Hello,
Does anyone have any suggestions on the best secured credit cards? I have a Capital One Secured card, and I am looking at getting a second one preferably one that would graduate to a regular card? Any advise on what to look at, or to avoid?
Thanks!
BOFA is one of the best two secured products around. Reliably graduates, 1-2-3 rewards, and a clean web interface for managing the account. The only downside is you can't add to the deposit without a hard inquiry to increase the limit; however, I highly recommend this card to anyone looking for a secured credit card, from both personal experience and also anecdotal reports on the forum here.
The other is NFCU if you have access, but for the majority of us BOFA is the best bet.
Other options for graduation, WF as suggested, I believe US Bank, and also Citi though reports on this one are scarce.
Personally I think it's a good idea to get one card that does graduate, and for many people the BOFA one is a good bet (as TU is a rather unused report for many people and CLI's and PC's are pulled against this one for some reason with BOFA, though opening may be EX or EQ); however, it's not mandatory to get a card which graduates but if you do, the lenders that offer higher tier cards which you may want in the future are usually the best bets to look to.
From that standpoint, BOFA (good generic travel rewards card, and the 1-2-3 rewards aren't to shabby to begin with) or Citi with their suite of cards, or possibly US Bank longer-term with their most excellent Cash+ product, are probably the list; WF isn't as competitive with their credit card products for some reason but that's simply my personal opinion.
Thanks for the advice! I will look into the Bank of America card.
How do you bank with? I would recommend to get a secured card with them. It is a great way to establish relationship with them.
Starting Score: EQ=665,TU=618 on Oct 9,2010
Why do you need a 2nd secured card? If your first one has been opened for a while, why not consider apping for a unsecured card outright?
Starting Score: 501I just switched banks to avoid bank fees, and I applied for a card with them and was denied and they don't offer a secure credit card. I hate putting spending money to increase my limit of my Capital One since it doesn't graduate. Knowing what I would know now I would rather put the money to a card that has a chance to graduate to a regular card.
Thanks for the help!
@dheather00 wrote:I just switched banks to avoid bank fees, and I applied for a card with them and was denied and they don't offer a secure credit card. I hate putting spending money to increase my limit of my Capital One since it doesn't graduate. Knowing what I would know now I would rather put the money to a card that has a chance to graduate to a regular card.
Thanks for the help!
Actually the ability to add to the Capital One secured product easily is one of the reasons it's an excellent card honestly.
If I had to do it all over again, my list would look something like this without NFCU access:
- BOFA secured
- Capital One secured
- some random third secured doesn't matter much which.
BOFA I'd put as much money as I could to it; other two I'd put the bare minimum. Capital One would receive any additional money I was accuring over time all the way up to the 3K limit they allow sometime before 2 years was over. BOFA obtain the 1-2-3 rewards would be my every day card, and then the others would receive various charges to keep them active. Also anything bought that would incur a foreign transaction fee would wind up on the Cap One card.
Wolf is correct, adding money to the Capital One card can help you shortcut the time getting out of "toy limits" in the future: it's somewhat challenging to get above 1K, and then it's further difficult to get above 5K; the C1 card max at 3K while not ideal, smashes the 1K boundary and is within striking distance for some lenders to get to that 5K limit too.
