How many secured cards to get ?

[Anonymous]

My score is 495 and my hubbies is 550. We are looking into the USBank sc and we have  just been approved for an orchard sc. We dont know if these pulls will hurt us . I think its safe to say only these 2 are what we need for now ? Someone help asap. let us know if we are doing the right thing. Oh yea, I guess its best to let you all know our goal is to buy our first home. We need more positive trade lines and we need to bring  our score up a bit more to safely qualify for an fha. If any one can give us some input on what is an ideal score to qualify for an fha. Thanks a bunch for the honest answers  concerning the cj card . I dont think we'll go that route .

[Anonymous]

I too have not gone the CJ route. There was nothing on their website I liked enough to even give a s a gift, and the short term boost in score was not worth the hassle of having to eventually close the account. Congrats on the Orchard, it has been doing wonders for me. My FAKO's have imporved dramatically over the past four months... from 545 to 580. Of course it will be two more months before a real FICO is available for me, hopefully that score will be better.

As far as US Bank I have heard they are very strict in lending, even with a secured card... not sure if that is true, but some posts about them say if you have a BK they will not give you anything. BoA has a nice 99/500 secured card, also, if you have a Citibank near you, bring a copy of your credit reports to them and ask about their secured card. It takes 18 months to graduate to unsecured but I understand they are a good company to get in with.

DO NOT do what I did... I got the secured Orchard, and rather than wait or get another secured card, I got sucked into the application spree because of the success of many people here on MyFICO. I was rejected left and right, and now I have too many INQ's to even get a second secured card.

I am on a self-imposed app free spree which will end during the spring of next year. By then my scores should be good enough to land me a decent card. (I hope!)

[Creditaddict]

I would try for the BofA secured over citi and usbank.

usbank will require 680 score to graduate

citi takes 18 months.

i would have skipped orchard all together but you my as well keep it now that you got it.

[Anonymous]

whats wrong with orchard?

[Creditaddict]

even once it unsecures it is going to be a very low limit card.

and took me 3 months to get my deposit back.

BofA, people have posted 4x there limit after it unsecures in 9 months.

[Anonymous]

Thats true . I heard of that happening w/ orchard . Im not really concerned about credit limit that may be available when us.Should I be. I bank with ba got denied for  an unsecured card . But they never gave me an option  or informed me of the 99/500 deal. Do you think it could be because ofmy scores?

[Creditaddict]

yes if you don't get the offer right away your not getting it, just apply for fully secured.

[Anonymous]

While it is a small limit, there is nothing wrong with the Orchard card. True BoA is better, but my Orchard reports to all three CRA's, and in four months I have had no problems with them. It will do its job. And in a year or two you can get a nice BIG limit card. (But wait til after you buy your house for that one)

If you want a second secured go with BoA. (I don't think you need to be a member of their bank.) and hope for the 99/500 offer.

[Anonymous]

They didn't even offer me or give me info on a secured card.Just learned of them about 2 wks ago . I'm afraid to let them run my credit again for a secured card. Its been about 3 months since i applied.What should I do?

[Anonymous]

They will pull your credit. But if you need a second positive TL it will be worth it in the end. The INQ's don't really hurt people like us as much when our scores are so low. The possible 5 point drop will be followed by the eventual point increase after a few months of some nice on time payments.