closing a secured card

chevyman · ‎03-25-2013

Theory with a secured u making a deposit on this card to use it so if u close it do u get ur deposit back since its technically ur mobey

GOLF81 · ‎03-25-2013

Yes minus whatever the outstanding balance is. Example $200 secured card if you have a zero balance you get the whole amount back.

TU - 550 / EQ - 521 all from myFICO as of 3/3/13
TU - 558 / EQ - 573 all from myFICO as of 3/23/13
TU - 610 / EQ - 603 / EX 655 - all from myfico as of 1.22.14
TU - 632 / EQ - 619 / EX - 673... all from myfico 3.15.14
TU - 658 / EQ - 619 / EX - 659 ... all from myfico 3.31.14

chevyman · ‎03-25-2013

Ok

chevyman · ‎03-25-2013

The only real advantage I see over a debit card is the reporting to build positive TLs

Anonymous · ‎03-25-2013

Yes, you typically are refunded your deposit funds less any outstanding balance or charges. I highly suggest PIF then waiting to make sure the payments have posted prior to canceling any secured card. I've heard horror stories on here about folks closing one out and expecting the balance to be taken from their deposit when in actuality, the CCC closed the account and refunded the deposit funds without subtracting the balance due. Caused a few headaches. Always best to be on the safe side.

I closed my Applied Bank secured card last month: ensured it had a zero balance, closed via a written request sent by snail-mail then phoned 7 days later to confirm they had received the request. They refunded the deposit via ACH back to the original source - everything reported correctly. YMMV so be careful and make sure to cover all the basic steps

chevyman · ‎03-25-2013

Was thinking about one but I think I will wait and see what happens when SLs are out of default

_GOPackGO_ · ‎03-25-2013

Do you lose points by closing a secured card?

llecs · ‎03-25-2013

@_GOPackGO_ wrote:
Do you lose points by closing a secured card?

It depends....

It'll still factor into your mix of credit. It'll still help/hurt your length of history/AAoA. However, once you close it and it reports $0, then FICO will forever remove it from util calculations. So, if the card helped your overall revolving util, then closing it could potentially hurt your FICO. If you paid off the balance in one swoop and the card had hurt your overall util, then you could potentially see a FICO increase. YMMV on your credit profile. And BTW, it doesn't matter if the card is secured or not. FICO treats them equally.