topic Re: Capital One Secured Card in Credit Cards

Capital One Secured Card

Cheryla18 — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 02:00:32 GMT

My daughter was approved for a Capital One secured card. She could only deposit $200.00. What is the best course of action using this card to someday get an unsecured verision, whether or not it has to be a new card or this one graduating into an unsecured card if they still do that.

Thanks in Advance.

Cheryl

Re: Capital One Secured Card

ptatohed — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 07:03:33 GMT

Cheryl,

Congrats to Cheryl Jr for her first card. There is no magic here, just use the card responsibly. Use it regularly, keep the purchases to under $200/mo, pay in full ea mo. It's a great start and soon enough, this door and/or other doors will be opened for her.

Re: Capital One Secured Card

Cheryla18 — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 11:33:48 GMT

I thought I read somewhere that Capital One "likes" a lot of swipes. Would it benefit her to use and PIF multiple times per month? Should she let a small balance of $60 report each mo th to show usage?

Re: Capital One Secured Card

JoeRockhead — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 11:39:57 GMT

Nothing wrong with paying it down to use it more often throughout the month, but not necessary to leave a balance at the end of the month to show usage. They will see the usage, and in addition the high balance (highest balance that occurred during the month) is generally reported to the CRAs every month even when the ending statement balance is reported at 0.

Re: Capital One Secured Card

ptatohed — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 06:45:45 GMT

@Cheryla18 wrote:
I thought I read somewhere that Capital One "likes" a lot of swipes. Would it benefit her to use and PIF multiple times per month? Should she let a small balance of $60 report each mo th to show usage?

Like JRh said, she can make mid-month payments but I would only do that if it's needed to keep enough available credit for planned spending. As for lots of swipes, I would recommend just using the card for purchases she was going to make anyway, don't purposely generate extra swipes. I would never recommend that anyone pay interest to better their score. She, in time, and with responsible use, can establish good credit scores without paying interest.

Re: Capital One Secured Card

keeno1970 — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:50:43 GMT

I agree with everything said here. Capital one is excellent for helping you build your credit up. In no time they will send you an offer for an unsecured Quicksilver card with a $750 cl. And in no time the credit limit will be up to $5,000 on that card. Then you can move on to better cards with more rewards.