Secured or unsecured credit card - best choice?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm in the process of trying to begin rebuilding my credit. I had a chapter 13 BK in April of '08 and converted to chapter 7 this August. My current FICO is 624. I have no credit cards or loans of any kind at the moment. I've done a lot of research and believe the next step in rebuilding should be to get a credit card, use it, and pay it off monthly....I do not know if I would qualify for an unsecured card at this time. I know I could get a secured card, but I'd prefer unsecured if possible simply to prevent me from tying up money with the security deposit. I'm reluctant to apply for an unsecured card because I don't want the inquiry to impact my score if I can't get the card. My question is simply:

Do I chance applying for an unsecured card and hope my 624 gets it or is the safer bet the secured card? Does anyone have any thoughts / suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

~El T

[sudofdisk]

I am in the latter stages of rebuilding my credit (middle score went from ~440 to ~680 today) and I got both. A secure card through US bank and an regular through Orchard. I am no expert but I believe both were very helpful in improving my score. The secure card was converted to a regular account after a year.

[jdxprs1]

get the best buy reward zone mastercard. seems they approve everyone.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello,

I'm in the process of trying to begin rebuilding my credit. I had a chapter 13 BK in April of '08 and converted to chapter 7 this August. My current FICO is 624. I have no credit cards or loans of any kind at the moment. I've done a lot of research and believe the next step in rebuilding should be to get a credit card, use it, and pay it off monthly....I do not know if I would qualify for an unsecured card at this time. I know I could get a secured card, but I'd prefer unsecured if possible simply to prevent me from tying up money with the security deposit. I'm reluctant to apply for an unsecured card because I don't want the inquiry to impact my score if I can't get the card. My question is simply:

Do I chance applying for an unsecured card and hope my 624 gets it or is the safer bet the secured card? Does anyone have any thoughts / suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

~El T

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Has your Ch. 7 been discharged?  If not, you may experience problems obtaining unsecured credit and, at times, even secured credit.

If it has been recently discharged, I would get both a secured card and an unsecured card.  Orchard or several others may approve you and Orchard isn't really a bad card to have. 

[Carbusys]

Since an unsecured credit card is going to be very tough to get right after a bk, I would only try a couple of places to keep your inquiries down. Try the rebuild credit cards from Orchard and Credit One Banks. If they do not approve you, then try a secured card. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Use myFICO's credit card finder. They list the required appox. score to get approved for that particular card. i would be leary of using another card finder as they may not be as secure as myFICO. Not sure about the BK issue but a 620 will open the door for an unsecured credit card. Granted the door may only be big enough for your pinky nail. For now your best bet if your worried about inquiries is to just get a secured cc and only have the one inquirey for it and keep it for a while and if you go with a big company say capital one or a bank secured card. Here is one thing I will def share with you. DO NOT try to apply for Bank of America Secured Credit Card. Not sure why but they turn down people regularly if your score is not about at least a 650. Why I'm not sure but to avoid the inquiry and denial just stay away from them. I have a really bad credit score and got a capital one secured credit card and the good thing is after 12-18 months I am eligible for an unsecured card as long as I have made on time payments for the months preceeding.

Good Luck!!

[Anonymous]

Everyone seems to recommend Orchard. The only concern I have is that Orchard is issued by HSBC, which was one of the creditors discharged in my Chapter 7, as was Capital One. If I apply to a creditor that was in my Chapter 7, won't I automatically be denied? I don't know, that's why I ask.

Thanks

[chasmith]

I discharged a balance on an HSBC Best Buy Card, and two balances on Capital One.  I was denied by Orchard after their pre-qual site said I could get a small CL.  Tried again 2 months later, still denied.  They took hard pulls each time, the reason stated was "previous history with HSBC".

Similarly I came up with an offer from Capital One's site, applied and was denied.  At least they said they used internal records (blacklist?) and didn't take a pull.

Last week I tried the BBRZ Mastercard after their prequal site said I'd be OK, and got instant approval for a $500 CL.  I don't have the card in hand yet but fingers are crossed.

Citibank definitely blacklists - they returned my deposit for a secured card!

[Anonymous]

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@chasmith wrote:

I discharged a balance on an HSBC Best Buy Card, and two balances on Capital One.  I was denied by Orchard after their pre-qual site said I could get a small CL.  Tried again 2 months later, still denied.  They took hard pulls each time, the reason stated was "previous history with HSBC".

Similarly I came up with an offer from Capital One's site, applied and was denied.  At least they said they used internal records (blacklist?) and didn't take a pull.

Last week I tried the BBRZ Mastercard after their prequal site said I'd be OK, and got instant approval for a $500 CL.  I don't have the card in hand yet but fingers are crossed.

Citibank definitely blacklists - they returned my deposit for a secured card!

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I've seen the same with HSBC -- their blacklisting technology slips up a lot.  I've also seen Citibank slip up a lot for many people.

They both should take lessons from AmEx who rarely makes mistakes.  Or just give up on the crazy idea of blacklisting in general.

[Anonymous]

Well I pre-qualified for BBRZ....but I'm not gonna go ahead just yet. I want to do a little more research on some other cards first. All of this info has been a tremendous help guys, thanks to all for the replies.

~El T