Which Secured Credit Card is best?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to find a good secured credit card to rebuild my scores, but all of the best ones that I find seem to require you to open a bank account. So, the three that I have found that seem to be the best contenders for me personally are as follows:

BankAmericard Fully Secured Visa
Orchard Bank Secured Mastercard
First Progress Platinum Secured Mastercard


I know that Capital One Secured Card is #1 right now, but seeing as to how it is the next debt on my report that I need to pay off, I don't think that they will approve me. ha. Anyway. Obviously I am just terrified of making the wrong decision, so I want to hear/read personal reviews regarding these before I make any decisions. Do you (or anyone you know) have any good or bad experience with any of the three that I have listed? Good/bad customer service? Did/didn't report monthly? Any advice is good advice. Thanks!

[Revelate]

Heh, I certainly don't consider Cap One to be the best secured card, but that somewhat depends on your needs.

The big thing on any secured card is that it reports to all three bureaus.

The second is whether or not it graduates

The third is if you can increaes your limit easily over time if you you desire to do that.

You're probably going to want two anyway, I'd skip FP, and probably Orchard secured in favor of BOFA as one, and either C1, USAA, or any other lender which reports to all three.  NFCU (if you have access) is an excellent choice and perhaps the best overall, Citi is another possibility but not as many people here have used their product for me to get a good opinion of them as I haven't tried them personally.

[LS2982]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am trying to find a good secured credit card to rebuild my scores, but all of the best ones that I find seem to require you to open a bank account. So, the three that I have found that seem to be the best contenders for me personally are as follows:

BankAmericard Fully Secured Visa
Orchard Bank Secured Mastercard
First Progress Platinum Secured Mastercard


I know that Capital One Secured Card is #1 right now, but seeing as to how it is the next debt on my report that I need to pay off, I don't think that they will approve me. ha. Anyway. Obviously I am just terrified of making the wrong decision, so I want to hear/read personal reviews regarding these before I make any decisions. Do you (or anyone you know) have any good or bad experience with any of the three that I have listed? Good/bad customer service? Did/didn't report monthly? Any advice is good advice. Thanks!

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Cap1 is very forgiving, you should try them 1st!

[namvet]

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@Revelate wrote:

Heh, I certainly don't consider Cap One to be the best secured card, but that somewhat depends on your needs.

The big thing on any secured card is that it reports to all three bureaus.

The second is whether or not it graduates

The third is if you can increaes your limit easily over time if you you desire to do that.

You're probably going to want two anyway, I'd skip FP, and probably Orchard secured in favor of BOFA as one, and either C1, USAA, or any other lender which reports to all three.  NFCU (if you have access) is an excellent choice and perhaps thne best overall, Citi is another possibility but not as many people here have used their product for me to get a good opinion of them as I haven't tried them personally.

I agree with #1 and #3 Revelate.  Your #2 recomemdation doesn't matter IMO.  Use the secured card to establish/re-build for 1 year then you can graduate yourself to a un-secured card.  FP you don't want.  Orchard maybe.  Best bet is to use a card where you have a banking relationship.  If you can't get a banking relationship due to chex systems etc then try Open Sky Visa (no credit check).

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[Wolf3]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am trying to find a good secured credit card to rebuild my scores, but all of the best ones that I find seem to require you to open a bank account. So, the three that I have found that seem to be the best contenders for me personally are as follows:

BankAmericard Fully Secured Visa
Orchard Bank Secured Mastercard
First Progress Platinum Secured Mastercard


I know that Capital One Secured Card is #1 right now, but seeing as to how it is the next debt on my report that I need to pay off, I don't think that they will approve me. ha. Anyway. Obviously I am just terrified of making the wrong decision, so I want to hear/read personal reviews regarding these before I make any decisions. Do you (or anyone you know) have any good or bad experience with any of the three that I have listed? Good/bad customer service? Did/didn't report monthly? Any advice is good advice. Thanks!

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BofA is probably the best but hardest to qualify for.    I would apply for it first, but not be suprised if declined.

Since you don't want to deal with Capital One,  you should skip Orchard as it will soon be owned by Capital One.

First Progress has reasonable terms (AF $39, grace period), so it is probably OK.  

[Anonymous]

I bank at Regions, and they don't offer secured cards. As far as C1 being forgiving- I highly doubt that they will forgive the fact that I owe them over 1k. haha Even if I did want to give them a go and just try to find out, I don't want to risk the hard inquiry. I'm trying to fix my scores, not damage them further.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Wolf3. BofA will probably be the one that I choose to go with. When you say they are hard...

[atarvuzdar]

As already mentioned, Open Sky doesn't do a credit check for their secured card. Not a bad option.

[Anonymous]

Open Sky is no longer available.

[namvet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Open Sky is no longer available.

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 Yes it is AFincher.   Here's the link:  www.openskycc.com