So just as an update to anyone curious about Capital One's secured cards. I just spoke to a (surpirsingly) informative rep from their backdoor number, he clarified a few things.
- Capital One secured cards don't unsecure. He's never seen a card secure and said they've been told that anyone who'd have good enough history to unsecure should just apply for a new unsecured card from them and close their secured account. Unsecured CLIs are possible, but the card itself, according to their department's guidelines, will never unsecure regardless of account history or age.
- You should pay your whole balance off before closing the card, that way when you close it they report it to all 3 CRAs as balance paid in full.
- It takes 2 billing cycles to get your security deposit back. So once you close your card, you should get you refund check back within 60 days.
He said the secured cards are for anyone whose credit history isn't good enough to be approved for an unsecured card on their own, and it's just there to help you rebuild credit history. Which shouldn't really be news to anyone. But he said the cards aren't ever meant to unsecure, they just want you to close the account once your credit is good enough to get an unsecured card.
