topic Re: Secured card idea... in Credit Cards

Secured card idea...

j_casteel — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:50:30 GMT

I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later.

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

Re: Secured card idea...

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:52:39 GMT

BoA reports Secured, so does Wells Fargo. NFCU and capone don't. I'm sure more suggestions will come along.

Re: Secured card idea...

-Cain- — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:56:48 GMT

@j_casteel wrote:
I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later.

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

BofA Secured will be a HP every time you want to add to CL, so you may want to start with a larger limit.

Re: Secured card idea...

Revelate — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:01:17 GMT

Cap 1, USAA if qualified are the two which come to mind. NFCU as well if qualified. There may be others which allow you to easily add money to the card but I'm unaware of them, and that Armed Forces CU card rubs me the wrong way.

BOFA is a HP for each CLI, and while an *excellent* secured product (FWIW it's better than your current cards now when you get the guarunteed 1-2-3 rewards attached to it) I'd open it and pool money to bump it straight up to the max later if you can't do now.

FWIW I agree with the plan wholeheartedly, I'm on the fence now about my application spree at the end of the year, but I recently bumped my BOFA card up to 5K and it's supposed to graduate in October. Since I don't really care about my TU anyway (which seems to be their typical CLI pull) if they keep the limit when I graduate, I'll consider that to be a *huge* win for future approvals moving straight into the Visa Sig category once my FICO is there rather than stuck building the hard way.

Re: Secured card idea...

cashnocredit — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:10:34 GMT

@j_casteel wrote:
I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later.

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

I love it. That puts a whole new meaning to "maxing out" credit cards.

I would initially check with the CC issuer to make sure you could increase the security deposit that often. It's so unusual that there is a possibility it might set off some flag.. The CC industry runs on very lage group averages so I'd make sure they are cool with the idea and have the CSR make a note in your file that you intend to frequently increase the security deposit is someone else looks at the file later.

Re: Secured card idea...

Revelate — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:18:56 GMT

@cashnocredit wrote:
@j_casteel wrote:
I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later.

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

I love it. That puts a whole new meaning to "maxing out" credit cards.

I would initially check with the CC issuer to make sure you could increase the security deposit that often. It's so unusual that there is a possibility it might set off some flag.. The CC industry runs on very lage group averages so I'd make sure they are cool with the idea and have the CSR make a note in your file that you intend to frequently increase the security deposit is someone else looks at the file later.

I can't imagine this would be a problem with any of the lenders which allow frequent additions in the first place. There are dozens of examples of people who toss another $50 bucks or whatever into an account repeatedly, it's no different if you're depositing 1K a week instead.

The issuing creditor of the secured product has an incentive to have you depositng money: it counts towards their reserve requirements as mandated by the Fed.

Nobody else is even likely to notice, SP's are pretty infrequent for established accounts, and even then more than once a month is pretty much ever done, and it takes weeks sometimes to update a tradeline. Statistically irrelevant in my opinion, as the only lender who really is going to know, would like you to do most likely assuming they don't jump to a fraud conclusion which is unlikely with most secured card limits.

Re: Secured card idea...

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:44:44 GMT

Definitely will want to increase your BOA deposit in big chunks if you get it. If you end up applying for some GECRB, Barclays, or Discover cards a year from now your TU report won't be too pretty with all the HP's.

Re: Secured card idea...

tboy1977 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:03:31 GMT

if you are near a PNC branch, go in and apply for secured product (there's no advertising it). The minimum is $250, the max $2500, increments of $50 and when you want to increase the limit you just go there with the money. No credit review (HP or soft) at all. Cap1 is nice too. But a local credit union may allow you the high credit you want. I want a card with 10k behind it. And I'm more than willing to put 10k there rather than waiting for FICO. Plus, I feel more secure with a secured card anyway.

Re: Secured card idea...

FitNutrix — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:04:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
BoA reports Secured, so does Wells Fargo. NFCU and capone don't. I'm sure more suggestions will come along.

Hey for the NFCU secured card do you have to be a member???? Also, USAA does it report secured?

Re: Secured card idea...

DaveSignal — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:15:18 GMT

@1Health wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
BoA reports Secured, so does Wells Fargo. NFCU and capone don't. I'm sure more suggestions will come along.
Hey for the NFCU secured card do you have to be a member???? Also, USAA does it report secured?

USAA does not report secured, and you can increase the credit limit by making additional deposits. Your money is added to an adjustable rate CD which will earn better interest than a savings account, but you will pay a penalty if you close it before 2 years.

Re: Secured card idea...

FitNutrix — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:31:56 GMT

Any others beside NFCU, USAA, BofA, C1... i'm actually interested myself and would actually like to know the ones who do not report "secured" because that's looks much better on my report.

Thanks

Re: Secured card idea...

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:34:02 GMT

go with cu. lots of choices but verify they have features you want. i like sdfcu secured visa. not sure how depositsa to increase cl work. but no af and interest rock. up to 100k at least

Re: Secured card idea...

DaveSignal — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:39:41 GMT

EDIT: i had typed something at the same time recommending sdfcu. read crashems post above.

Re: Secured card idea...

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:44:16 GMT

@1Health wrote:
Any others beside NFCU, USAA, BofA, C1... i'm actually interested myself and would actually like to know the ones who do not report "secured" because that's looks much better on my report.
Thanks

Is that 651 FICO? What is stopping you from getting an unsecured card?

If you want to go the secured card right USAA and Cap1 is your best bet. I paid $49 for a $200 secured limit to start off with Cap1 and I have increased it ever since. Both of them report unsecured

Re: Secured card idea...

FitNutrix — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:45:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
go with cu. lots of choices but verify they have features you want. i like sdfcu secured visa. not sure how depositsa to increase cl work. but no af and interest rock. up to 100k at least

SDFCU doesn't have secured credit cards as one of there options on there website do i have to call? What are benifits examples

-doesn't report as secured

-minimum deposit amount

-how easy is it to actually use and pay off with bank

etc.

Thanks!!

Re: Secured card idea...

FitNutrix — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:50:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@1Health wrote:
Any others beside NFCU, USAA, BofA, C1... i'm actually interested myself and would actually like to know the ones who do not report "secured" because that's looks much better on my report.
Thanks
Is that 651 FICO? What is stopping you from getting an unsecured card?
If you want to go the secured card right USAA and Cap1 is your best bet. I paid $49 for a $200 secured limit to start off with Cap1 and I have increased it ever since. Both of them report unsecured

Yes all of my scores are accurate. And because i have 7 HP on TU and 5 on EQ and i also have C1 and i actually like them for what they are a "rebuild card" THAT'S IT. If you want have your money tied into them then that's your option but i increased mine to 1,000 because i thought it would be a good number to stick at and don't want put a lot money into it.

As of your question, i don't know which cards to apply for so that i don't get declined and also i don't have any "revolving" account history yet because C1 hasn't reported yet do you know when they will i got the card 16th of July. Still says N/A for due date..

I think i have such a "OK" ish score because of my student loans OSU all they way baby!!

Re: Secured card idea...

DaveSignal — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:54:15 GMT

@1Health wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
go with cu. lots of choices but verify they have features you want. i like sdfcu secured visa. not sure how depositsa to increase cl work. but no af and interest rock. up to 100k at least
SDFCU doesn't have secured credit cards as one of there options on there website do i have to call? What are benifits examples
-doesn't report as secured
-minimum deposit amount
-how easy is it to actually use and pay off with bank
etc.
Thanks!!

I haven't ever had one, but I am a member at SDFCU and can say, for certain, that they do have a secured visa with possibilty of extremely high credit limits. I think it has all of the same benefits as their unsecured card (including low interest rate and flexpoints rewards) but without the EMV chip. You should call and ask though.

Re: Secured card idea...

FitNutrix — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:59:20 GMT

@DaveSignal wrote:
@1Health wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
go with cu. lots of choices but verify they have features you want. i like sdfcu secured visa. not sure how depositsa to increase cl work. but no af and interest rock. up to 100k at least
SDFCU doesn't have secured credit cards as one of there options on there website do i have to call? What are benifits examples
-doesn't report as secured
-minimum deposit amount
-how easy is it to actually use and pay off with bank
etc.
Thanks!!
I haven't ever had one, but I am a member at SDFCU and can say, for certain, that they do have a secured visa with possibilty of extremely high credit limits. I think it has all of the same benefits as their unsecured card (including low interest rate and flexpoints rewards) but without the EMV chip. You should call and ask though.

Okay Thanks for all your information

Re: Secured card idea...

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:16:47 GMT

@1Health wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@1Health wrote:
Any others beside NFCU, USAA, BofA, C1... i'm actually interested myself and would actually like to know the ones who do not report "secured" because that's looks much better on my report.
Thanks
Is that 651 FICO? What is stopping you from getting an unsecured card?
If you want to go the secured card right USAA and Cap1 is your best bet. I paid $49 for a $200 secured limit to start off with Cap1 and I have increased it ever since. Both of them report unsecured
Yes all of my scores are accurate. And because i have 7 HP on TU and 5 on EQ and i also have C1 and i actually like them for what they are a "rebuild card" THAT'S IT. If you want have your money tied into them then that's your option but i increased mine to 1,000 because i thought it would be a good number to stick at and don't want put a lot money into it.
As of your question, i don't know which cards to apply for so that i don't get declined and also i don't have any "revolving" account history yet because C1 hasn't reported yet do you know when they will i got the card 16th of July. Still says N/A for due date..
I think i have such a "OK" ish score because of my student loans OSU all they way baby!!

Cap1 will start reporting after your 2nd statement is cut do not let them tell you anything else besides that. Can you join USAA? To me its a wonderful product no HP and by far the easiest process to increase your CL and its available the next day after you request it. Wells Fargo is another idea.

Re: Secured card idea...

tboy1977 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:20:20 GMT

My PNC card doesn't report as secured. And I have seen the "bank credit report" from my financial counselor. Actually, the only thing on my credit report that says "secured" is the installment loan I began with at Heartland CU on my post-bankruptcy journey.