How long to keep CapOne secured?

[Aduke1122]

Well I say we kept it but I meant we had it 8 mths bf getting the unsecured , still have secured card gonna keep it awhile to not mess.up AAoA

[Anonymous]

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@Aduke1122 wrote:
Well I say we kept it but I meant we had it 8 mths bf getting the unsecured , still have secured card gonna keep it awhile to not mess.up AAoA

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AAoA wouldn't be affected by just closing the secured card.  Positive trade lines will continue to report for 10yrs or more.  What would lower you AAoA is opening several new accounts in a short time period. It's unavoidable when you're first starting out. Get to 3 accounts and then garden for 6 moths before applying for anything else.  my AAoA is right at 22 months, and that's after a 10 card app spree in May, 2 more in August.

[brother7]

My suggested timeline for rebuilders is this:

t = 0 : Apply for Capital One Secured card. Result = 1 secured card.

After 6th statement cuts : Apply for unsecured card. (Recommendation: Discover it). Result: = 1 secured card + 1 unsecured card.

After 6th statement of newest card cuts : Apply for unsecured card. (Recommendation: Citi Double Cash). Result = 1 secured card + 2 unsecured cards.

After 6th satement of newest card cuts : Apply for unsecured card, cancel Capital One Secured card. Result = 3 unsecured cards.

Garden or Repeat with new applications every 6th statement.

The short answer to the OP's question: Cancel secured card after you have 3 unsecured cards.

You only need 3 or 4 cards for an optimal credit card profile. After the 3rd unsecured card, apply for cards only if they fill a niche in your spending habits. For example, if you travel, get a good travel rewards card. If you buy from Amazon frequently, consider joining Amazon Prime and getting the card geared towards Prime members.

Just my 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Just got the CapOne secured not too long ago and still waiting on my first statement to cut.

But I wanted to ask how long do you think I should keep the card for because it no longer Unsecures and I'll only get 1 CLI on it ever (or so I've heard). I plan on app'ing for their unsecured card in 6 months.

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I had my CapOne secured card for 10 months when I got my QS1.  It'll be 2 years old in February but I'm going to cancel it before the anniversary (it's old enough to have an annual fee and I had that fee waived last year but this time I think I'll just get my money back).  

In my experience, I got a Credit Steps increase of $300 in the 7th month after I had it and haven't had anything since.  They swear up and down it's possible to get more than one CLI but you can't request it and you can't add more money onto your account after the fact anymore, so it could possibly just sit forever.

It's really up to you how long you keep it, but I will say this - if you want to stick with Capital One, in most cases you can only have 2 MasterCards (well, MasterCards and Journey which is a Visa, but it's an 'average credit' starter college card) and up to 5 cards total, so if you wanted two MasterCards for some reason (like a Plat and a QS1, like a lot of people like to get around here), you'll HAVE TO close the secured card before you can get that other MasterCard.  I know there are exceptions to this but I've personally gotten the "you have the maximum number of accounts" denial reason because I have two MasterCards with Cap One.