I need another secured card... suggestions?

[cwwatts1202]

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@twall06 wrote:
You let one report a balance pay it before the due date and no interest will be charged.

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I guess i'm not quite understanding how it can report a balance at all if you're paying it before the due date? 

[Anonymous]

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

I am trying to rebuild my husbands credit, almost all his baddies are gone, he was approved for a cap one secured $99 deposit, $200 CL, we are joining a credit union that offers a secured cc we plan to apply for, but i've heard having 3-4 cc's is the best way to build scores fast. I plan to only use 1 of the cc's at 1-9% and leave the other 2 alone. Can anyone reccomend another secured card besides cap one and a secured card through the bank? I've heard BoA secured was actually kind of hard to get, so I'm not gonna waste apping for that either. Thanks in advance!!

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I don't think 3 to 4 is better than 2 CC.  I suggest you stop at 2 secured  cards and put that extra money as additional deposit on those 2.  IMO, 2 higher limit cards is superiour to 4 lower limit cards. You might want a 3rd card but only if you want to build a long term relationship with that bank/CU.   

I suggest you use CC for your normal purchases and Pay if Full by the due date, don't pay any interest.    You want to be a profitable customer so there is more reason to offer you unsecured credit.    You can save the utilization trick for later when it is time to apply for more unsecured credit, it does not help at this point. 

[Anonymous]

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@twall06 wrote:
You let one report a balance pay it before the due date and no interest will be charged.

---

I guess i'm not quite understanding how it can report a balance at all if you're paying it before the due date? 

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PIF by the due date means the amount due which is the closing balance.   The current month charges will show up at the next closing and be reported.

[cwwatts1202]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

I am trying to rebuild my husbands credit, almost all his baddies are gone, he was approved for a cap one secured $99 deposit, $200 CL, we are joining a credit union that offers a secured cc we plan to apply for, but i've heard having 3-4 cc's is the best way to build scores fast. I plan to only use 1 of the cc's at 1-9% and leave the other 2 alone. Can anyone reccomend another secured card besides cap one and a secured card through the bank? I've heard BoA secured was actually kind of hard to get, so I'm not gonna waste apping for that either. Thanks in advance!!

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I don't think 3 to 4 is better than 2 CC.  I suggest you stop at 2 secured  cards and put that extra money as additional deposit on those 2.  IMO, 2 higher limit cards is superiour to 4 lower limit cards. You might want a 3rd card but only if you want to build a long term relationship with that bank/CU.   

I suggest you use CC for your normal purchases and Pay if Full by the due date, don't pay any interest.    You want to be a profitable customer so there is more reason to offer you unsecured credit.    You can save the utilization trick for later when it is time to apply for more unsecured credit, it does not help at this point. 

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The sole purpose we have for getting cc's is to build his score up at a slightly fast speed over the next 8 months as we are app'ing for a mortgage in December. I don't care about unsecured cards, I just care right now about building the score up over the next few months to be able to qualify for a home loan. I've been told by several members in these forums they had large score increases in a 6 month time frame by having 3-4 cc's and letting one report a balance, keeping the others at 1-9% util etc. so that is what I am trying to do. I guess 2 cc's will have to cut it though cause no one has any suggestions of what 3rd secured card we should app for.

[jobber123rd]

Try USAA Secured Amex or MC.  IIRC, you don't have to be a full member to get it (no military connection needed).  You secure the CL with a deposit of $250-$5000 in a 2-year CD.

[vish1]

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@twall06 wrote:
You let one report a balance pay it before the due date and no interest will be charged.

---

I guess i'm not quite understanding how it can report a balance at all if you're paying it before the due date? 

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Most cards report the balance from the monthly statement so you can have a balance in statment but still pay in full before due date.

So this is what you should do:

1. Use only 1 card, no need to use others. Make sure that you pay most of the current balance on your card 2-3 days before statement date (this way your card statement will show a due of 5-9% of your CL for that card)
2. Pay your card dues before the due date (so that you are NOT charged interest).

3. You don't need 4 cards, 2 are good (no reason to pile up too much AF)

Hope this makes it easy.

[cwwatts1202]

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@vish1 wrote:

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@cwwatts1202 wrote:

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@twall06 wrote:
You let one report a balance pay it before the due date and no interest will be charged.

---

I guess i'm not quite understanding how it can report a balance at all if you're paying it before the due date? 

---

Most cards report the balance from the monthly statement so you can have a balance in statment but still pay in full before due date.

So this is what you should do:

1. Use only 1 card, no need to use others. Make sure that you pay most of the current balance on your card 2-3 days before statement date (this way your card statement will show a due of 5-9% of your CL for that card)
2. Pay your card dues before the due date (so that you are NOT charged interest).

3. You don't need 4 cards, 2 are good (no reason to pile up too much AF)

Hope this makes it easy.

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Thank you!!! Should I only use one of the cards period? Or maybe alternate each month between which ones we use?

[twall06]

I use all of mine and pif except one which ill leave 5% on. Rotating them works too each person has their own way they like to do things . Just figure out what works for you.

[vish1]

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@twall06 wrote:
I use all of mine and pif except one which ill leave 5% on. Rotating them works too each person has their own way they like to do things . Just figure out what works for you.

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No CB knows, what you did with the card in the month. All they know is the balances reported.

No scoring model takes into account any kind of card rotation. They only count number of cards with balances etc not which card had balance last month.

I have never heard of rotating the cards having any impact (either negative or positive) on any person's credit. I use my cards based on which ones get me best rewards on particular purchases. For example when Chase / Discover have 5%, I use them and payoff as soon as transaction posts and the credit report won't even know.

[cwwatts1202]

what works for me is whatever builds the score up the quickest! lol Gotta get my husbands score to a 640, or damn close to it, by end of November/early Dec and he's at a 558 right now, with a 30 day late that got deleted today, and a FP card that should report a $0 balance and settled next month, so we should see slight increases from those 2 things.