secured vs. unsecured

[Anonymous]

im trying to build my credit to buy my first home. i had a lender tell me my score was 624 about a week ago, he also suggested i get a credit card. i got a prescreened offer from capital one for an unsecured card, but i dont know if i should take the chance and apply for it only to be denied. is it a better idea to go with a secured card? and does an unsecured card raise your credit more or faster than a secured card? i was looking onto the orchard bank secured card. thanks.

[vish1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

im trying to build my credit to buy my first home. i had a lender tell me my score was 624 about a week ago, he also suggested i get a credit card. i got a prescreened offer from capital one for an unsecured card, but i dont know if i should take the chance and apply for it only to be denied. is it a better idea to go with a secured card? and does an unsecured card raise your credit more or faster than a secured card? i was looking onto the orchard bank secured card. thanks.

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Fico doesnt care about secured on unsecured, to fico its a credit card...

I would do a preapproval on cap1 website and apply only if its pre approved, else I will apply only for their secured card.

If you got many inquires on your file, dun even try a unsecured card, you should apply for secured card (bofa/citi will be better if your report is clean).

If you dun have many inquiries on your file and capital one pre approval works for you, take a cap1 unsecured.

[Creditaddict]

I would go for the capital one offer.

You could also look into something like Apple itunes visa through Barclays, they have a great back door number in thread above if you get denied to have the application reconsidered.

Maybe a store card like Macys or JcPenny

I would suggest 3 cards though.

[Wolf3]

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@Anonymous wrote:

im trying to build my credit to buy my first home. i had a lender tell me my score was 624 about a week ago, he also suggested i get a credit card. i got a prescreened offer from capital one for an unsecured card, but i dont know if i should take the chance and apply for it only to be denied. is it a better idea to go with a secured card? and does an unsecured card raise your credit more or faster than a secured card? i was looking onto the orchard bank secured card. thanks.

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Secured and unsecured are the same from a credit score perspective.   One advantage of secured is you can set your own limit which can help with ability to use it.   It can also give you more control over the utilization percentage of the score.  

I like the Captial One secured card much better than the HSBC (Orchard) cards.    It is much easier to add deposit when you want, and they offer unsecured CL as your credit improves.   HSBC also requires a lot of followup paperwork that takes time to complete.    Capital One has very thorough online application and pulls all 3 credit bureaus but it was quicker overall.   

If small CL meet your needs,   I would apply for unsecured first and then get secured if denied.       If you have no revolving credit at all, I would try to get 2 or 3 credit cards.  

[Anonymous]

the offer from capital one was pre screened not pre approved i dont know if that makes a difference. if i knew i was garenteed approval i would go for it. but i dont want to get denied and apply somewhere else because of the inquirys. i have a personal loan that i took out just to build my credit and i have  had it for 4 months, other wise i dont have any credit cards at all. i know that capital one has secured cards but i was hoping to find one with less fees.  i just really want to make sure i pick the best one for me.

[Wolf3]

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@Anonymous wrote:

the offer from capital one was pre screened not pre approved i dont know if that makes a difference. if i knew i was garenteed approval i would go for it. but i dont want to get denied and apply somewhere else because of the inquirys. i have a personal loan that i took out just to build my credit and i have  had it for 4 months, other wise i dont have any credit cards at all. i know that capital one has secured cards but i was hoping to find one with less fees.  i just really want to make sure i pick the best one for me.

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Capital One Secured annual fee is $29, and ma nany are higher.   Wells Fargo Secured card at $18 is lowest among the major bank.   Credit Unions often have no annual fee or low fee for secured cares.