topic Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card in Credit Card Applications

Denied for BoA Secured Card

teaxtea — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 21:45:30 GMT

I was pretty shocked BoA denied me for one of their secured cards. I had tried applying for a BoA unsecured card twice in the past year but they denied me. Thought a secured card would be a way into BoA credit. I had a Ch13 bk discharge on my reports when I applied before, but it's fallen off now. I don't bank with them and haven't had any credit with BoA before. Since they used experian those two times I only unlocked my experian file during this application.

My experian fico is 728 and about 11% total utilization on my cards, no lates or negatives. I did have a lot of inquiries though and new accounts in the past 2 years. Just a warning for anyone, you can still be denied for a secured card!

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Patient957 — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 21:54:34 GMT

Looks like you're in a good position to start (or continue) rebuilding. I would try other lenders, maybe US Bank.

Do you have any other credit cards? Any new accounts in the last 3 to 6 months?

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

GZG — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 22:22:00 GMT

@teaxtea wrote:
I was pretty shocked BoA denied me for one of their secured cards. I had tried applying for a BoA unsecured card twice in the past year but they denied me. Thought a secured card would be a way into BoA credit. I had a Ch13 bk discharge on my reports when I applied before, but it's fallen off now. I don't bank with them and haven't had any credit with BoA before. Since they used experian those two times I only unlocked my experian file during this application.

My experian fico is 728 and about 11% total utilization on my cards, no lates or negatives. I did have a lot of inquiries though and new accounts in the past 2 years. Just a warning for anyone, you can still be denied for a secured card!

if you want in with boa, get a checking account, it's an unofficial, official requirement.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Horseshoez — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 12:07:57 GMT

@teaxtea wrote:
I was pretty shocked BoA denied me for one of their secured cards. I had tried applying for a BoA unsecured card twice in the past year but they denied me. Thought a secured card would be a way into BoA credit. I had a Ch13 bk discharge on my reports when I applied before, but it's fallen off now. I don't bank with them and haven't had any credit with BoA before. Since they used experian those two times I only unlocked my experian file during this application.

My experian fico is 728 and about 11% total utilization on my cards, no lates or negatives. I did have a lot of inquiries though and new accounts in the past 2 years. Just a warning for anyone, you can still be denied for a secured card!

So, BofA is still nasty when it comes to folks with bankruptcies on their reports. Lots of other good financial institutions out there. If you're within the TDBank geozone, I cannot recommend them strongly enough. Good luck.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

AndySoCal — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 15:07:01 GMT

If it were me I would investigate opening a secure card with a local credit union. Disclaimer I am biased towards credit unions over banks due to the owership structure. Banks are owned by the shareholders credit unions are owned by the membership. Some credit unions will have on their web site this verbiage "people before profits". Dow Credit Union is one such example. Your interest on the card may be lower as well. Do your research first.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Luminosa — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 19:12:18 GMT

@AndySoCal wrote:
If it were me I would investigate opening a secure card with a local credit union. Disclaimer I am biased towards credit unions over banks due to the owership structure. Banks are owned by the shareholders credit unions are owned by the membership. Some credit unions will have on their web site this verbiage "people before profits". Dow Credit Union is one such example. Your interest on the card may be lower as well. Do your research first.

Definitely seconding this. A local credit union (or even a bigger one like Navy Federal, if you qualify) is going to be more generous, at least in my experience. (I'm also biased because I started with NF's secured card 3 years ago, so I'm not exactly impartial.)

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

AndySoCal — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 19:40:55 GMT

@Luminosa I posted it as local credit union I know for there certain things I prefer to handle in person rather than phone or chat. There are many good or great credit unions out there.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Stuart89 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 23:16:08 GMT

What reason did they give? BofA is weird sometimes - like with their student cards.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

AndrewF — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:02:49 GMT

@GZG wrote:
@teaxtea wrote:
I was pretty shocked BoA denied me for one of their secured cards. I had tried applying for a BoA unsecured card twice in the past year but they denied me. Thought a secured card would be a way into BoA credit. I had a Ch13 bk discharge on my reports when I applied before, but it's fallen off now. I don't bank with them and haven't had any credit with BoA before. Since they used experian those two times I only unlocked my experian file during this application.

My experian fico is 728 and about 11% total utilization on my cards, no lates or negatives. I did have a lot of inquiries though and new accounts in the past 2 years. Just a warning for anyone, you can still be denied for a secured card!
if you want in with boa, get a checking account, it's an unofficial, official requirement.

My spouse got a Customized Cash Rewards card with no deposit accounts. It's not a hard requirement, but their handling of credit files with a fraud alert on it is the worst I've ever seen. They ended up hard pulling his credit twice because everyone there was too dumb to figure out how to handle it, unlike most other banks, where it's like calling you on the phone at the number on the alert or wanting a picture of your driver's license.

I always have Fraud Alerts because it makes the bank do what it should have to do anyway. Hey maybe before you give someone a $60,000 carr and a $30,000 credit card, figure out who they are first.

Comenity Bank AKA Bread Financial also belongs on the Wall of Shame for handling Fraud Alerts. If you have a prepaid phone number so your bill is $20 a month, not $100, for a cell phone, their computer won't let them call you and you'll have a hard pull, not the $7,800 Bread Rewards card they said I was one click away from.

Everyone should use prepaid cell phones because they don't make you get price gouged for "free" cell phones that are actually a commitment to be locked in for three years while the big carriers rip you off for the entire price of the phone and then some anyway, and then if you cancel you find out it was actually bill credits that are due now and you'll pay or get a collection because that's how free phones work apparently.

The fact that Comenity can't call you on Mint Mobile is enough reason to stay away. I've never seen any other bank that can't call me to verify my identity because I use Mint Mobile. Even banks that are SUPER paranoid about risk, like AmEx.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

AndrewF — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:18:00 GMT

@Stuart89 wrote:
What reason did they give? BofA is weird sometimes - like with their student cards.

Getting denied for a Secured Card is WEIRD with a capital WEIRD. Even with a bankruptcy on record (assuming it was discharged).

There's no actual risk to the bank. If you don't pay them they seize your deposit and they still turn you over to collections for the entire amount plus interest and late fees after they wreck your credit with six lates and a charge off.

There's no risk to the bank, if you don't pay them they make more.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Horseshoez — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:18:03 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
@Stuart89 wrote:
What reason did they give? BofA is weird sometimes - like with their student cards.
Getting denied for a Secured Card is WEIRD with a capital WEIRD. Even with a bankruptcy on record (assuming it was discharged).

There's no actual risk to the bank. If you don't pay them they seize your deposit and they still turn you over to collections for the entire amount plus interest and late fees after they wreck your credit with six lates and a charge off.

There's no risk to the bank, if you don't pay them they make more.

Weird thought it may be, BofA has a history of denying secured cards to folks with discharged bankruptcies on their reports. Back in 2020 when I applied for a secured BofA card, I'd been banking with them for many years and ran a fair amount of money through my accounts as well as those of my wife's and our children's accounts. They denied me, I appealed, and got denied again. Needless to say, all banking activity with BofA ended as soon as we moved all of our accounts to the bank across the street (about a week later).

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Jeffster1 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 09:19:05 GMT

BofA approved me for a CCR Secured two months after my DC. I opened it with 5K, and inceeased it to 10K 6 months later. It graduated to a 10K unsecured CCR 8 months after opening. A BK is not necessarily the dealbreaker for BofA some say it is. At the time I opened it, I only had a little under 4 years of banking history with BofA.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Horseshoez — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:04:47 GMT

@Jeffster1 wrote:
BofA approved me for a CCR Secured two months after my DC. I opened it with 5K, and inceeased it to 10K 6 months later. It graduated to a 10K unsecured CCR 8 months after opening. A BK is not necessarily the dealbreaker for BofA some say it is. At the time I opened it, I only had a little under 4 years of banking history with BofA.

That's bizarre, you're the first person I've seen who has posted about successfully getting a secured card from BofA following a bankruptcy. I wonder why you and none of the rest of us?

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Jeffster1 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:47:40 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@Jeffster1 wrote:
BofA approved me for a CCR Secured two months after my DC. I opened it with 5K, and inceeased it to 10K 6 months later. It graduated to a 10K unsecured CCR 8 months after opening. A BK is not necessarily the dealbreaker for BofA some say it is. At the time I opened it, I only had a little under 4 years of banking history with BofA.
That's bizarre, you're the first person I've seen who has posted about successfully getting a secured card from BofA following a bankruptcy. I wonder why you and none of the rest of us.

Discharged January 5, 2021

Approved for BofA Secured CCR March 4, 2021

I had a cluster of approvals in January, February and March of 2021 immediately following my DC:

Cap One Platinum

Ollo Rewards

Jasper

BofA CCR Secured

TD Secured

Both BofA CCR and TD graduated to unsecured in about 8 months.

It is possible to get approved for BofA with a BK. I was only 2 months post-DC.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Horseshoez — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:58:44 GMT

@Jeffster1 wrote:
Discharged January 5, 2021
Approved for BofA Secured CCR March 4, 2021

I had a cluster of approvals in January, February and March of 2021 immediately following my DC:
Cap One Platinum
Ollo Rewards
Jasper
BofA CCR Secured
TD Secured

Both BofA CCR and TD graduated to unsecured in about 8 months.

It is possible to get approved for BofA with a BK. I was only 2 months post-DC.

Interesting, in 2020, 2-months after my discharge, my credit rating was mid- to high-600s and they denied me because of my "impending bankruptcy". When I appealed I sent them a copy of my discharge, and they denied me again for the same reason.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Jeffster1 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 19:43:20 GMT

My BofA CCR is my oldest card now, not counting the Cap One which has been PC'd numerous times.

Of my original cards, the "bones" of my original Cap One and TD are in my current Cap One and TD cards, both of which I've PC'd along the way. TD is sockdrawered. Jasper left the card business. I dropped OLLO in the Fall of 2022, along with the Merrick and the Mercury I got later in 2021 since, by mid-2022, I was being approved for prime cards...American Express and Wells Fargo, along with BMO and USBank plus I had my BofA CCR and TD.

I received my Amex approval 61 months after my BK filing even though Amex had been IIB.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Horseshoez — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 20:42:09 GMT

@Jeffster1 wrote:
My BofA CCR is my oldest card now, not counting the Cap One which has been PC'd numerous times.

Of my original cards, the "bones" of my original Cap One and TD are in my current Cap One and TD cards, both of which I've PC'd along the way. TD is sockdrawered. Jasper left the card business. I dropped OLLO in the Fall of 2022, along with the Merrick and the Mercury I got later in 2021 since, by mid-2022, I was being approved for prime cards...American Express and Wells Fargo, along with BMO and USBank plus I had my BofA CCR and TD.

I received my Amex approval 61 months after my BK filing even though Amex had been IIB.

After BofA rejected my for a secured card, I moved over to TD of 90% of my banking and couldn't be happier; I wish I'd made the move years ago. Given how BofA treated me, I have no desire to go back, ever.

Then there is AMEX, congratulations on getting back in with them. I assume you burned them for less than ten-grand. I burned them for, well, a lot more than that, and each time I reapply, they are like, "Yeah, about that..., you are persona-non-grata. Go away!"

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

AndrewF — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:06:01 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@Jeffster1 wrote:
My BofA CCR is my oldest card now, not counting the Cap One which has been PC'd numerous times.

Of my original cards, the "bones" of my original Cap One and TD are in my current Cap One and TD cards, both of which I've PC'd along the way. TD is sockdrawered. Jasper left the card business. I dropped OLLO in the Fall of 2022, along with the Merrick and the Mercury I got later in 2021 since, by mid-2022, I was being approved for prime cards...American Express and Wells Fargo, along with BMO and USBank plus I had my BofA CCR and TD.

I received my Amex approval 61 months after my BK filing even though Amex had been IIB.

After BofA rejected my for a secured card, I moved over to TD of 90% of my banking and couldn't be happier; I wish I'd made the move years ago. Given how BofA treated me, I have no desire to go back, ever.

Then there is AMEX, congratulations on getting back in with them. I assume you burned them for less than ten-grand. I burned them for, well, a lot more than that, and each time I reapply, they are like, "Yeah, about that..., you are persona-non-grata. Go away!"

Most of the big banks treat you more like a number than a person and the branch manager doesn't have much authority to do anything.

They're loaded with fees and pay little or no interest.

If personal banking matters to you then you won't do business with a large bank.

Where personal banking doesn't work very well is when you're the sort of person they'd rather not have there and want to discriminate against.

Credit unions can function like this.

One of them told me no credit card, no car loan, no nothing... With an 806 FICO.

This was years ago.

The same loan officer gave my mother a credit card and a car loan, at very low rates considering her terrible FICO score and living paycheck to paycheck, and then they got super angry when she filed bankruptcy on them and they lost almost everything about a year later.

If she walked into a major bank they would have never given her that or it would have been a high interest rate to compensate for the risk. But since she's good at buttering people up, the credit union made a bad call.

I can get better stuff out of a bank because their decisions are data driven, not how well you can flatter someone there.

My mother hasn't done better post bankruptcy. She got credit cards from Discover and Credit One but they are always maxed out and over the limit.

Discover won't give her a credit line increase because she's just giving them interest payments which shows the bank she's currently struggling even with just a thousand dollar credit line.

She got a car loan out of something called Credit Acceptance, and paid it off, but it was at a very high rate. Something like 25%.

Her credit file shows about two dozen consumer finance accounts with Affirm, continuing to show financial stress by leaning on BNPL plans heavily for minor purchases.

The loan officer at that credit union should have paid more attention to her FICO score.

As much as I disagree with the outcome based on a FICO score sometimes, it seems that relationship banking brings along with it all of the bad old days involving bankers that just don't like you for whatever reason and get away with it just because they won't admit what's going on (race, redlining, immigration status, sexual orientation, etc.)

So I refuse to have credit union accounts.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Jeffster1 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:19:53 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@Jeffster1 wrote:
My BofA CCR is my oldest card now, not counting the Cap One which has been PC'd numerous times.

Of my original cards, the "bones" of my original Cap One and TD are in my current Cap One and TD cards, both of which I've PC'd along the way. TD is sockdrawered. Jasper left the card business. I dropped OLLO in the Fall of 2022, along with the Merrick and the Mercury I got later in 2021 since, by mid-2022, I was being approved for prime cards...American Express and Wells Fargo, along with BMO and USBank plus I had my BofA CCR and TD.

I received my Amex approval 61 months after my BK filing even though Amex had been IIB.

After BofA rejected my for a secured card, I moved over to TD of 90% of my banking and couldn't be happier; I wish I'd made the move years ago. Given how BofA treated me, I have no desire to go back, ever.

Then there is AMEX, congratulations on getting back in with them. I assume you burned them for less than ten-grand. I burned them for, well, a lot more than that, and each time I reapply, they are like, "Yeah, about that..., you are persona-non-grata. Go away!"

@Horseshoez Yup...it was under 10K. TBH, I don't remember the exact number. I'd have to go digging to find it but I know it was a lot less than 10K.

I have to admit that my rebuild was pretty easy. Just luck, I guess.

I even got lucky with Amex. When I applied at 61 months, it initially came back as a denial. I called AMEX to ask the reason and was informed, "You actually were not denied. We just need you to upload your permission for us to get your last tax return." I saw that as a reasonable ask since I had included Amex in my BK. The process of uploading the permission form was frustrating as it kept getting kicked out.

I sent an email to the Amex Exec Offices explaining that the form kept getting kicked back. They assigned a rep to my case who also explained that I am approved and she will make sure the form does not get kicked back again. She was true to her word, and I was not only approved, But I was approved for two more cards within a few months without an HP.. I was truly humbled by the personalized attention that I got because I realized that, having burned them, I really wasn't entitled to anything.

Re: Denied for BoA Secured Card

Jeffster1 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:25:36 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@Jeffster1 wrote:
My BofA CCR is my oldest card now, not counting the Cap One which has been PC'd numerous times.

Of my original cards, the "bones" of my original Cap One and TD are in my current Cap One and TD cards, both of which I've PC'd along the way. TD is sockdrawered. Jasper left the card business. I dropped OLLO in the Fall of 2022, along with the Merrick and the Mercury I got later in 2021 since, by mid-2022, I was being approved for prime cards...American Express and Wells Fargo, along with BMO and USBank plus I had my BofA CCR and TD.

I received my Amex approval 61 months after my BK filing even though Amex had been IIB.

After BofA rejected my for a secured card, I moved over to TD of 90% of my banking and couldn't be happier; I wish I'd made the move years ago. Given how BofA treated me, I have no desire to go back, ever.

Then there is AMEX, congratulations on getting back in with them. I assume you burned them for less than ten-grand. I burned them for, well, a lot more than that, and each time I reapply, they are like, "Yeah, about that..., you are persona-non-grata. Go away!"
Most of the big banks treat you more like a number than a person and the branch manager doesn't have much authority to do anything.

They're loaded with fees and pay little or no interest.

If personal banking matters to you then you won't do business with a large bank.

Where personal banking doesn't work very well is when you're the sort of person they'd rather not have there and want to discriminate against.

Credit unions can function like this.

One of them told me no credit card, no car loan, no nothing... With an 806 FICO.

This was years ago.

The same loan officer gave my mother a credit card and a car loan, at very low rates considering her terrible FICO score and living paycheck to paycheck, and then they got super angry when she filed bankruptcy on them and they lost almost everything about a year later.

If she walked into a major bank they would have never given her that or it would have been a high interest rate to compensate for the risk. But since she's good at buttering people up, the credit union made a bad call.

I can get better stuff out of a bank because their decisions are data driven, not how well you can flatter someone there.

My mother hasn't done better post bankruptcy. She got credit cards from Discover and Credit One but they are always maxed out and over the limit.

Discover won't give her a credit line increase because she's just giving them interest payments which shows the bank she's currently struggling even with just a thousand dollar credit line.

She got a car loan out of something called Credit Acceptance, and paid it off, but it was at a very high rate. Something like 25%.

Her credit file shows about two dozen consumer finance accounts with Affirm, continuing to show financial stress by leaning on BNPL plans heavily for minor purchases.

The loan officer at that credit union should have paid more attention to her FICO score.

As much as I disagree with the outcome based on a FICO score sometimes, it seems that relationship banking brings along with it all of the bad old days involving bankers that just don't like you for whatever reason and get away with it just because they won't admit what's going on (race, redlining, immigration status, sexual orientation, etc.)

So I refuse to have credit union accounts.

@AndrewF

The Credit Union for my company told me they were ending my membership when I filed BK in 2017, and basically told me never to come back. I IIB them in BK for a few thousand on one of their credit cards.

After my DC in January 2021, I got a random call from this same credit union inviting me back. I guess it was an OK gesture, but I really didn't need them, so I passed. I have since wondered why the change of mind on their part.