topic Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure? in Credit Cards

Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 00:52:36 GMT

So I have a Capital One Secured Master Card that I opened 2 years ago when I started rebuilding my credit. Started at $200 limit, limit increased to $500 shortly after. It has always been paid on time and in full. Every time I call customer service regarding unsecuring this card and transitioning it to an unsecured product they always comment on the account histroy being great, but I cant get this thing transitioned to an unsecured product. They offer to let me apply for another card and close this card out, but I dont want to do that as I need to work on my age of accounts and would like to keep this account going, but just in a way that its more useful than a $500 limit card which is my lowest card limit by far. I've spoken to numerous people. I'm told this account will never unsecure. I'm told it is unsecured at random. I'm told it can be requested through a credit limit increase. I'm told its not eligible for being unsecured at this time. All of these explainations from Capital One customer service contradict one another and provide no solid path. I see all over here people with this card having it unsecured after less than a year, and here I am 2 years deep paid on time and in full always and trapped secured. Any advice on how to go about this?

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 01:05:15 GMT

Mine is stuck unsecured at almost 2 years too. I see the very few posts about unsecuring and I'm starting to doubt it can happen. I have tried no spend. Lots of spend. No reporting balance. Reporting balance. Nothing works. Stuck at 500 too.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 01:35:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I have a Capital One Secured Master Card that I opened 2 years ago when I started rebuilding my credit. Started at $200 limit, limit increased to $500 shortly after. It has always been paid on time and in full. Every time I call customer service regarding unsecuring this card and transitioning it to an unsecured product they always comment on the account histroy being great, but I cant get this thing transitioned to an unsecured product. They offer to let me apply for another card and close this card out, but I dont want to do that as I need to work on my age of accounts and would like to keep this account going, but just in a way that its more useful than a $500 limit card which is my lowest card limit by far. I've spoken to numerous people. I'm told this account will never unsecure. I'm told it is unsecured at random. I'm told it can be requested through a credit limit increase. I'm told its not eligible for being unsecured at this time. All of these explainations from Capital One customer service contradict one another and provide no solid path. I see all over here people with this card having it unsecured after less than a year, and here I am 2 years deep paid on time and in full always and trapped secured. Any advice on how to go about this?

Short answer: You don't

Capital One only recently started unsecuring their secured cards. The pattern demonstrated by the datapoints we have indicates that the 'current' secured card product is not the same as the 'old' secured card product. Only cards that were opened after the (unknown) date that they started offerring secured cards that unsecure can be unsecured. Everyone with one of the older cards issued before unsecuring 'was a thing' will forever remain secured. I know it's a bummer, but it's the explanation that makes the most sense.

So, best advice would depend on whether you also have an AF on your 'old' secured card product. If you do, I'd cancel the month before the AF is due. If not...well, then it becomes up to you as to whether you need your $500 back whether to cancel or not. I can tell you that if you do cancel, the positive history of the trade line will remain with you for 10 years from the closing date.

Good Luck!

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

joltdude — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 01:45:10 GMT

Capital One cards seldom unsecure.... it seems to be new accounts that have had some luck with this...

I got chewed out for this on another thread...

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Secured-cards-that-graduate/m-p/4887129

Its completely up to Cap One and doesn't seem a way to nudge it to unsecure...

If your scores have gone up, id move on, or see if theres a prequalify from cap one and take the pulls....

-J

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 01:49:02 GMT

It does it appear as others have said that some of the newer secured cards are being unsecured and YMMV. If you are ready to move on and don't want to wait to see if you will ever unsecure, the you can apply for a new card and close the old one. The secured card will report on your credit and help your aaoa for another 10 years.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 01:55:13 GMT

I already have a Quicksilver card from them that was opened 6 months after the secured card. Would it make sense to just combine the two credit lines on to the Quicksilver?

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 02:00:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I already have a Quicksilver card from them that was opened 6 months after the secured card. Would it make sense to just combine the two credit lines on to the Quicksilver?

Makes lots of sense - If you can get them to do it (they won't)

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 02:01:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I already have a Quicksilver card from them that was opened 6 months after the secured card. Would it make sense to just combine the two credit lines on to the Quicksilver?

I don't believe they will combine a secured card with a regular card. However, I could be wrong. To check go see if your cards are eligible for combination, under account services there is a link to combine cards. If it is eligible to combine, the link will allow you to do it.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

rmduhon — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 03:56:56 GMT

Secured cards can't be PC'd or combined while they are secured.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 04:20:32 GMT

So there is no way to get this card changed at all? Not even by contacting the executive offices?

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 04:52:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So there is no way to get this card changed at all? Not even by contacting the executive offices?

That's pretty much the upshot. You are of course welcome to try, but you are following in the footsteps of many myFicans who have gone before...and the results are not promising

On the plus side, once you get rid of it you will be eligible for another unsecured Quicksilver - which will undoubtedly have much better terms and credit line than your current one, and will allow you to combine your current one into it

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 05:23:09 GMT

Wait, what? Another quicksilver? I'm confused now.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 05:27:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Wait, what? Another quicksilver? I'm confused now.

Capital One allows 2 cards at a time, for most people - right now your two are the secured card we're discussing, and the Quicksilver you mentioned earlier in the thread.

Once you cancel the secured, you can if you choose acquire a second QS, or maybe a Venture card, which could then be combined with your existing QS

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 12:06:53 GMT

My answer is don't worry about it, and go on about getting great rewards cards form other companies. Stick the CapOne in a sock drawer, maybe throw a Netflix sub on it or use it every once in again to keep it open if you care. Or don't and cancel it.

CapOne doesn't seem interested in taking good customers that start with their secured card and turning them into heavy long-term Capital One users. They are more interested in being a building block for you to go on and be a heavy user of other cards from other companies. So, that's what you should do.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 19:24:18 GMT

That's interesting - I know that Capital One is most useful as a place to rebuild credit, but I didn't know that they saw that as their primary line of business and weren't that interested in "regular" users. So...since I have a secured card (since 1/2016) and was just approved for a $3K unsecured last month (2/2017), I should assume that my best course of action would be, once I establish a good payment history with the new unsecured card, to look elsewhere for another unsecured card? As a longtime PenFed member who very recently (as in less than a month ago) got a used-car loan from them, I'm considering their Promise Visa.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 00:18:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My answer is don't worry about it, and go on about getting great rewards cards form other companies. Stick the CapOne in a sock drawer, maybe throw a Netflix sub on it or use it every once in again to keep it open if you care. Or don't and cancel it.

CapOne doesn't seem interested in taking good customers that start with their secured card and turning them into heavy long-term Capital One users. They are more interested in being a building block for you to go on and be a heavy user of other cards from other companies. So, that's what you should do.

Not true at all. I'm not sure what people on here don't get about their secured product. They want you to close it once you've established your credit a bit and apply for an unsecured card. They will even tell you that on the phone or in chat. It's a secured card that probably won't unsecure. Take it for what it is, and then move on to a Platinum, and quickly PC it to a QS. That's all there is to it. I for one am a good customer who started with their secured card and became a heavy long-term Capital One user, and there are many, many others on this forum who could say the same.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Artemis092 — Sat, 13 May 2017 23:16:05 GMT

Applied for the Capital One secured card May of 2016. I made a $500 deposit and they gave me a $651 limit. Made payments on time like clock work and in December of 2016 i requested a limit increase and made they gave me a $300 increase. Then in April 2017(last month) I got and email saying I was getting my deposit back and my card was being unsecured. That day they posted the credit to my credit card account. Was not expecting that at all. Really glad I got this card.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

HeavenOhio — Sun, 14 May 2017 00:03:56 GMT

A recent post here said that 10 consecutive months of usage and on-time payments might do the trick. This info came from calling one of the special numbers and badgering the rep.

Also, responding to a post above, Capital One's website says that an individual can have up to five cards. The qualifier is that more recently, Capital One limits approvals to one card every six months.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Sun, 14 May 2017 00:15:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I have a Capital One Secured Master Card that I opened 2 years ago when I started rebuilding my credit. Started at $200 limit, limit increased to $500 shortly after. It has always been paid on time and in full. Every time I call customer service regarding unsecuring this card and transitioning it to an unsecured product they always comment on the account histroy being great, but I cant get this thing transitioned to an unsecured product. They offer to let me apply for another card and close this card out, but I dont want to do that as I need to work on my age of accounts and would like to keep this account going, but just in a way that its more useful than a $500 limit card which is my lowest card limit by far. I've spoken to numerous people. I'm told this account will never unsecure. I'm told it is unsecured at random. I'm told it can be requested through a credit limit increase. I'm told its not eligible for being unsecured at this time. All of these explainations from Capital One customer service contradict one another and provide no solid path. I see all over here people with this card having it unsecured after less than a year, and here I am 2 years deep paid on time and in full always and trapped secured. Any advice on how to go about this?

There's been a lot of good answers on here about this but nobody ever stated the obvious.

When you got that $300 increase, that was your card graduating. That 300 is all you will ever get. The card can't be combined with anything but the surface of the drawer you stick it in. You can't get another CLI on it. That card is at the end of it's usefulness. I would suggest looking at your pre-qals and see if you can get card with a decent limit on it. Kepp it open or close it, your choice, they don't care. They won't ask you any questions about why you're closing it other than to confirm your mailing address so they can send you your deposit back.

Re: Capital One Secured Card - How to Unsecure?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 May 2017 04:51:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
My answer is don't worry about it, and go on about getting great rewards cards form other companies. Stick the CapOne in a sock drawer, maybe throw a Netflix sub on it or use it every once in again to keep it open if you care. Or don't and cancel it.

CapOne doesn't seem interested in taking good customers that start with their secured card and turning them into heavy long-term Capital One users. They are more interested in being a building block for you to go on and be a heavy user of other cards from other companies. So, that's what you should do.
Not true at all. I'm not sure what people on here don't get about their secured product. They want you to close it once you've established your credit a bit and apply for an unsecured card. They will even tell you that on the phone or in chat. It's a secured card that probably won't unsecure. Take it for what it is, and then move on to a Platinum, and quickly PC it to a QS. That's all there is to it. I for one am a good customer who started with their secured card and became a heavy long-term Capital One user, and there are many, many others on this forum who could say the same.

CapOne doesn't seem interested in taking good customers that start with their card and turning them into heavy long-term Capital One users.

It's the same situation with those that start off with $500 limits and can't get them increased much higher even decades later: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/For-those-with-quot-stuck-quot-Capital-One-accounts/td-p/4876399

Other banks don't care where you started and grow with you while Capital One treats you like a red-headed stepchild. I have an Amex charge card that was closed for non-payment, reopened (with a $500 limit), upgraded, sidegraded, and they just sent me an offer to upgrade and get 60k points a few weeks ago. They'll also gladly let me charge $25k on that same account today.

Meanwhile Crap1 feeds you scraps and tells you to apply for a new account. I'm not saying I'm entitled to anything from anyone, but if that's how they treat their customers I'll gladly take it for what it is do business with other institutations that can at least pretend to value my business.