Got approved for first card. (Cap One) Now what?

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2017

I've been hiding from the credit world for 7 years and am basically starting over and rebuilding. Scores were somehow around 655. I researched Capital One and it seems many people's scores have improved because of them. I got approved for the secured. $49 Deposit and $200 limit. I didn't want to send in more than that because it seems some never get their deposits back despite what it says on the website of it taking 5 months.

1. Any reson to back out and not send in the security deposit? Will it hurt my credit more to get approved and not follow through? I guess a good way of looking at it is my credit sucks so $49 is buying me some credit for the next year.

2. How soon did people start getting unsecured, offers elsewhere after starting with this card?

3. I figure I'll attach my $40 gym membership to this card, pay it the same week and leave it alone for the month. Good enough? This will keep my utilization at 20%.

4. Should I apply for another bank ASAP then avoid hard pulls for a good 6+ months or so? Aren't a few hard pulls at once better than 3 months apart?

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2017

So you have a totally fresh start right now? What I would do is get the card. Cap One is generally the easiest of the good banks, so if they offer you secured take it and be glad you avoided the subpar lenders. PIF and keep utilization under 30%. Don't apply for anything else right now. After 3 statements have passed check Cap One prequalified site to see if you have any new offers, if you do you can grab another card probably unsecured. Then at 6 months I would app for Discover as they are fantastic and like to grab people with thin files that have a little good history. It's best to wait at least 1 year before apping with Chase/Citi/Amex/BOA. Avoid unecessary store cards of little stores. Once you hit that 1 year (12 statement cuts) start checking prequals and you will be on your way. If you want some of the better Chase cards read about 5/24 and have a plan for that. Good job and good luck.

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
So you have a totally fresh start right now? What I would do is get the card. Cap One is generally the easiest of the good banks, so if they offer you secured take it and be glad you avoided the subpar lenders. PIF and keep utilization under 30%. Don't apply for anything else right now. After 3 statements have passed check Cap One prequalified site to see if you have any new offers, if you do you can grab another card probably unsecured. Then at 6 months I would app for Discover as they are fantastic and like to grab people with thin files that have a little good history. It's best to wait at least 1 year before apping with Chase/Citi/Amex/BOA. Avoid unecessary store cards of little stores. Once you hit that 1 year (12 statement cuts) start checking prequals and you will be on your way. If you want some of the better Chase cards read about 5/24 and have a plan for that. Good job and good luck.

What they said👆

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2017

get the card; you've already used 3 HPs for it. you scores should only get better with time.

3-6 months from now you could look to start adding others

rmduhon · ‎03-01-2017

You have to wait 6 months in between apps for Cap1 now.

austinguy907 · ‎03-01-2017

Personally having seen the threads around here and 99% of cap1 cards not converting over I would push more in the direction of Discover.

https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/secured

$200-$2500 deposit

Start reviewing at month 7 for converting

Earn rewrards

Usually get a decent CLI when it converts

Usuaully a week after it converts you can get a manual CLI for the rest of the money on the table

SP CLI's once you get to know each other well.... they may want a HP depending on what they see on a SP... HP requests usually don't last that long

EAJuggalo · ‎03-01-2017

Get the secured card, look into getting a secured Discover as well. For as little as $200 you can get in with them, treat it right and it will grow. You will start getting offers for unsecured cards pretty quickly, but make sure that those are offers you want before you take them. I was in your shoes a year ago with the only thing on my credit report a 14 year old auto loan from Chase. I now have two Chase cards, a Citi DC, an AMEX and my Capital One. The only thing I wish I did was take the secured Discover when it was offered to me.

EX700 TU 704 EQ 694 4/03/22
Cap1 QS-$4,500 Chase Freedom Flex- $800 Chase Freedom Unlimited- $1,000 Victoria's Secret- $1,200 Citi DC- $800 Amazon Store Card- $3,500 AMEX Hilton Honors-$1,000 Discover It-$1,000 Wal-Mart MC $290 Chase Sapphire Preferred-$5,000 NFCU Flagship $13,800 AMEX BCE-$1,000 AMEX Gold-$5,000 AMEX Delta Blue $1,000 Lowe's $5,000 Navy Platinum $17,000 AMEX BBP $2,000

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2017

@austinguy907 wrote:
Personally having seen the threads around here and 99% of cap1 cards not converting over I would push more in the direction of Discover.

https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/secured

$200-$2500 deposit
Start reviewing at month 7 for converting
Earn rewrards
Usually get a decent CLI when it converts
Usuaully a week after it converts you can get a manual CLI for the rest of the money on the table
SP CLI's once you get to know each other well.... they may want a HP depending on what they see on a SP... HP requests usually don't last that long

I agree with this. I'd prefer the Discover Secured to the Cap1 Secured. Obviously, since you already have the Cap1 Secured, that is great! You avoided having to apply to sub-prime predatory lenders like Credit One. I'd recommend using the Cap1 card for a few months, always paying in full. Then, apply for the Discover Secured card. You will almost certainly be approved if you have a good record with the Cap1 card. Use both of those cards for 6-7 more months and they will likely be upgraded to unsecured cards. From there you can begin your journey through unsecured credit! As others have mentioned, I'd recommend getting in with one of the Chase 5/24 cards early, as you'll have to wait 2 years if you get 5 cards before them.

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2017

Wow, thanks for all the info. I guess I'm just having credit application remorse. I do like that I avoided "subpar lenders" as someone just put it.

Got it. So take the Cap1 Secured, try for Discover 3 or 6 months later and then Chase looks like a good option. I checked the Discover website to see if I'm prequalified and the Discover It Cash Card came up which seems unlikely for me at this point. I tried the Discover ScoreCard and it couldn't find me in the system.

.Capital One doesn't show on my reports yet that a card was actually "issued" to me or a credit line. lol. I'm going to call in the morning and se what's going on with it. Any chance this means I could actually get approved for Discover Secured now? They do look like a better option even though it's a $200 deposit.

austinguy907 · ‎03-01-2017

If scorecard can't find you then a pre-app with Disco is probably spitting out the 11.xx% - 23.xx% range. That's purely marketing when there's not a match with your info. If it's a 3% spread then it might actually happen.

Both cards will serve their purpose of getting things on the books and building history but, Disco will actually grow with you when you have to close out the Cap1. If these are your starter cards and you don't have anything else open then I would go ahead and get Disco so, when the time comes to cut Cap1 loose you still have an "oldest account" that's going to stay open and grow with time and use. The HP isn't going to hurt that much and Disco likes a good thin file when they consider someone. $200 is a good investment and if you need more you can make additional deposits unlike w/ Cap1.