topic Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score? in Credit Cards

Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

RedHead1 — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:13:05 GMT

Hi all,

As you can see below, I have an abysmal score. I've been wanting to open a secured card for the following reasons: 1. I can now control my spending and can use it responsibly, 2. increase my debt to credit ratio, 3. have a card with a good, clean slate. Problem is, I only want to apply ONCE, so I don't have any additional credit checks. Is there a card that has a good acceptance rate for people with as low a score as mine? PS- I have bad history with Barclays, Capital One, and Citi, if that means anything.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:33:33 GMT

Applied bank. They don't pull an credit inquiry, you're going to need 200 dollars to secure the 200 limit. They don't check your credit or your scores, then there is first progress. =) applied bank only reports to tu and ex, first reports to all three but in don't know much about them besides that the offer secured CCS

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

DesertLife — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:37:20 GMT

Most forums here I've read say that Capital 1 secured Mastercard is the best way to go for those with really low scores. There have been people with 400's scores that have reportedly been approved for this card. The downsides are that you could still potentially be denied, and the hard pull on your credit is across all three credit bureaus, unlike some other cards that will only pull an inquiry on one.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

sphinx313 — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:42:56 GMT

Capital One Secured, US Bank Secured and Bank of America Secured. I also have 2 First Progress cards. I am no longer boycotting First Progress as I logged in to the website the other day and both of my accounts were listed.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 04:11:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Applied bank. They don't pull an credit inquiry, you're going to need 200 dollars to secure the 200 limit. They don't check your credit or your scores, then there is first progress. =) applied bank only reports to tu and ex, first reports to all three but in don't know much about them besides that the offer secured CCS

damn, didnt know applied bank didnt report to all 3.. thinking about closing it now and going with U.S. Bank...

BTW Open SKY CC also no hard inquiry and they report to all 3

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

RedHead1 — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:20:35 GMT

I don't think I can do Cap One, as I have very recent bad history with 2 credit cards that are owned by them: Best Buy and Kohls. Best Buy I had ok history with, but they closed it based on a pull of my credit report. Another Cap1 owned one (Sears) I just paid off and is in good standing.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:09:26 GMT

I agree with the other member about Applied. My score used to be as low, and I tried Capital One, but they did not approve. After a month or so, I tried Applied, and they approved, My report did not show and inquiry, and my credit score increased about 20 points in the first few months. I have a $500 limit. It's not the best bank out there, but as long as you pay on time and keep your balance low, it's OK. It's being OK for me so far.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:52:24 GMT

USAA if anyone in your family has any military ties-- even a short stint in reserves works. They did run a credit check and I got both the USAA AMEX and MC with a score that was roughly 480 at the time. I even had an unpaid judgment. As fars as secureds go the fees and interest is reasonable at $35 annual fee and 10% interest.

Or you could call credit unions. Theones by me were a crap shoot. Some ran credit, some didn't. Some are free, some have a $50 fee. Probably just requires some research.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

fishbjc — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 19:02:44 GMT

NFCU if you can get in.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

tattooedhusker — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:13:40 GMT

I have an OpenSky secured card, no credit check with them.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

DesertLife — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:29:59 GMT

@tattooedhusker wrote:
I have an OpenSky secured card, no credit check with them.

Open Sky has a $50 annual fee compared to First Progress' $29 (platinum elite), $39 (platinum select), or $44 (platinum prestige) annual fee.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Ravensfan2001 — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:16:09 GMT

State Department Federal Credit Union has a rewards Visa with no credit check, no annual fee, and 6.99% APR. You have to open an account with them (I opened mine online) and apply for the card via phone.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Repo-ed — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:36:47 GMT

www.whogavemecredit.com

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 16:44:39 GMT

@RedHead1 wrote:
Hi all,

As you can see below, I have an abysmal score. I've been wanting to open a secured card for the following reasons: 1. I can now control my spending and can use it responsibly, 2. increase my debt to credit ratio, 3. have a card with a good, clean slate. Problem is, I only want to apply ONCE, so I don't have any additional credit checks. Is there a card that has a good acceptance rate for people with as low a score as mine? PS- I have bad history with Barclays, Capital One, and Citi, if that means anything.

I think you need stages of secured cards. First try the sub prime ones that don't pull credit, others have mentioned here. Then after a year or more, you can probably add a secured card from a major bank or credit union. Cap1, USBank, BofA, CITI are all likely to deny at this time, but would be likely after you improve.

US Bank denied me 4 years ago when I started rebuilding and my credit was not nearly as bad. Then I started with Open Sky secured, added HSBC secured at six months, Capital One secured at a year. When secured cards were 1.5 yrs old, I got unsecured cards from the same banks. It takes several years to rebuild.

Re: Best Secured Credit Card for REALLY low score?

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:12:37 GMT

Yea the others post are correct. It takes at least 2 years to build maybe even more to rebuild. But yea Opensky is Kool... You can deposit $200-$3000, no credit check, and they report to all 3 CRA, Also a low APR 14.5%. Downside is the Annual Fee is $50 and it will never turn into a unsecured Card. But its Kool to put your foot in the Credit door again. Good luck on your Credit rebuild journey!