1) I agree if you have 1 or better 2 clean low utilization accounts she can piggyback on it would absolutely do her a solid (both my young adults, were approved for very nice SLs and beautiful APRs , without taking any denials, so no wasted HPs..based upon getting that little help)
2) Either way she must STOP all the free fall apping
Wether or not she gets these Cap-1 or not, she's gotta STOP
Be clear Cap-1 in particular runs 3 freaking HPs, each time, so they alone have burnt 6 HPs on her since last month 😓
At the rate, she 'could' have apped 6 different lenders
Anyway, she's gonna want allow those HPs to age because the scoring model will denote her searching frantically as a high risk...catch-22
If, it were my daughter I'd go the secured loan, along with 2 secured CCs at the same time (using the same$$) and allow them to grow together...Spend NOTHING on the CCs (IMO) except the small secured loan payment...Allow 8 months of grow (usually takes 6 to get a score but due to reporting schedules 8-9 is safe) and wa la = decent credit score, including some aging (almost enough for those extra HPs to wear off their sting at 12 months)
Easy peesy if the credit builder doesn't have ants in the pants and plays it cool...Understanding that this is a game of chess but 'they' want you playing checkers, they'll sucker you into hasty moves if you let them
Oh and watch out for the bottom feeder companies that will again entice newbies on the way up to app and accept (IMO) their anchor cards that do more to sink and keep you down than anything else
Build it right and the vendors you hook up with, will be the kind you're proud to bring home to meet the folks and you're still OK being seen with a decade or 2 or 3 later.😉
Best of Luck
