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Hello I am in the early stages of rebuilding and thus far the only CC I have is the ol' Cap One secured card $200 credit line. I have only had this card for about 5 months.
I recently pulled my TU from here on myfico and it said I was at TU658. I was pleasantly surprised and got carried away by that number and I made some mistakes already by applying for a couple of cards that were out of my league because I listened to Credit Karma suggestions and posters on other forums and thought I could be approved for the Capital One Rewards card. I was promptly denied for that as well as the Chase rewards card. Again, the only reason I applied for those is because of suggestions and the fact that Credit Karma said I had a good chance of approval. I don't think those hard pulls are helping me too much now.
Anyway I think that the best course of action from what I have read is to obtain and increase my lines of credit however I can and it seems that the only way I will be able to do that is by secured cards. My plan is to increase my available credit and maintain a low Utilization Ratio. I have only had the Cap One card for a few months so I figure I should get all I can now as my Average Age of Accounts is not much so new credit might not hurt.
Being that (I think) I am limited to secured cards I applied and sent off for the Orchard Bank secured card and was unaware of the Cap One acquisition. I guess I did it just in time because they sent me the packet for the sign up and deposit info and such.
Anyway (finally) my question is, should I proceed with the Orchard Bank card to show another credit line or should I not as I already have one secured card with Cap One?
Will I be less likely to ever be approved for the Cap One Rewards card in the future if I have 2 secured cards with them?
If I wanted to add additional deposit to increase the credit line, which one should I add to? I will be able to get the deposit back if I cancel the card of course, right? I was thinking of putting an additional $1000 on one of them...
What about the Visa Platinum from Credit One Bank? I know it's a $99 annual fee but if that's what I have to do to rebuild then I will just have to and cancel when things are getting better. It is an unsecured card and looks like it is easy to get.
I just don't know what to do about the Orchard Bank card. It came in an HSBC envelope. You can tell they are going through the final stages of the acqusition because the final documents they want to activiate the account are not printed on the pages evenly and there is highlighter marks and what not on the pages and stuff. they actually just look like a bunch of photocopies.
Thank you for your opinions!!!!! I just have such limited knowledge I don't know what to do.
If you can get another secured, then I would.
You could look at Bank of American Secured as an alternative, since it can graduate - https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/secured-credit-card.go
or
You could look at USAA as well - https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/banking_credit_cards_secured_credit_card
@Anonymous wrote:....
What about the Visa Platinum from Credit One Bank? I know it's a $99 annual fee but if that's what I have to do to rebuild then I will just have to and cancel when things are getting better. It is an unsecured card and looks like it is easy to get.
Do NOT make a deal with the devil, do NOT open an account with Credit One (LVNV, et al). The $99 up front fee is just the beginning....DON'T do it !!
Avoid Cap 1 if you can, as they will pull from ALL 3 CRA
@Repo-ed wrote:Avoid Cap 1 if you can, as they will pull from ALL 3 CRA
Makes little difference now (a few inquiries while building / rebuilding is expected, and an extra one on each CRA ain't a big thing), a very minor difference at the six month mark, virtually no difference a year from now, and nothing at all two years from today.
Thank you all for your advice. Also, in case I didn't explain my situation well, I'm not new credit, I am rebuilding from some previous problems.
Repo-ed:
If you can get another secured, then I would.
You could look at Bank of American Secured as an alternative, since it can graduate - https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/secured-credit-card.go
or
You could look at USAA as well - https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/banking_credit_cards_secured_credit_card
Thanks, would you suggest proceeding with the Orchard Bank Secured and see what happens there first? Or, would the BofA or USAA be a better choice? Or both?
Increaseccscore:
Apply for the capital one platinum card you will probably get approved
I already applied for the Cap One Rewards card, I was denied and they hard pull all three CRA's. Would it be wise to apply for another card from them again?
PipeGuy:
Do NOT make a deal with the devil, do NOT open an account with Credit One (LVNV, et al). The $99 up front fee is just the beginning....DON'T do it !!
Thanks, I was a little hesitant about that card for some reason. It's just that it looks easy to be approved for...
lovinlifeinkc:
Skip Credit One. Cap One I believe has a pre- approval link. Try it. Any other negs on your credit file?
Yes, unforunately I defaulted on two secured cards about 6 yrs ago. Being that they are such old derogatories I think it may be best to just let them fall off, which should happen in spring of 2014. Not to mention, they were secured cards, so the default was all on my own deposit money anyway so it doesn't weigh on my concieous too badly.
Repo-ed
Avoid Cap 1 if you can, as they will pull from ALL 3 CRA
Yep, learned that lesson when I applied for the Cash Rewards card and was declined... Hard pull from all 3 CRA's.
Revelate:
Makes little difference now (a few inquiries while building / rebuilding is expected, and an extra one on each CRA ain't a big thing), a very minor difference at the six month mark, virtually no difference a year from now, and nothing at all two years from today.
Yes, and this is why I want to obtain all the credit lines I can now so that by the time I have built up some AAoA, those inquires will hopefully have little impact by then...
Crashem:
Thanks for replying to another of my posts. You are always very helpful and I appreciate it. Ok, I will go ahead and pull the EQ from myfico and see what it says vs the TU I pulled. I really just need to make the time to walk in to a local CU and I will check out DCU as well... Could you please tell me the main benefits of CU's vs the other CC's mentioned? I'm not really sure why I have been dragging my feet on looking into CU cards.... Also, thank you for laying out a game plan for the future for me. I'm a little lost and that helps tremendously.
Also, please remember that I am not new credit --- I am trying to rebuild - or fix my credit. I defaulted on 2 secured cards about 5-6 years ago so all these companies are seeing that and I don't have anything positive to counter those negative reports. It's too bad that the fact I have paid all of my other bills in life on time for a decade don't show.
I hate to seem like I'm just trying to acquire secured cards and am impatient but I would like to do all I can to show available credit, low Utilization Ratio, and start to get some age of accounts going. This isn't about being obsessed with my credit score, I have a family now and would like to do all I can to be in the best position to apply for a mortgage for a home for us.
Thanks everyone for your help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it!
Since the CapOne takeover of HSBC, you can't even apply for the Orchard Bank products online anymore. You'd have to apply for the CapOne Secured card.
The online system didn't counter-offer that card when you were declined for the Cash Rewards?