Capital One Platinum Secured Mastercard - Approved

[tommyboy]

Hello,

I've been a lurker on the myFico Community for a hot minute, and over this past few months I've been reading a lot about financial wellness on online communities and Forbes. I've been formulating my plan of action for doing a major tackle on my poor credit history and knuckling under for the sake of my financial future and building a respectable credit history. I made a couple of extremely stupid financial decisions and it's only been in this past two years that I've done some major self reflection on how irresponsible I have been when it comes to managing my money. I'm two years away from leaving my twenties and my goal is to achieve a credit score above 750 by my 30th birthday.

I'd like to share a little big of my progress since January 2025, and I am looking forward to interacting with other community members that are also on the same journey. To give some background on my credit report - I have no open credit lines anymore, four active collections that I am working on settling and one charge off. 

A few months ago I made the decision to apply for a low limit secured credit card through OpenSky with a minimum deposit of $100 equal to a $100 CL that I use to pay my internet. I pay the CC balance off the day before the due date and in these last few months it has brought my credit up a considerable jump in the right direction. After having this card for a couple of months I applied with Capital One (which is also my primary banking institution) for the Secured Platinum Card for Rebuilding and was approved for an account with a $200 initial deposit equal to a $200 CL. I accepted the offer for it, funded it a few days ago and I am waiting for it to show up in the mail. I've read that I can also deposit additional funds into the account to secure a higher credit limit before I activate it which I am debating on doing because I've read that Capital One is a crapshoot when it comes to giving back the deposit or graduating the card, but I know it'd probably be a smart more for the sake of credit utilization. My move for this card is to add my monthly cell phone bill and pay the balance off the day before the due date. 

My plan for the poor things reporting on my report is to get one collection paid off every three months until they are paid in full. After making on time payments for the full balance between OpenSky and CapOne for six months I'd like to apply for an additional Secured CC through a different bank and make my primary focus being on time and learning to be better with due dates. I know that credit utilization is another thing, but right now all I am focused on is the on time payments for the full amount and not carrying a balance with the high APR's on both cards. 

I do not have an automobile/mortage loan at this time and I was thinking about maybe applying for a small credit builder loan later on down the line. 

Anyways...Was just sharing some of my progress thus far. It is exciting to finally be getting on the right track with full intention of making my financial future better than if I were to do nothing.

-T

[Varsity_Lu]

@tommyboy 

I am not sure where you heard that CapOne would keep your security deposit, but I'm guessing you are misinformed.  I doubt that they are allowed to do that.

Sounds like you are making some good baby steps.  A couple of thoughts on your plan:

1. I'd put more on the CapOne card if possible. I know you just opened the Open Sky account, but many people don't have great experiencea with them. Definitely not a long term keeper card. CapOne, however, can be. Think Savor or VentureX down the road.

2. You don't have to take out loans to get your score up. Sure they help, but I'd suggest you play the long game rather than doing some gimmicky thing to finagle your score up. I am an example of being able to get a FICO score over 800 without any loans at all. I have 5 cards. That's it. It can be done.

Otherwise, keep up the good work. Looking forward to hearing about your progress.

[tommyboy]

Definitely baby steps, but it's more than I've done in awhile so I'm pretty happy about it, for sure. It goves peace of mind to know that a 750 score is possible with credit cards being your only types of credit. 

Sorry, I probably should clarify that I didn't mean they keep it - I just meant that I've read that more often than not that it's a hastle to get CapOne to give the deposit back or graduate their secured cards. 

I read somewhere on the myFico Community about someone that had the CapOne Secured CC for years and never graduated to unsecured through them, received their initial deposit back or a CLI despite having several other CC's with higher limits at other banks. 

I believe the only reason that user kept it was to not mess with his credit age, but it's been months since I read that thread. 

[Patient957]

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@tommyboy wrote:

I do not have an automobile/mortage loan at this time and I was thinking about maybe applying for a small credit builder loan later on down the line. 

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Consider a PenFed SSL.  IMO it is by far the best option for this.  Use the search function to learn more.  It's worth about 30 points for a profile like yours with no open installment loan.

Good luck!

[CreditMagic7]

Congratulations! 

[Creditwiser]

Congrats on your progress !

[Dcowboy08]

Congrats. You're on the path to great credit. Always remember it does take time, but when it starts moving... it will move fast. 

[user979797]

Hi and thanks for sharing your rebuild progress. Congratulations 🎉 on your Capital one approval and on your rebuild success. I've had to rebuild myself and with time and determination it can be done very successfully. It sounds like your for sure on the right path and doing well so good for you 😊 Hope your journey is fruitful for you.

[tommyboy]

I appreciate the information on this method, and I did check out the PenFed website. I bookmarked it and I will keep this in mind for the future! 

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! 

[tommyboy]

I appreciate the encouragement and positivity from everyone here!