Welcome to the forums. I started my rebuild with this card last June. Ive gotten two auto-cli from them on this card since then. I made 4 additional deposits (one each month for the first 4 months that I had the card). I would recommend getting your limit to at least $1,000 (maybe 2k if you have the funds) at a minimum. Do you have any other credit products? If not, I would suggest getting at least one more card (maybe 2) to help build credit. For optimum scoring, I would only allow one of those cards to report a balance and it should be anywhere between 1-9% of your total CL. I recommend keeping the card at least 2 years.
I always pay more than I owe, ALWAYS. I never recommend paying only the minimum payment. This is for a variety of reasons, such as lowering the amounts you pay on interest if you ever carry a balance to showing lenders that you are not over extended and can only afford to make minimum payments.
Scorewise, its hard to say without having more information. However, scores around 650+ is a good starting point.
@xXIDaShizIXx wrote:Hello! I'm new to the forum and have a few questions. I am waiting on my Capital One Secured Card in the mail. First of all, I paid a $100 deposit and got a $200 credit line. Should I make more deposits, so as to show my ability to pay larger sums and up to what amount? What percent utilization of the card should I have per month, like 10%-20%? I intend to pay it in full every month with no balance carried over. Is it ok to pay more than I owe? Say if I have a $10 balance and pay $25 (thereby having debit on my credit card)? And lastly what score should I be up to before I try to get a unsecured card? I don't have any derogatory marks and only have on time student loan payments every month. So how long should I keep it, like 6 months to a year? Thank you for everything and sorry for all the questions!
1. If you can pay in full each month then do so. Until you get multiple cards I'd say paying in full is your best friend. Then you can follow the 1-9% rule.
2. As far as deposits I'd say yes deposit as much as you can and garden for 6 months with that deposit. So the sooner the better. After 6 months you should be able to qualify for prime cards and even nice CLs.
3. Whats your current score? Just with the little info you provided I'd say you'd be fine no big worries apply for maybe Walmart, try for a Freedom and Discover IT then garden for a year and you will be set for Amex , CSP etc...
Having only one secured card will probably not hurt you but it will slow-up your building of credit. Having two cards at the start will allow you to build up your AAoA and payment history on twice as many accounts as you would with only one card. Most people here are of the opinion that 2-3 credit cards are optimal for building credit. Depositing money into secure card will do two things: (1) increase your limit on the card - higher limits on cards tend to get higher limits on newer cards when you apply for them. The "magic" limit for signature visa and world master cards is a history managing a $5,000 CL card. (2) Depositing into card improves your relationship with the vendor of that product as you are giving them more of your money to hold. With Cap1, they may be more inclined to extend you additional unsecured CLI's.
@xXIDaShizIXx wrote:All of them are in the 600-650 range. I could not seem to get approved for any unsecured cards thats why I got a secured card. Will having only one card hurt me, if so why? I just don't really want to put more debt on myself currently, but if I do what do you recommend for someone in my situation? And why should I keep depositing money to the secured card? Sorry, I'm just really new to all of this and have a less than credit-savy family.
Having more than one card doesn't mean that you have to go into debt. But I understand that for some, having many TLs is too much temptation. Like another poster recommended, get your secured card to at least $500 CL if possible and PIF every month for at least 6 months to build positive payment history. Having only one card right now won't hurt you. If you're getting denied for other cards, I presume that you've accumulated INQs for those denials so you need to let those age off. After at least 6-12 months of positive history, your score should go up accordingly and you should be able to qualify for other nonsecured TLs.
Well, you stated earlier that you were getting denied for unsecured CCs so I'd put more money on your current secured. Having said that, I don't know if you're tried getting a Walmart card and those cards are popular and considered easier to get.