Secured CC reporting

[Cheryla18]

Does having your Secured CC report as such affect  your score. Meaning ...do you gain  less points if it reporting as a Secured CC?

Cheryl

[koky]

From what I know, it reports the same as an Unsecured C.C..

[alexhortdog]

I have a secured Capital One with a very low limit (200 bucks, LOL) and whenever I pay my bill, it shows on the credit score with no problems.  Helped me boost my score a bunch of points since Jan.

[vish1]

---

@Cheryla18 wrote:

Does having your Secured CC report as such affect  your score. Meaning ...do you gain  less points if it reporting as a Secured CC?

Cheryl

---

NO. For scoring it doesn't matter if your card is secured or unsecured. or prime/subprime.

[ABuckNow]

Indeed - secured is reported/scored the same way.

A word of caution - be extra diligent on your UTIL on a low-limit card...UTIL is around 30% of your fico - do not let the CC statement cut with a balance that's more than 9% of your CL (somewhere between 1% and 9% is ideal)

9% of a $200 CL is 18 bucks...

If you know this already - great!  I just like to pass this info along as I didn't know it until I read a bunch on these boards.

Best of luck!

[Cheryla18]

---

@ABuckNow wrote:

Indeed - secured is reported/scored the same way.

A word of caution - be extra diligent on your UTIL on a low-limit card...UTIL is around 30% of your fico - do not let the CC statement cut with a balance that's more than 9% of your CL (somewhere between 1% and 9% is ideal)

9% of a $200 CL is 18 bucks...

If you know this already - great!  I just like to pass this info along as I didn't know it until I read a bunch on these boards.

Best of luck!

---

Thanks for the heads up....until just the other day I was confused...I thought you could use 30%  of the credit limit and be good..... SO i  got confused ....it's 30% UTIL and  1-9% of a credit line. How do i figure my UTIL?

Cheryl

[ABuckNow]

Utilization accounts for around 30% of your FICO score.

If you have one CC: ideal UTIL is between 1% and 9% - that is, the date your statement cuts, you want your balance to be between 1% and 9% of your credit limit.

So if you have a $500 CL, you want your balance to be between $5 (500 X .01) and $45 (500 X .09).

If you have more than one card, keep them all at zero balance except one should follow the advice above.

This is generalized advice, it's what people have found to give them the highest score.

[Cheryla18]

---

@ABuckNow wrote:

Utilization accounts for around 30% of your FICO score.

If you have one CC: ideal UTIL is between 1% and 9% - that is, the date your statement cuts, you want your balance to be between 1% and 9% of your credit limit.

So if you have a $500 CL, you want your balance to be between $5 (500 X .01) and $45 (500 X .09).

If you have more than one card, keep them all at zero balance except one should follow the advice above.

This is generalized advice, it's what people have found to give them the highest score.

---

Ohhhhhhh Okay...I got it now.....Thank You!!!!!  I am getting a $1,000.00 secured CC today....so I won't go above $90.00....I figure I will use it to fill up my gas tank once in a while....Now with that being said....if i have a $90.00 balance...should I pay it off the first month or should I pay $30.00 for 3 months until it gets to zero? I want the one that will get my score up the fastest.

Cheryl

[ABuckNow]

The only thing FICO scoring cares about in regards to UTIL is the snapshot of your account the day your statement posts: what's your balance vs your credit limit.  For this part of scoring, it doesn't care about your history.  It's only concerned with how much of your available credit limit are you utilizing.  It doesn't care when you charged something, if the balance is carried over, if you pay early, if you pay in full every month, etc etc etc. UTIL is only looks at this one instant in time to calculate your UTIL %  based on balance vs CL.

So, that being said, people have had different results when trying to maximize their score by playing with their UTIL between 1 and 9%.

For some, 1% is best, others 5%, etc, there's no hard & fast rule other than keeping it beween 1-9%.

I recently lost 5ish points b/c my UTIL went from 3 to 4% - Your Mileage May Vary...everyone's situation is different.

Hope that's clear...if not post back!

[Cheryla18]

---

@ABuckNow wrote:

The only thing FICO scoring cares about in regards to UTIL is the snapshot of your account the day your statement posts: what's your balance vs your credit limit.  For this part of scoring, it doesn't care about your history.  It's only concerned with how much of your available credit limit are you utilizing.  It doesn't care when you charged something, if the balance is carried over, if you pay early, if you pay in full every month, etc etc etc. UTIL is only looks at this one instant in time to calculate your UTIL %  based on balance vs CL.

So, that being said, people have had different results when trying to maximize their score by playing with their UTIL between 1 and 9%.

For some, 1% is best, others 5%, etc, there's no hard & fast rule other than keeping it beween 1-9%.

I recently lost 5ish points b/c my UTIL went from 3 to 4% - Your Mileage May Vary...everyone's situation is different.

Hope that's clear...if not post back!

---

That is Awesome info!!! Thank You very MUCH!!! I wish I already knew what is going to be best for me. I think I should probably start out low.....Hmmmmmm now what to buy with $10...lol just kidding.  I appreciate all your help!!!! 

THANKS :-)

Cheryl