Building Credit: secured credit card or conventional?

[kaydubya]

After having a conventional capital one card for a while, I haven't seen them raise my limits from the initial $750 and my credit score has seemed to stagnate around 660. Im thinking its time to apply for another card.

I'm willing to put some money into a secured card, say $3000-5000. Would this be better to boost my credit and scores than another card with a relatively small balance?

[pizza1]

We need a lot more info here like.... Are you new to credit ? How long have you had your cap one? What baddies do you have showing? Any other credit like loans/ installment showing . We need more of a picture here before we can help

[kaydubya]

I've had the cap one card almost 2 years, which is when I started trying to rebuild my credit after honestly not caring about it when I was younger. Other installment loans are for a vehicle and student loans, total about $28k. There's bad marks, like late payments >36 months ago. I had one 30 day over a year ago. Otherwise I keep my card with a small balance (<5%), and any larger balances I generally pay off immediately.

[pizza1]

Do you know what your current FICO scores are? Any recent baddies like lates, etc??? Also, go the EO route on the cap one card. Search for it here in the forums, and take to read in these forums too! There's a vast knowledge here or people who have "been there don't that". You've had the cap one forb2 yrs now with no cli? Bypass customer service and email the EO directly. Ask for $3k and pc to the quicksilver, they will come back to you with a counter of what they can do. I'm assuming your history with them good? Also what's your overall cc util? Is that your only cc?

[kaydubya]

Thats a great tip , thanks. When i find the correct contact email I will do just that.

I get reports from freecreditscore so I know that the experian seems to be stagnate. I check the other reports every few months as well, same story there. The cap one is my only card, so I keep utilization well below 10%, typically below 5, but I try to avoid zero balance.

[pizza1]

Meant what are your scores? I would pull Fico scores to see what they really are and give you a real idea and we can help from there. Those other scores are FAKO

[user5387]

---

@kaydubya wrote:
After having a conventional capital one card for a while, I haven't seen them raise my limits from the initial $750 and my credit score has seemed to stagnate around 660. Im thinking its time to apply for another card.

I'm willing to put some money into a secured card, say $3000-5000. Would this be better to boost my credit and scores than another card with a relatively small balance?

---

I would suggest doing whatever you can to optimize your report, for example addressing derogatories where possible, and making sure your reported utilization is low.

If that still leaves you in a borderline position, then depositing money for a secured card with a higher CL might make sense.

Another thing you could do is go around to some local CUs, and see if they could work with you, and give you a fresh start.

[Swapmeet]

You can most likely qualify for a walmart card with scores around what you said. It will provide a better credit mix and a free Fico every month from TU....

[kaydubya]

I get the three scores from FCS, and know that they're all around the same score, but apparently FCS doesn't hold onto those reports longer than 30 days so I can't tell you precisely.  Is FICO a better place to order these from?

[pizza1]

Order your scores from here. Fico are you true scores, all others are FAKO.