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@Revelate wrote:
@HiLine wrote:If you had started out with a secured card you would have ended up with a higher limit today ...
Possibly, like life there's no guaruntees on that depending what else is in the file.
One really useful feature of a secured card is your ability to determine the credit limit. If you want to start building credit with a card with a high limit, that's the way to go.
@cashnocredit wrote:Yeah. Back when I got my first job (1971) after college I had to watch finances pretty closely. Everything was checks or cash back then. No ATM cards let alone debit cards. Rented a room in a house I shared with 5 other peeps. Owed money to the college as well as "national defense" student loans. Gradually built up a little buffer and was able to move into a small efficiency appt.. About 2 years later I got my first CC, a BankAmericard. The main use of the CC back then was to widen the merchants that would take checks. CCs were used as a sort of ID along with DLs and not all that many places took CCs. By the late 70's that had completely changed in favor of CCs.
Stupidly, I eventually stopped using CCs in favor if a debit card (hated taking the time to write monthly checks). As that became increasingly problematic for car rentals I had to rebuild credit. Since I had long paid off mortgages and dropped CCs I had no credit history and some baddies from sloppiness. Had to rebuild. But I was lucky in my investments over the years so I was able to open the max secured cards.
I enjoyed reading your story! The BankAmericard in your time, was it the predecessor of the Visa as known today?
@HiLine wrote:
@cashnocredit wrote:Yeah. Back when I got my first job (1971) after college I had to watch finances pretty closely. Everything was checks or cash back then. No ATM cards let alone debit cards. Rented a room in a house I shared with 5 other peeps. Owed money to the college as well as "national defense" student loans. Gradually built up a little buffer and was able to move into a small efficiency appt.. About 2 years later I got my first CC, a BankAmericard. The main use of the CC back then was to widen the merchants that would take checks. CCs were used as a sort of ID along with DLs and not all that many places took CCs. By the late 70's that had completely changed in favor of CCs.
Stupidly, I eventually stopped using CCs in favor if a debit card (hated taking the time to write monthly checks). As that became increasingly problematic for car rentals I had to rebuild credit. Since I had long paid off mortgages and dropped CCs I had no credit history and some baddies from sloppiness. Had to rebuild. But I was lucky in my investments over the years so I was able to open the max secured cards.
I enjoyed reading your story! The BankAmericard in your time, was it the predecessor of the Visa as known today?
Yep. It was the original, multi-merchant credit card issued by BofA. They changed it to Visa and spun it off so other banks could offer it without conflict. If they hadn't done that Mastercard would have eaten their lunch. At the time BofA was totally dominant in Calif. and many other states.
@distantarray wrote:pretty much Bank of America is a Subprime bank anyways, Who in their right mind would ever even THINK about declining a person for a secured card..... There is 0 loss potential with everything to gain. Keep the deposit and if there is excess fees added above and beyond which bank of america loves to do they can charge off the account and sell it to a collections agency or jdb.
Citi can also deny you for a secured....Just because money backs it up doesn't mean you are not a risk to them where you might run up a bill and late fees and your deposit might not cover it all
@FrugalRican wrote:
@jamesdwi wrote:well you used a sub-prime product just via prime bank... the secure card was equivalent to a subprime card and you had to pay for it.
but good job anyway.
What he said.
If im not mistaken, haven't people graduated from a secured to one with rewards? I would not really call it subprime...i think if FP, Cap1, HSBC etc as subprime.
@cashnocredit wrote:
@HiLine wrote:
@cashnocredit wrote:Yeah. Back when I got my first job (1971) after college I had to watch finances pretty closely. Everything was checks or cash back then. No ATM cards let alone debit cards. Rented a room in a house I shared with 5 other peeps. Owed money to the college as well as "national defense" student loans. Gradually built up a little buffer and was able to move into a small efficiency appt.. About 2 years later I got my first CC, a BankAmericard. The main use of the CC back then was to widen the merchants that would take checks. CCs were used as a sort of ID along with DLs and not all that many places took CCs. By the late 70's that had completely changed in favor of CCs.
Stupidly, I eventually stopped using CCs in favor if a debit card (hated taking the time to write monthly checks). As that became increasingly problematic for car rentals I had to rebuild credit. Since I had long paid off mortgages and dropped CCs I had no credit history and some baddies from sloppiness. Had to rebuild. But I was lucky in my investments over the years so I was able to open the max secured cards.
I enjoyed reading your story! The BankAmericard in your time, was it the predecessor of the Visa as known today?
Yep. It was the original, multi-merchant credit card issued by BofA. They changed it to Visa and spun it off so other banks could offer it without conflict. If they hadn't done that Mastercard would have eaten their lunch. At the time BofA was totally dominant in Calif. and many other states.
I feel honored to be talking to a witness of the famous card drop which ultimately would lead to the popularity of credit cards in modern times.
@HiLine wrote:
@cashnocredit wrote:
@HiLine wrote:
@cashnocredit wrote:Yeah. Back when I got my first job (1971) after college I had to watch finances pretty closely. Everything was checks or cash back then. No ATM cards let alone debit cards. Rented a room in a house I shared with 5 other peeps. Owed money to the college as well as "national defense" student loans. Gradually built up a little buffer and was able to move into a small efficiency appt.. About 2 years later I got my first CC, a BankAmericard. The main use of the CC back then was to widen the merchants that would take checks. CCs were used as a sort of ID along with DLs and not all that many places took CCs. By the late 70's that had completely changed in favor of CCs.
Stupidly, I eventually stopped using CCs in favor if a debit card (hated taking the time to write monthly checks). As that became increasingly problematic for car rentals I had to rebuild credit. Since I had long paid off mortgages and dropped CCs I had no credit history and some baddies from sloppiness. Had to rebuild. But I was lucky in my investments over the years so I was able to open the max secured cards.
I enjoyed reading your story! The BankAmericard in your time, was it the predecessor of the Visa as known today?
Yep. It was the original, multi-merchant credit card issued by BofA. They changed it to Visa and spun it off so other banks could offer it without conflict. If they hadn't done that Mastercard would have eaten their lunch. At the time BofA was totally dominant in Calif. and many other states.
I feel honored to be talking to a witness of the famous card drop which ultimately would lead to the popularity of credit cards in modern times.
Yes, but remember, it wasn't MasterCard back then. It was MasterCharge It was like Amex back years ago. You had to pay it off every month.
Toy limit=Just something to play with, but it is nothing serious.