Capital One Secured Credit Card Question

[mycreditisshot]

Hello! My credit is honestly shot for a while. I applied for a Capital One Secured Credit Card and was approved. I opened the account with $1,000.00 and plan on using this only for bills that I would normally pay with my debit card. I will pay bills with it and pay off the balance in full each month (actually as I charge on it). I do not want it to report a balance so I am paying the balance weekly. I just applied for the card in October. Received the card 3 weeks afterwards. I have score watch and still no alert for a new account. I know that it may take a little while before it reports and that is expected. I have used the simulator and it says that it will not increase my score. My equifax score is 482 and transunion is 492. I know it will take some time rebuilding. I am working on collections and other issues. I also have a crown jewelers account that I never used as I know the $2,500.00 limit only shows for 6 months and then drops to $500.00 so I am being wise about when to use that.

Anyways, I would like some feedback on other that have started out with a Capital One Secured as far as the length of time it takes to "unsecure". I have heard that Capital One never unsecures and I have also heard that they do unsecure and send deposits back. Can anyone help me with this?

Also, I applied with Wells Fargo several times over the past few years for a secured card and they have declined me everytime. And that is my personal bank. I have 8 checking/savings accounts with them for myself and daughters and they will not approve me for a secured card. I currently applied with B of A and was also declined for a secured card. I recently opened a checking and savings with B of A as I heard that they are "credit friendly" to their account holders. Not sure if this is true or not but thought I would give it a shot.

[LIGHTNIN]

to the forums,Sorry for the late reply, I guess holiday week will do that.

I dont know about what an secured card become unsecured. I would ask CSR at Capital One,to know for sure.Others here may chime in soon.

As for getting approved for other CC's, I would suggest repairing first, then you can start rebuilding.

I would start with having current CR's.

Then read and learn as much as you can here.The stickys at the top of this board is a good place to start.

Understand how a FICO score is calculated....What hurts and CS and What can improve one.

Start with improving your CS, by getting the baddies removed from your CR's.

If you have any questions after reading the info here, come back and post them here. 

[Ortz33__]

i got a cap one secured card in may and have kept  1000 limit on it as well.  bout to increase it to a little over 2k as i have to travel a lot for work. i've called and have spoken to a lot of different csr's about the card.  many have told me they are currently experimenting with the card and there is no guarantee it will ever secure but there are opportunities for limit increases by them. i've heard of people putting down 200 or 300 dollars and having it unsecure or increased by 100.  basically that sounds like their credit steps program just with the unsecured.  probably for those lower limit customers it's easier to do.  i know the unsecured card is something that they just started doing again in america (believe it was always available in canada) and they claim that they don't know what the future holds for card holders who have it for a year or two.  i'm just hoping for at least an increase at a year for myself.  

[Wolf3]

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@mycreditisshot wrote:

Hello! My credit is honestly shot for a while. I applied for a Capital One Secured Credit Card and was approved. I opened the account with $1,000.00 and plan on using this only for bills that I would normally pay with my debit card. I will pay bills with it and pay off the balance in full each month (actually as I charge on it). I do not want it to report a balance so I am paying the balance weekly. I just applied for the card in October. Received the card 3 weeks afterwards. I have score watch and still no alert for a new account. I know that it may take a little while before it reports and that is expected. I have used the simulator and it says that it will not increase my score. My equifax score is 482 and transunion is 492. I know it will take some time rebuilding. I am working on collections and other issues. I also have a crown jewelers account that I never used as I know the $2,500.00 limit only shows for 6 months and then drops to $500.00 so I am being wise about when to use that.

Anyways, I would like some feedback on other that have started out with a Capital One Secured as far as the length of time it takes to "unsecure". I have heard that Capital One never unsecures and I have also heard that they do unsecure and send deposits back. Can anyone help me with this?

Also, I applied with Wells Fargo several times over the past few years for a secured card and they have declined me everytime. And that is my personal bank. I have 8 checking/savings accounts with them for myself and daughters and they will not approve me for a secured card. I currently applied with B of A and was also declined for a secured card. I recently opened a checking and savings with B of A as I heard that they are "credit friendly" to their account holders. Not sure if this is true or not but thought I would give it a shot.

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The Capital One secured card has only been offered since about May of this year.  When I got mine, they said the accounts would be reviewed periodically and as your credit improved you may get additional unsecured CLI.   When your credit it good enough, you would be eligible for an unsecured card (not sure if new account or not).  They said first review at 6 months, so not many have gotten there yet. 

Wells Fargo secured card is really for building new credit, they are lots of reports of denials for bad credit.   BofA secured card is usually easier to get.   Orchard secured card is one of the easiest to get.    

I think it is unrealistic to expect any of these cards to unsecure on a fixed timetable, it may take a few years.   I think your getting secured cards with higher limits from good banks is your best bet for rebuilding.  

Not everyone aggrees, but I think in the beginning of rebuilding, you should use as much of your credit limit as you can, let it report and PIF every month.   I think it is more important to show your creditors you can handle a larger amount of credit.   The card is secured so they are not that worried that you have high utilization. You need positive history on your CR. 

You can control the utilizaion in the future when your credit improves and you are ready to apply for some unsecured credit.

[haulingthescoreup]

--and as far as util goes, you don't have to let the full amount, or any of it, report.

The problem with letting it report is that other lenders can't tell whether you're PIF'ing after the balance posts, or if you're carrying a balance. On a soft pull, they're just going to see month after month of reported balances.

But Cap One knows how you're handling the card, so that's not a problem. Cap One doesn't care what reports on its own cards, as long as it gets its money back.

[OptimalCS]

I got my secured card in 7/10 with a $200 limit. Middle score was about 600. Two months later they send me a pre-approval offer for an unsecured card. I applied and was approved for a $300 limit in 10/10. They wrote me a month later saying that if I made 7 on time payments, they'ld raise my limit to $500. I call them to try and combine credit limits $200 & $300 = $500 but they said they couldn't b/c the accounts r different. I debated whether to close the secure account. I decided to keep both. I really like capital one and I want to ride it out to see if they'll unsecure me.

[BK2010]

Hello,

I filed for BK (Bankruptcy) and had been discharged recently (September 2010). I applied for a Unsecured Capital One Credit Card in September 2010, I was approved and received a credit limit of $500.00, what a surprise! Initially, I was approved for $750.00 as stated in the letter I received a few weeks later. The letter contained their "Credit Steps" program. It expalined, that I must use the card for daily expenses such as gas, and groceries. Not to exceed the credit limit, and make 5 on time monthly payments  in order for me to receive the increase. The terms of the card as follows, $39 annual fee- 0% interest for 8 months thereafter 19.8%. Pretty good deal for me, especially since my credit score is shot as well.

This month (November 2010) I decided to apply for another Card with Capital One however, I was not approved for their Unsecured Card. Though, I was approved for their Secured Card. I decided to accept the offer, and deposit $200.00 just to help rebuild my credit score even more. For the account to post on your credit report, you must allow 30-60 business days. Sometimes, the credit simulator is not accurate and does not provide every aspect of possibilities to adjust your credit score--meaning it's very generic. As far as time it takes for the Secured Card to graduate to Unsecured depends--meaning you don't really know when it will graduate. Though, as explained about their Secured Card product, you may receive a Credit Limit Increase without you having to deposit more money into the account. The deposit you made into the Secured Card is yours, and it is fully refundable. However, in order to receive the refund upon closing the account--you must pay off the balance first. Or if your Secured Card graduates to an Unsecured Card, you may call them to receive the deposit back as well.

As far as applying for other Secured Cards, you might consider Orchard Bank, and/or Public Savings Bank. Or you may qualify for a Unsecured Card with First Premier Bank, but be warned they charge a hefty amount of fees. Visit their website if you would like to see their terms.

[Wolf3]

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@BK2010 wrote:

....

As far as applying for other Secured Cards, you might consider Orchard Bank, and/or Public Savings Bank. Or you may qualify for a Unsecured Card with First Premier Bank, but be warned they charge a hefty amount of fees. Visit their website if you would like to see their terms.

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Orchard is a good backup for a 2nd card.   Public Savings Bank does not unsecure, so you are past. that.

[dytch2220]

There are many Credit Unions that offer secured cards too.  These just require that you have a deposit on file in a share account that will then be held against the credit card..

I located these CUs doing some google searching.  If you can get into Navy, they're good.  The others either take all members or will let you in with a membership to another organization.  Typically $20-40.

Navy FCU - http://www.navyfcu.org

Stanford FCU - https://www.sfcu.org

Digital FCU - https://www.dcu.org

Cooperativa Latino CU - http://www.latinoccu.org/en
Addison Avenue FCU - https://addisonavenue.com/

As far as whether or not you'll get unsecured...I can't say.  But you can always apply for an unsecured card after 6 mos to see if things have improved.  If it doesn't convert I'd still keep the card for Average Age of Accounts unless it was imperative you get the money back for some kind of emergency.

[Jen781]

I was approved for a secured card in Oct of 2012. I put $49 down and was given a $200 credit limit. I use it strictly for gas and pay it off every month. Today, about 5 months later I was approved for an unsecured Capital One card with a $500 limit (separate account). My credit score has also jumped 75 points in 5 months from paying my student loans strictly and having a couple items removed from my reports. So I'm seeing some progress! Technically I guess I didn't answer your question, but Capital One did approve me for an unsecured card only 5 months after opening my secured one.