Multiple Secured Cards?

[Anonymous]

My scores are currently in the mid 500s as I am just starting the process of rebuilding. I can't get approved for much with these scores, but I did get approved for the Capital One secured a few days ago. Do I need more?

Is it okay to have multiple secured cards or what would be the best route for me to take?

[Anonymous]

If you're willing to get more I would personally go for it.  When 1 year passes you'll be in better positioning with a few good accounts rather than one.

[Anonymous]

Ok,
You can see my whole Gemini gameplay if you search my past post but here a quick version.

If you don't have an open reporting positive install account ( car loan, mortgage etc)

I really like securing a SSL loan 1st
A) It creates another TL to build on time payments with...It allows the scoring model to juice your file due to credit mix (again, needed if you don't already have an installer reporting)

B) Once the loan 'proceeds' are lent back to you, you can then use those same funds again to secure an additional secured CC or two (Gemini, twin objective 😎)
The ideal profile has
A mortgage ( we don't 'create' that one)
An installer ( a $500 SSL works as good as a car loan)
3 revolvers

* Remember the model only cares about
1) On-time payment (not the payment size) &
2) The debt ratio/utilization % ( again the % is the % don't get lost in the size of the CL)
These two things make up 65% of the score add 10% for the mix of credit and you're cooking with grease 😉

A secured Cap-1
A $200 Discover
A $250-$300 Visa/MC

Will absolutely do the trick....IMO go with decent cards that will graduate from good companies that you may have as financial partners for decades vs crap fly by nights

That's why I suggested Discover, depending on which majors you're rebuilding from and what you're rebuilding from some of the biggies have secured products but also look into CUs
They can be GREAT financial partners to build long term relationships with....As in home, car loans LOC IRAs etc all life's lendable moments 😉

[austinguy907]

If you want to double down and grow your scores even faster and can get approved Discover has an excellent Secured offering.  

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

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with it. I've currently got 3 and I'm glad I do. The CapOne, Discover, and then BOA's Secured (which was $99 deposit for $500 limit).  

Definitely, Discover seems to be the best overall product (for me, at least), and the one I expect to see more use long-term.

[Anonymous]

+1 for Disco secured. My first card which graduated after statement #7 with a decent CLI. Now I was building and not rebuilding so YMMV, but for a NO AF secured card to get 1% back everywhere + 2% gas and restaurants is rather impressive.

[Anonymous]

I do currently have an installment loan with 26 reported payments, all on time. Should last well into 2018. Only problem is that it's only reporting to TU and EX for some reason so according to EQ I have no installment loan.

As far as credit cards. I got out of hand years ago with both capital one and discover. I've paid my debts to both just recently and got approved for the Cap 1 secured. I've read numerous places that it's good to have a few revolving accounts so I thought about applying for others. My scores aren't the best yet so I'm still in fear of denial.

Open cards:
Capital One secured $201 CL (not yet reporting)
AU* Chase Explorer $22,300 CL (perfect payment history)

Utilization is still reporting high as I am waiting for statements to cut and reports to update. I paid down $18,000 Chase balance to $0, paid down $1,200 Discover to $0, and paid an open collection of $789 in full.

As for the above Discover mentioned. I owed $1,200 and it got charged off, but it's been months and it's never reported as a collection. It said in my accounts that I have a closed account through Discover that got charged off, but in the collection section of my reports, there is no mention of a collection.

[Anonymous]

If I could go back to 2013 I would have done 4!. CITI, bofa, DISCOVER, any number of CU that are confirmed to graduate. Citibank takes forever but 18 months of history can only help. Along with above mentioned secured loan, that is rock solid <2500 credit investment on your credit future. You definitely do not need all of those once you have anything that is not secured is going to report to the bureaus just fine but  getting in with the big boys instead of subprime has a certain value that I respect

[Anonymous]

It is definitely ok to have multiple secured cards.... this is how I started my rebuild process in 2012. I opened secured cards with both Cap1 and BoA and scores were also in the low 500's. Now I have approximately 20 credit cards including the Ritz Carlton, AMEX Platinum, Hilton Surpass, Hyatt, Freedom Unlimited.... and many other great cards. I've since closed my Cap1 secured card and my $400 CL BoA card is now a Visa Signature Cash Rewards card with a $6k limit.

Go for it... it will definitely be the best way to build up your credit profile. Just remember... "Credit is marathon, not a sprint". I saw this quote all over MyFico when I first started reading these forums and they are words to live by. It will take time to get where you want to but you WILL get there. Just stay focused. 

[Anonymous]

I have 1k secured capital one, 1k secured us bank, 2.5k secured discover it and a 500$ unsecured cu card, the secured cards have helped me more than anything else. Keep your utilization low and make your payments and your scores will rise. It's a marathon not a sprint.

I started this process in late July early August and I'm now getting offers in the mail. Just be patient garden what you get and watch your scores grow and learn from everyone here. Good luck