Two Secured Credit Cards - Same or Different Companies?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I applied and was approved for a Capital One secured credit card (bal: $300).  I'm interested in obtaining a second secured credit card, but had a couple of questions:

1. Is it better to have one secured credit card with a larger balance (e.g. $600) or two secured credit cards with smaller balances (e.g. $300/ea).  I have a $600/mo. living expense budget (food, gas, entertainmet, etc.) while I am in school, and will be using this card(s) to fund and pay off in full each month what I spend out of it.  I am leaning towards having two cards, since I am under the impression that if I use them responsibly, my credit will more likely be repaired at a quicker pace.

2. If I elect to have two secured cards, is it OK to have them both be with the same company?  In other words, is it better to have two (separate) secured cards from Capital One, or one with Capital One and the other with, for example, Bank of America.  My preference would be to have two cards with Capital One (they already have two approved applications - one has been funded, the other is pending the additional security deposit) - but if this would negatively affect my credit, or do less to improve it than having two cards with separate companies, I will of course go with BofA for my second secured card.

Thank you in advance for any advice/insight,

- Taylor

[flyingmd]

I would suggest you look at BoA secured VISA. BoA is one of the few cc that will unsecured it for you after 12 months (if no lates). Once they unsecure it you will be able to get periodic CLI. Cap1, citibank, orchard, Wells Fargo do NOT generally unsecured their cc and make you apply for a new card. The Cap1 secured cards even if eventually unsecured will generally no allow large CLI so your CL is likely to stay where it is when u set the account up. Get the largest CL you cam afford so your until can stay as low as possible, generally between 1-9% optimizes the FICO score.

[Wolf3]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello,

I applied and was approved for a Capital One secured credit card (bal: $300).  I'm interested in obtaining a second secured credit card, but had a couple of questions:

1. Is it better to have one secured credit card with a larger balance (e.g. $600) or two secured credit cards with smaller balances (e.g. $300/ea).  I have a $600/mo. living expense budget (food, gas, entertainmet, etc.) while I am in school, and will be using this card(s) to fund and pay off in full each month what I spend out of it.  I am leaning towards having two cards, since I am under the impression that if I use them responsibly, my credit will more likely be repaired at a quicker pace.

2. If I elect to have two secured cards, is it OK to have them both be with the same company?  In other words, is it better to have two (separate) secured cards from Capital One, or one with Capital One and the other with, for example, Bank of America.  My preference would be to have two cards with Capital One (they already have two approved applications - one has been funded, the other is pending the additional security deposit) - but if this would negatively affect my credit, or do less to improve it than having two cards with separate companies, I will of course go with BofA for my second secured card.

Thank you in advance for any advice/insight,

- Taylor

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IMO,   1 secured card is better for you.    $600 is still not a large limit.   A 2nd card will be another AF.   

If you want to add a 2nd card, I would wait until you can fund a larger amount and definitely with another institution.

If you have a some bad negatives on your report, you probably need to go with a 2nd secured card eventually.    If you are just builidng, 1 secured card should be enough.    Bigger limits do help in the long run.    And Capital One makes it very easy to add to the deposit.