713 EQ
01/05/2011 - 730 EQ
05/14/16 - 762 EX
Message 4 of 11
Sparkz1920
Frequent Contributor

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Hmmmm, I have a Citi secured card now and i dont think i can do that. I want to keep it, because with time it graduates. Im a BOA member and Wells Fargo also seems pretty nice. i might do that, just keep adding money but bever really charge to much and when it graduates, just put that money into my high yield savings account

 

 

So yeah, not a bad idea at all. And your money is already growing interest as we speak.


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Message 5 of 11
clocktick
Valued Contributor

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

With BOA you can increase your limit all the way up to $10,000 as long as it's in increments of $100.  I did this about 3 weeks ago.  You can do it right over the phone if you have an account with them.  They just did a transfer from my checking to the secured account and it took 3 business days.  I'm not sure if you can do it over the phone with them if you do not have accounts with them though.
11/30/08 TU 648 EX 672 EQ 656 SEPT 2014 TU 787 EX 789 EQ ???
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Message 6 of 11
IneedAlotOfHelp
Established Member

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Please excuse my ignorance here but...

 

Does this mean if I request a CLI every month

that would significantly decrease my util and

give me many boosts in my report?

 

If they report back saying that my limits are

increasing, and I keep the balances around

the 10% mark on each, would that not be a 

huge bump in my score every time I request

a CLI and deposit more into those accounts?

 

Again, please forgive my ignorance if that is

only the case with unsecured... I'm treading

unchartered waters here haha!

Message 7 of 11
IneedAlotOfHelp
Established Member

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Little bump Smiley Tongue
Message 8 of 11
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...


IneedAlotOfHelp wrote:

Please excuse my ignorance here but...

 

Does this mean if I request a CLI every month that would significantly decrease my util and give me many boosts in my report?

 

If they report back saying that my limits are increasing, and I keep the balances around the 10% mark on each, would that not be a  huge bump in my score every time I request a CLI and deposit more into those accounts?

 

Again, please forgive my ignorance if that is only the case with unsecured... I'm treading unchartered waters here haha!



Hi, welcome to the forums!

Increasing total CL while maintaining the same balances can definitely help your scores. Whether it would be huge, and especially whether it would be huge every time, would depend on how much of a util change would result, and whether it would go from one level to another. For instance, you might not get a score change to go from 21% to 20%, but you might if you went from 20% to 19%.

And you can't expect your CCC's to increase your CL's every month. If anything, it would probably draw unfavorable attention to all your accounts, not just the one you have with a particular lender. If you are a Lord of the Rings fan, think of that giant red eye in Mordor suddenly coming alert and starting to search.

Your best bet is to not have balances, even at 10%. There's just no reason on earth to give interest money to lenders if you can pay off your balances. If you're trying to milk every last point for your scores, you would probably do better to have one card report a tiny amount (and then immediately pay it off), but that's just to amuse the FICO scoring gods. In this day and age, util under 1% is best for your scores, and for your finances.

If you haven't already, please read Understanding Your FICO ® Score and Credit Scoring 101 (at least the first post.)

These will give you the background knowledge you need to understand what you read here on the forums.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 9 of 11
IneedAlotOfHelp
Established Member

Re: BoA and WF secured cards...

Thanks Smiley Happy

 

What I'd probably end up doing is getting 2 cards from

different banks (if approved) and get limits of $1,000 at

first... Leave it be and PIF every month. Then every 3-4

months add a couple grand to each.

 

So like, month 1 = $1000/per, month 4 = $3000/per

month 7 = $5,000/per month 10 $7,000/per.

 

I wouldn't do it every month, just wondering if that was

possible.

 

Would that be "ok" to do or would that still bring unfavorable

attention to my accounts? And with CLI's, do they hard pull

or soft pull on those?

 

Thanks!

Message 10 of 11
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