topic Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card in Credit Cards

Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

kflo01 — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 16:55:14 GMT

Between these two. Which would be better to open a secured credit card account with? I am looking at which would be better to build a relationship with as far as speed of turning the card to unsecured, opening me up to there other unsecured prime cards, opening me up to their other products such as home loans, etc etc.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 17:52:28 GMT

BofA for sure, Citi takes a long time based on what other people have discussed.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

coldfusion — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 17:56:38 GMT

The BoA Customized Cash Rewards secured card also earns cashback just like the unsecured version of the card.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

sjt — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 18:35:57 GMT

My vote goes to the B of A Cash Rewards Secured Visa.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Bkist21 — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 18:48:58 GMT

Bank of America Cash Rewards secured... You get the cashback unlike with Citi. I have the unsecured version and it's a keeper for me.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

firefox100 — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 09:47:47 GMT

Bank of America gets my vote, much better to deal with BOf A over Citi bank.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

pinkandgrey — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 11:26:38 GMT

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here and vouch for Citi. I will admit that the cash back aspect of BofA is a benefit, but for me PERSONALLY, I think Citi is the better bank of the two.

Of course it just depends on your own needs/wants. Can't really go wrong with either one.

Good luck!

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

PutThatMoneyOnTheTable — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 11:36:53 GMT

BOA......once unsecured CLI are soft pulls. I started out secured with them in 2014 my card is at 35k and I had a car loan with them at 3.49% in 2016, which I paid off last year July. I get frequent 0% offers for BT or direct deposit (with 3% fee).

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

jnbowmar — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 14:49:25 GMT

my citi secured is still secured after two years, and my new maturity date is 12/24 which is when my charge off will fall off, so I wouldnt open a ctii secured unless your bulding credit from not having any, instead of rebuilding credit with baddies.

the citi card is kind of useless unless you have a clean report.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Horseshoez — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 15:54:02 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
I'm going to play the devil's advocate here and vouch for Citi. I will admit that the cash back aspect of BofA is a benefit, but for me PERSONALLY, I think Citi is the better bank of the two.
Of course it just depends on your own needs/wants. Can't really go wrong with either one.

Good luck!

Took the very words out of my mouth. Last year after my Chapter 13 discharge I decided to start with a secured card, which I did without much research; yeah, my bad. I ended up with 8 HPs and 1 secured card which didn't meet my needs and which I closed after less than 7 weeks. Then I did my research and when looking at the CITI vs. BofA cards, both of which ultimately denied me for a secured card, and decided the Rewards were more important than what I consider to be CITIs better reputation.

In the end I landed a TDBank TDCash card and that couldn't have turned out better. While the secured TDCash rewards are only 1% (growing to a 3-2-1 tiered structure after graduation), TDBank graduated my card to an unsecured Visa Signature card after exactly 6-months; way sooner than the minimum expected graduation dates for either BofA or CITI. In the end I'm quite happy I was denied for both of these cards.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Eyepinpools — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 20:07:14 GMT

I have no experience with Citi, however I would strongy recommend BofA.

I opened a $400 secured Bankamaericard with them in 3/19. I requested graduation in 2/20 and they graduated and increased my credit limit to $2400. I opened a TR and CR card with them in 1/21 both with $7k SLs. In 4/21 I requested a CLI on the americard and they approved increasing my limit to $7k (excacty what I requested).

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

sjt — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 20:00:11 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
I'm going to play the devil's advocate here and vouch for Citi. I will admit that the cash back aspect of BofA is a benefit, but for me PERSONALLY, I think Citi is the better bank of the two.
Of course it just depends on your own needs/wants. Can't really go wrong with either one.

Good luck!

I like Citibank and its card products. However, the cons to their secured card are 1) no rewards; 2) can't increase add funds to increase credit line; 3) unpredictable graduating process.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

calyx — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 23:58:17 GMT

I had no problems and am happy that I chose to go with the Citibank secured after getting USB's.
It's true they do not give you rewards, though, and if you are also considering BofA, then go with them, because rewards.

As far as secured cards with rewards - If you don't have one/haven't thought of it yet, Discover's secured card is good. And I've heard good things of TDBank.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

SUPERSQUID — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 11:30:38 GMT

In my opinion if you are looking for rewards and possibly saving a security deposit try the Discover prequalify page.

The rewards the first year are unbelievabable the 1 percent on everything isnt so hot but the rotating 3 month categories at 5 percent cb are fabulous, plus the first year they double your cb for the year at the end of the year. Not to mention my offer included a bt at 0 percent for 14 mos with a 3 percent fee and a 3k sl. They approved me 1.5 years post bk 7 disch with 11 lates and mid 600 scores.

Take a chance with them because right now it seems they have loosened their standards with lots of approvals and cli's lately.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

FancyFico123 — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:19:49 GMT

The BoA card for sure. You get rewards with it, and with Citi you don't. I just closed my Citi and kept my BoA open. They also graduate more frequently!

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Rudy1 — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:43:40 GMT

I would personally go for the BOA secured card and this is coming from someone who has a Citi secured. The BOA secured has more benefits but do know that BOA secured is not a guaranteed approval even if you put down money they may still not approve you. They didn't for me cause I had applied for too many cards in a short time period.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 15:19:42 GMT

@kflo01 wrote:
Between these two. Which would be better to open a secured credit card account with? I am looking at which would be better to build a relationship with as far as speed of turning the card to unsecured, opening me up to there other unsecured prime cards, opening me up to their other products such as home loans, etc etc.

I would say BOA honestly,

I have both ( non-secure cards ) but IMHO you treat BOA right they will open up and have alot more to offer you then Citizen

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

KJinNC — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 13:38:57 GMT

I have never had a BoA card and have no opinion about it. The comments in this thread seem positive.

Citi is a good bank to deal with, in general, has a decent web site and app for card management, some may feel good about seeing "Citi" on their card since it's one of the classic big nationwide issuers. They don't charge annual fees, and in general are not predatory. But that's about it. The card has no rewards, and while it can graduate, it's really not worth waiting for that to happen. They say it normally happens in 18 months, but in reality, it's all over the map, from 11 months to 30 months to apparently never, and it is not clear what determines this. I recommend not thinking of it as a card that will graduate. By the time it does graduate, assuming it actually does, you will have long since been able to open better unsecured cards.

If you do open a Citi secured card, one thing to be aware of is that you can never increase your deposit/credit limit. Whatever it is on day 1, it will be that unless and until it graduates.

Three I would recommend if the idea of a card graduating is important to you are Discover, Navy Federal, and TD Bank. However, as someone who went through this process pretty recently, I think cards that graduate are way overrated. It's generally easier to just close it once you are able to get better cards. I still have my graduated Discover card, but I keep thinking about closing it so I'm not stuck with its laggard credit limit (see signature for a thumbnail of my process).

JMO, good luck!

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 16:09:26 GMT

From my research I think the Citi is good to build but not so good to rebuild. These are the top level DPs I have seen so far for early graduation (9 to 12 months):

Fico 8 above 700
No baddies, none, zero... no even old ones
No lates
Always PIF

These DPs are consistent across people who gratuated early. This is why I think this card is ok if for people looking to build, but not very good if they are looking to rebuild.

Re: Bank of America vs Citibank Secured Card

sjt — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 21:58:24 GMT

FYI- The new B of A Cash Back Rewards Card also comes in a secured card version: https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/unlimited-cash-back-secured-credit-card/