I need another secured card... suggestions?

[vish1]

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@vish1 wrote:

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@twall06 wrote:
You let one report a balance pay it before the due date and no interest will be charged.

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I guess i'm not quite understanding how it can report a balance at all if you're paying it before the due date? 

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Most cards report the balance from the monthly statement so you can have a balance in statment but still pay in full before due date.

So this is what you should do:

1. Use only 1 card, no need to use others. Make sure that you pay most of the current balance on your card 2-3 days before statement date (this way your card statement will show a due of 5-9% of your CL for that card)
2. Pay your card dues before the due date (so that you are NOT charged interest).

3. You don't need 4 cards, 2 are good (no reason to pile up too much AF)

Hope this makes it easy.

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Thank you!!! Should I only use one of the cards period? Or maybe alternate each month between which ones we use?

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No need to alternate.

[Wolf3]

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@Wolf3 wrote:

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

I am trying to rebuild my husbands credit, almost all his baddies are gone, he was approved for a cap one secured $99 deposit, $200 CL, we are joining a credit union that offers a secured cc we plan to apply for, but i've heard having 3-4 cc's is the best way to build scores fast. I plan to only use 1 of the cc's at 1-9% and leave the other 2 alone. Can anyone reccomend another secured card besides cap one and a secured card through the bank? I've heard BoA secured was actually kind of hard to get, so I'm not gonna waste apping for that either. Thanks in advance!!

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I don't think 3 to 4 is better than 2 CC.  I suggest you stop at 2 secured  cards and put that extra money as additional deposit on those 2.  IMO, 2 higher limit cards is superiour to 4 lower limit cards. You might want a 3rd card but only if you want to build a long term relationship with that bank/CU.   

I suggest you use CC for your normal purchases and Pay if Full by the due date, don't pay any interest.    You want to be a profitable customer so there is more reason to offer you unsecured credit.    You can save the utilization trick for later when it is time to apply for more unsecured credit, it does not help at this point. 

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The sole purpose we have for getting cc's is to build his score up at a slightly fast speed over the next 8 months as we are app'ing for a mortgage in December. I don't care about unsecured cards, I just care right now about building the score up over the next few months to be able to qualify for a home loan. I've been told by several members in these forums they had large score increases in a 6 month time frame by having 3-4 cc's and letting one report a balance, keeping the others at 1-9% util etc. so that is what I am trying to do. I guess 2 cc's will have to cut it though cause no one has any suggestions of what 3rd secured card we should app for.

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In that case, I would get a 3rd card (maybe 4).   USBank, CITI, WellsFargo, BofA all have good secured cards.     

Since your husband got the $99 deal from Capital One, he is likely to get approval for most secured cards.

[cwwatts1202]

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@Wolf3 wrote:

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@Wolf3 wrote:

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

I am trying to rebuild my husbands credit, almost all his baddies are gone, he was approved for a cap one secured $99 deposit, $200 CL, we are joining a credit union that offers a secured cc we plan to apply for, but i've heard having 3-4 cc's is the best way to build scores fast. I plan to only use 1 of the cc's at 1-9% and leave the other 2 alone. Can anyone reccomend another secured card besides cap one and a secured card through the bank? I've heard BoA secured was actually kind of hard to get, so I'm not gonna waste apping for that either. Thanks in advance!!

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I don't think 3 to 4 is better than 2 CC.  I suggest you stop at 2 secured  cards and put that extra money as additional deposit on those 2.  IMO, 2 higher limit cards is superiour to 4 lower limit cards. You might want a 3rd card but only if you want to build a long term relationship with that bank/CU.   

I suggest you use CC for your normal purchases and Pay if Full by the due date, don't pay any interest.    You want to be a profitable customer so there is more reason to offer you unsecured credit.    You can save the utilization trick for later when it is time to apply for more unsecured credit, it does not help at this point. 

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The sole purpose we have for getting cc's is to build his score up at a slightly fast speed over the next 8 months as we are app'ing for a mortgage in December. I don't care about unsecured cards, I just care right now about building the score up over the next few months to be able to qualify for a home loan. I've been told by several members in these forums they had large score increases in a 6 month time frame by having 3-4 cc's and letting one report a balance, keeping the others at 1-9% util etc. so that is what I am trying to do. I guess 2 cc's will have to cut it though cause no one has any suggestions of what 3rd secured card we should app for.

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In that case, I would get a 3rd card (maybe 4).   USBank, CITI, WellsFargo, BofA all have good secured cards.     

Since your husband got the $99 deal from Capital One, he is likely to get approval for most secured cards.

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Great thank you!! We will try for BoA after we get the cap one and the secured card through the bank!

[MovingForward_2012]

If you don't use it, how do lenders know you are managing it properly? If you aren't SD because you are replacing them with prime cards or to increase your AAOA, you shouldn't SD. Don't get approved for a card and let it report a zero balance for months on end...that's not good either. Use them and use them responsibly.

[MovingForward_2012]

Also, you really shouldn't be concerned with the 0-0-9 rule until you get close to applying for the mortgage...usually a month in advance you want them to be 0-0-9. But it doesn't hurt to get into a good habit of PIFing. I use credit for 90% of my expenses and PIF monthly.

[cwwatts1202]

I'm not sure what the 0-0-9 rule is? And i've read so many different things I'm not sure which is correc. I've read open 3-4 cards, but only use 1 at around 9% util. I've heard use them all but pay them all in full excpet one and let it report like 4% then PIF before the due date so there's no interest charges lol I'm being bombarded by 40 different ways I should be using the cc's and each person claims "this is how you raise your score with cc's" 

[MovingForward_2012]

On your statement you will see both a statement balance and a current balance. If you pay the statement balance in full, you will not be charged interest for anything above the statement balance until next statement when the difference up to your current balance becomes part of the statement balance. Your current balance and statement balance are only different if you charged something after the statement is generated.

[MovingForward_2012]

I just created it! LOL! As the long version is well, long. 0-0-9 means all cards at zero except one at 9%. No one truly knows why but fico doesn't like zero balances and many have discovered doing 0-0-9 maximizes their credit score from utilization.

[MovingForward_2012]

I don't think whether you leave the one card at 4% or 9% really matters all that much. It is just what many members recommend as it helped them. But we do all agree that flat zeroes across all cards is not good even though you may save interest. It shows you aren't actively managing your credit. Remember, other lenders don't see your payments, they see your monthly balance on your credit report. Now if you pay it to zero to avoid the interest on a larger charge, that's fine but then go out and charge some gum and stuff and let it report 9% next time. I think you will pay a couple of bucks in interest...no biggie. Fico makes sure your score will NOT improve by NOT using credit, which is why zeroing out all cards won't work. Fico wants to know if you use credit, how well do you manage it? Some folks are so afraid to charge something out of fear that they will screw up again...old fico knows this and lowers your score accordingly. Your credit profile has to show you're ready for a $200K line of credit for a mortgage or whatever the price tag may be. Being fearful of using a $300 limit card but wanting a $300K limit for a house, doesn't look good.

[Wolf3]

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

I'm not sure what the 0-0-9 rule is? And i've read so many different things I'm not sure which is correc. I've read open 3-4 cards, but only use 1 at around 9% util. I've heard use them all but pay them all in full excpet one and let it report like 4% then PIF before the due date so there's no interest charges lol I'm being bombarded by 40 different ways I should be using the cc's and each person claims "this is how you raise your score with cc's" 

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If you have not read the "learn about scores" section of MyFico, you should go through that as it is a very good explanation of how score is calculated.

Utilization is 30% of your score and it is something you can control.  So a few months before applying, you can start optimizing for best score by controlling the balances that are reported.