Hmmm any cards out there for me?

[Bleety17]

I currently have a Equifax score of 559 and a Transunion score of 598.. But I am still paying on an old Capital One CC and a Chase CC(both were charged off). Do you think i could get a new CC or only a Secured CC?

[DI]

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@Bleety17 wrote:

I currently have a Equifax score of 559 and a Transunion score of 598.. But I am still paying on an old Capital One CC and a Chase CC(both were charged off). Do you think i could get a new CC or only a Secured CC?

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Welcome to the forums.  Great to see that you're trying to rebuild your credit.  I think your scores will only qualify you for a secured card for now.  If you take care of the secured card and  continue to pay off the capital one and chase account, your score should rebound significantly in 2 years.  While in in the process of rebuilding,  if you can piggy back off someone else's good credit, that'd help too.  Good luck!  If you have any more questions feel free to post here or PM me or other members. 

[Anonymous]

Just from my own experience trying to establish credit history (mind you, without any CO's, just lack of history), I would have suggested Cap One, but if you have a CO with them they probably won't approve you. The next choice from there would be Orchard, in my opinion.

With COs and lower scores, you're probably either stuck with a junk lender (First Premier etc) or a secured card.

Out of those two choices, you're probably better off going with a secured card. Look at it this way - you can deposit $300 and open an account, pay an AF and (eventually) get your security deposit back. Or you can end up paying something like $300 in random fees to open an account. Maybe slightly exaggerated, but you get the point.

[Bleety17]

Thanks for the welcome! I've been looking at getting a Capital One secured CC with a starting limit of 200. Should I keep depositing money to raise my limit each month.. or just continue to pay on time for the first few months?

[DI]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just from my own experience trying to establish credit history (mind you, without any CO's, just lack of history), I would have suggested Cap One, but if you have a CO with them they probably won't approve you. The next choice from there would be Orchard, in my opinion.

With COs and lower scores, you're probably either stuck with a junk lender (First Premier etc) or a secured card.

Out of those two choices, you're probably better off going with a secured card. Look at it this way - you can deposit $300 and open an account, pay an AF and (eventually) get your security deposit back. Or you can end up paying something like $300 in random fees to open an account. Maybe slightly exaggerated, but you get the point.

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Thanks for the more informative post Andy.  I have no experience with Secured cards, so I really couldn't offer much advice. 

[Anonymous]

Well, keep in mind that they might not make you start by depositing a full $200. When I opened my Cap1 secured, I had to put down $49 for the $200 credit line. After that anything you deposit just adds onto that $200. So if you only have to pay the minimum deposit, putting down $49 and then another $150 after you get the card would raise it to $350. You can also (theoretically) earn unsecured CLIs with good payment history.

If your choice in any given month is between PIF and depositing more, I'd say pay off the card first. While a higher CL will help your util%, paying the balance off will definitely help your utilization more, and you won't be paying interest.

[Bleety17]

Andy, When you applied for your secured CC, were you approved right away online and just paid the $49 down? I just applied and all it said was that they would review my application within 7-10 days. Thanks so much for your help

[Anonymous]

I applied for some other card (don't remember which one it was), and it basically said blah blah sorry we can't approve you for this, try this secured card instead. So I filled out the form for that and it gave me an instant approval and then gave me the info to make my deposit.

Capital One is actually one of the few CCCs that's given me an instant decision on anything, both for approvals and denials. But I didn't have any negatives, just a thin (non-existant) credit file.

They probably have to manually review the application since you have cards charged off. If they don't approve you, you could always try Orchard's secured card, BofA's secured card, or going to a local credit union and asking them about a secured card.

You could try calling Cap1 tomorrow and seeing if they can give you a faster answer. In my experience, their customer service is either totally clueless, or completely powerless to do anything (depending on who you talk to). So I don't know how much help they'll be if you have to try to recon the application. But they at least might be able to give you a faster answer.

If they do approve you, you have to make your initial deposit and then you get the card after it clears. I think the first deposit took about a week to clear, and then it took another week to get the card itself, so it could take a while.

[Wolf3]

As you can afford it, I suggest you add to your deposit over time until you have a limit that is comfortable to your spending.

Your credit score will be overwhelmed by the charge offs for several years, so it really doesn't matter much how big your CL is now.   The important thing is to build a history of on time payments over the next several years.   Never be late is the most important thing.

[Anonymous]

In Cap1's case, I wouldn't recommend depositing all the way to $3k like I did - then you can't get any CLIs from them. Stopping at 1.5-2k would probably be the best.