Secured Cards

[mashdun]

Question... Would opening a secured card for 3 months for $3-4K then closing it, getting the deposit back help your credit any I wonder? Would it help temprarily, then hurt your credit if closed? Would having 3-4 secured cards with lower limits be better than having one with a larger limit?

Has anyone used the Applied Bank Secured Visa Gold Preferred card? How was the experience?

[solstice00]

Well when you open, there will be a hard pull. That will have a negative effect on your report.

Once the account reports, there may or may not be a decrease. Then your AAoA decreases( that is again a comparative issue depending upon your other credit cards).

I am tnot taking into account the utilization, balance etc.

Now after you close the account, whether the card will still contribute to the average AAoA for the next years, I am not sure.

You have to take a look into all these factors. How your score reacts to these factors is your unique case alone and it would be difficult to predict the outcome.

The fact is why would be looking to do such a thing!

[mashdun]

Well the secured card does do a credit check at all... so no inquiry and that should not reaise the score. I'm just wondering if the more positive accounts in the credit report even if closed after a few months will help the score... main thing is the secured cards do not make a hard pull.

[mashdun]

And when I mean open them for a few months... use them a few times but pay them off to zero balances every month.

[Henchman21]

I don't think that plan makes much sense. Do you have negative indicators on your report?

[RTOrockstar]

You get the most benefit by having the card open at least a year. I suspect you'll get a newbie gain when you first open it but nothing like a year's good history will do for you.

Also, I think 2 cards is better than 1 as long as they're taken care of. Limit aren't super important so long as you control your ulitization.

[solstice00]

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@RTOrockstar wrote:

You get the most benefit by having the card open at least a year. I suspect you'll get a newbie gain when you first open it but nothing like a year's good history will do for you.

Also, I think 2 cards is better than 1 as long as they're taken care of. Limit aren't super important so long as you control your ulitization.

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+1

[RickyRay]

Capital One did a hard pull on mine (could be becouse i live in wisconsin...not sure) But was approved, they called me, to make sure they had me and not someone else.

Not sure how this will turn out, My very first Mastercard at 48 years old and its a secured one at that. I have 11 catalog and store cards, all in good standing for about 10 months now. But yes Capital checked all three CRA, a hard pull to. I have credit monitoring service with EX right now, its all their. But My scores are fair shape now, I went from a 400- score 2 years ago, now TU is about 600 and EX is 675, and EQ is 619, so I am getting there. this will be 12 cards total, Only 1 mastercard from the new capital one (for me new anyway). It will be secured one but not sure how much yet, will keep posted on here what happens with it all. I figure after 2 to 4 years of these I should be able to get some good credit cards like amex and citi offers. The only thing I have negative on my CR is a few inquiries (only 2 at EX and 2 at EQ and several at TU that will fall off in a couple of months. I have no derogs or baddies on none of my reports thank god. I strugled for along while and Finally got them off, I had been a victim of id theft a while back, so its been a long headache for me to recover from. Now I am or atleast fell like that I am in excellent shape for building a good solid history with credit. Before I could not even get a checking account.....now I have a credit union and Bank of America for checking accounts. So everyone wish me luck, and also Good Luck to everyone on here.  P.S. After talking to the Capital One credit specialist and she tol me that i had been approved, she informed me that although I had applied for the secured card, to build credit, I may not half to put up much of a deposit, really did not need it, since my credit was only new and nothing derogatory in my reports, but she did not say how much well, i will just wait and see, My new credit card kit will be in the mail today and should have it with in a week or so. Thanks for reading my comment.