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inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

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designated_knitter
Established Contributor

inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

So this is a strange one.  I'm rebuilding and trying to build relationships with "real" banks.

 

I app'ed for the US Bank Secured card and got a nebulous message that made me thing I wasn't approved.  A few days later, I get notification from my bank that they were pulling the 500.00 deposit.  

 

In the meantime, I had submitted a duplicate app for US Bank with a 300.00 deposit.  I would have thought if I had just applied and was approved for one secured card and the deposit was pulled, I would have gotten denied.  

 

But lo and behold, I got an alert from my credit union that US Bank took the 300.00 for the 2nd secured app.

 

So supposedly, I have just opened up 2 separate secured cards with US Bank -- one for 300 and the other for 500.

 

My Questions:

 

  1. Should I call US Bank and have them combine the 2 credit cards and see if they would combine the deposits into one card for a total 800.00 credit line?
  2. Am I bettter off having 2 separate accounts from US Bank that shows as 2 separate positive tradelines with them and would both of them graduate in a year assuming responsible usage?

If it matters, I will currently have:

 

  • $1000 Secured Discover where the 3rd statement has cut
  • $2000 UNsecured Sony card from Cap1
  • $500 Secured US Bank that I originally opened
  • $300 Secured US Bank that I inadvertantly opened.
  • $1000 Citi Secured card that will open as soon as they pull the deposit.

My 2 oldest tradelines with Cap1 (over 13 years old) were closed by Cap1 due to stupidity on my part causing NSFs -- somehow the Sony card escaped the death penalty (I postulating because it is a co-branded card so didn't come up on their radar.

 

Rather than going with sub-prime cards with toy limits, I decided to go with secured cards with more comparable limits to replace the Cap1 cards that had been closed and hopefully, build a path to graduation with "big boy" banks!

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

Cheers.

 

Started Over Again after Cap1 Death Penalty:
06/15/2019:
03/02/2021:
04/06/2021:
05/28/2021:
Lesson Learned: DON'T POKE THE BEAR!!! THE BEAR WILL WIN!!!
6 REPLIES 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

Only one is necessary, they won't combine them to the best of my knowledge.  Fund the one that you want to go with....I think $500 CL is probably easier to use than the $300 CL one.  After this one I would stop applying for secured cards and let them work their magic w/ activity every month so they unsecure quicker and generate the most points on your scores.  Once they start releasing the deposits then pursuing other prime lenders/products should become available.

Message 2 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

@designated_knitter -

 

I agree with Obscure-Expert . One secured card with US Bank is sufficient.

Keep the $500 card, pocket the $300 and use it to make on time payments.

 

At this time you have now established relationships with Discover,

Cap One, US Bank and Citi. All "real banks," so your goal is accomplished.

 

P.S. If anyone in your family has a military affiliation, is a government civilian

or a government contractor, you might want to strongly  consider Navy Federal.

 

Their nRewards secured card only requires a $200 deposit, and many myFICO

members who have/had this card reported that it unsecures in only 5-6 months

with a $2,000 unsecured limit. So in half the time, you could have a card with the

same credit limit as your Sony card from Cap 1. Navy Fed puts a lot of weight

on relationships, and their unsecured CC limits are quite generous. Just some food

for thought. Smiley Very Happy

 

Message 3 of 7
designated_knitter
Established Contributor

Re: inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

Thanks to both of your for your responses.

 

Yeah -- definitely done apping -- my CRs are back on ice so that will make any apps relatively difficult.  Plus, I'm not inclined to tie up any more money in deposits -- at least US Bank pays you a bit of a pittance for interest.

 

I was told by US Bank that you can increase your deposit within the first 30 days of the application -- after that, you have to wait 6 months if you want to add more funds for a CLI.  

 

So what I will probably do since I only need the one account is close the 2nd 300-dollar account and use that deposit to increase the first card to 800 so I'm not constantly banging my head against the 30 percent threshhold.  

 

I've been running everything I can through Discover and paying off multiple times per month.  Now I can spread the "love" a bit once I actually get the cards for US Bank and Citi -- though Discover is still my favorite due to the 1%/5% cashback!

 

Again, thank you for helping me figure the best path forward.  

 

Cheers!

 

PS -- Yeah, Navy just recently opened branches in my area but alas -- the closest family members who served in the military were my 2 cousins who went to Annapolis and my deceased father.  I tried app'ing on the basis of my dad but was shot down (no pun intended) due to Chexsystems from a few years ago.  

 

So for now -- I'll just focus on the "too big to fail" banks :-O

 

Thanks again!

 

 

Started Over Again after Cap1 Death Penalty:
06/15/2019:
03/02/2021:
04/06/2021:
05/28/2021:
Lesson Learned: DON'T POKE THE BEAR!!! THE BEAR WILL WIN!!!
Message 4 of 7
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

If you in fact submitted 2 apps and were approved for two cards then you will have two new cards reporting on your CR. IMHO I would keep the one with the 300 for at least 6 months before closing it out. Grats on the approval Smiley Happy
Message 5 of 7
MrCreditInternational
Frequent Contributor

Re: inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

I agree with gdale6

Keep both cards if you can afford to spare the extra 300$.

Two cards reporting positive history is much better than one card reporting positive history. 

 

My personal goal was to  apply for as many cards from the start to have a better AAoA later on, that's why I would recommend keeping both cards.

 

Yes an 800$ card might be more impressive than a 500$ one, but they're both secured and they'll both graduate eventually, so I really think that keeping the other card is better, especially that you've already got hit by the HP.

Schwab Amex Platinum (NPSL); Amex Gold (NPSL); HH Aspire (31,700); Amex BBP (27,000); HSBC Premier WMC (18,000); USB Altitude Reserve (10,000); Chase Sapphire Preferred (5,800), Delta Platinum (5,000); Apple Card (4,750); USB Altitude Go (1,000)

Started collecting cards: Oct/2018
Message 6 of 7
designated_knitter
Established Contributor

Re: inadvertantly app'ed and approved for 2 US Bank Secured cards -- can I combine them? Should I?

So figured I would update this thread on US Bank.  They may be a "big boy" bank but they SUCK!!!!  

 

So the glitch that allowed me to get 2 unsecured credit cards seems to be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the Bank of Horrors that is their IT department and customer service.  

 

After making my deposits, I went on vacation for 3 weeks so didn't have a chance to use either card until July 17th... so I haven't even had the cards a whole month.

 

My first due date was approaching on August 2nd.  I went online to pay off the credit card -- basically 500 bucks.  

 

  1. I went and looked at "pending payments" and it showed I had 3 pending payments for 500 bucks.  
  2. Fortunately, I was able to cancel one of them.  
  3. When I cancelled the first payment -- ALL payments were cancelled.
  4. So go back to schedule another payment.
  5. Once again, check pending payments and 3 payments are scheduled. 

At this point, I figured it was just a website issue that showed transactions in triplicate.  

 

August 1st, I log in to my bank and sure enough, 3 payments had been pulled!  I logged into US Bank and I had 1500 bucks of available credit on a 500 CL card and my balance was -1000 bucks (i.e. a credit of 1000 bucks).  

 

I immediately called US Bank and she said she had seen "double pulls" before (so they know about this issue -- just haven't bothered to fix it) but never a triple pull.  She said she would put in a request to have a refund check issued for the overpayment and that would go out on Friday, August 2nd.  Because it is the first of the month, I really needed that 1000 bucks for little things like food and RENT!

 

Called on Friday and talked to another CSR and she said the first CSR was wrong -- the payments were still showing as pending and it would be Monday and they would refund via ACH.  I offered to get them on a 3-way call with my CU to verify that the payments had all cleared and she said she couldn't do that.  I even offered to have them add the over-payment to my deposit so I could keep the 1500 CL.  She said they couldn't do that either -- that has to be done by Cashier's check to a different department. 

 

Called on Tuesday and the 3rd CSR told me that the first 2 were wrong -- they had to wait 14 DAYS before they could issue a refund -- you know -- to make sure the payments clears, er, maximize interest earned on the float.

 

In the meantime, my cell phone payment bounces because my checking account balance was 1000 bucks less than I expected it to be.  At this point, I'm ticked!  Go on Facebook and post a complaint.  Get a message from their media relations person who asked for my phone number with a promise to call back in 24 BUSINESS DAYS (let's see 24 BUSINESS HOURS / 8-hour-day = 3 BUSINESS DAYS).  She calls but doesn't have access to all the information and offers to escalate to another team who would reach out in 24 BUSINESS HOURS.  

 

I call them back today and they said they have already opened 2 separate investigations and there was nothing more I could do.  I ask to speak to a supervisor.  She said I should get my money deposited next week.  I asked if the ACH had been initiated and she couldn't tell me that.  I asked if there was an Executive office that I could call.  Nope.  What about the overdraft fees I have incurred due to their mistake.  I would have to take that up with "Payment Research" and she gave me the fax number.  Did they have a direct phone number.  NOPE!  

 

Soooooo, if you want to play Russian Roulette with your payments and their website... this is the bank FOR YOU!

 

I would close the accounts because I'm so spitting mad... but it would take at least another month probably to get my deposits back and I've already taken the hit in terms of the hard pulls and AAoA.  At this point, when (IF) I ever get my overpayment back, I'm just going to sock drawer them and then at 6 months to 1 year, I'm going to close them out.  

 

Sorry for the rant -- but just needed to let anyone who thought doing business with this bank as a result of my post know the reality.  

 

Cheers!

Started Over Again after Cap1 Death Penalty:
06/15/2019:
03/02/2021:
04/06/2021:
05/28/2021:
Lesson Learned: DON'T POKE THE BEAR!!! THE BEAR WILL WIN!!!
Message 7 of 7
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