HOW MUCH SHOULD I PUT DOWN TO START A SECURED CREDIT CARD?!

[jmcmillan]

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@JayBee_3 wrote:

I called USAA Credit Card department and the CSR stated that they did allow for partial members to apply for the Secured AMEX; although like other CSR's I've dealt with she may have been mistaken.

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She is mistaken. I've talked to their CSRs several times (usually for unrelated reasons with my checking account) and I always bring up the secured credit cards, and they usually tell me that anyone can apply for the secured cards... I get excited, thinking their policies have changed. But then after they look into it further, they come back on the line and appologize.

[Crashem]

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@JayBee_3 wrote:

@Wolf3 Thanks for the info...would it help my potential credit limits later on if I kept raising my limit on the cards and not applying for other for about a year?

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Thats one of the magic things about secured cards.  If for example you had two secured cards for 5k instead of 500 and your income supported it, you will be more likely to get a 5k limit to start with an unsecured card.

[kelso33]

Would you be better off with say 5k and 5k or 9500 and 500 if you have two secured cards?

Edit:  for limited/no credit history.

[YahComb]

I'd say two 5K cards. I think with a short history/thin file you'd still get lowballed a lot on unsecured cards with that single 9.5K side by side with the 500 line.

[Revelate]

Probably 5K and 5K; there really isn't much of a magic boundary north of 5K anyway.

Anyway more on topic, C1 and USAA are redundant: their secured products offer the *exact* same benefits.

I'd recommend trying for a BOFA secured: it doesn't have the same CLI policies, but it has a decent rewards package and it graduates reliably after a year.  That's your default every day card, the other is mostly for goosing tradelines with additional deposits later.

If the question is 5500 total, then 500 + 5000 >> 2525 x 2.  Hence BOFA + either C1 or USAA >> C1 + USAA

Also I concur, the CSR in this case was mistaken to my knowledge.

[sjt]

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@JayBee_3 wrote:

Anyone(you don't have to have any affiliation to military) can BANK with USAA now, so you can get CC's through them and they have the secured AMEX.  You just can get insurance and other services through them. 

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I just called USAA and clarified with them that all banking products, except the secured cards, are available to the general public.

[j_casteel]

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@sjt wrote:

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@JayBee_3 wrote:

Anyone(you don't have to have any affiliation to military) can BANK with USAA now, so you can get CC's through them and they have the secured AMEX.  You just can get insurance and other services through them. 

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I just called USAA and clarified with them that all banking products, except the secured cards, are available to the general public.

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really? i've been told several times that being a partial-member (non-military full member) that we could get most everything except the insurances.