Question about building cred & Orchard Bank Secured

[Anonymous]

Trying to build hubby some credit.  He does not have any CCs.  2 days ago I added him as an AU on my squeaky clean 5yr Cap One.  I was looking at Orchard Bank secured for him-- do they report to the CRAs as secured?  The site said you can add on $$ to add to the limit.  Can we give them another few hundred, or do we have to do it $100 at a time month by month?  He makes about $75000 a year, just has no credit. 

Any building tips would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

[Creditaddict]

The Orchard Bank Secured DOES NOT EVER come unsecured. It's not worth it.

when you do the pre-qual at orchard, secured is the only thing they offer him?

I would go with Bank of America Secured all the way. 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, that's all they offered him.  I tend to stay away from BOA because I REALLY do not like them.  We're fighting with them right now over a card they sent my father in law that he didn't even apply for.  We closed it as soon as he got it (last year) and they are STILL adding fees to it & sending him bills, even though it's closed.  Long story there.

I read that Orchard isn't a hard inquiry either.  It really stays secured?  They do pay interest on it, though I don't know what the interest is.  Any other secured (other than BOA)?

[Creditaddict]

all credit cards are a hard inquiry to get them.

[Anonymous]

Well he needs to start getting some credit established, so I guess that's a hit he'd have to take.

Does Capital One have a secured card?  Or are there other secured cards for bad (mid 500's) credit?

[irishchk23]

I wouldn't say Orchard cards never unsecure as mine did just last year.  I got my secured card in December 2006 just after filing for BK.  After reading these boards, in mid 2008 I finally asked for it to be unsecured and it was but the process was confusing.  First I called and was told no problem, then I got a letter saying sorry we cannot unsecure it, but about a month later I notice that my limit went up $100 and then another month or two I got back my initial deposit and a letter stating it was unsecured.  So it wasn't a simple yes but it happened.

I did also look into a Citi secured card at one time. 

[Anonymous]

I had read on another forum about National City, which becomes unsecured after 12 mos... I called for an application but they said they don't offer the card to anyone in Texas.  Odd, no?

I went ahead & got him the Orchard. 

Are there retail or gas cards that are helpful & easier to get for people looking to rebuild credit?  Or should we wait until we get the dings off his reports before we try to get him a gas or retail card?

[manyquestions]

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@irishchk23 wrote:

I wouldn't say Orchard cards never unsecure as mine did just last year.

 

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My Orchard Secured card also unsecured last year. They sent me the money back and doubled my limit.  People think they don't do it because they don't do it much. It does happen for some though.

[Anonymous]

Question for you guys who Orchard unsecured:

out of curiosity, how long did yall have it before they unsecured it?  Did yall have to ask for it to be unsecured?

Thanks!

~gr8

[manyquestions]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Question for you guys who Orchard unsecured:

out of curiosity, how long did yall have it before they unsecured it?  Did yall have to ask for it to be unsecured?

Thanks!

~gr8

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At about the 12 month point. HSBC did a soft pull and sent me a letter saying my Orchard card was upgraded to unsecured, and that the new limit was double my old limit.  I didn't have any negative tradelines on my reports anymore and as a result my FICO scores were all over 700.  I think the reason most Orchard secured cards never unsecure is because most people who get it have really bad credit when they get it (I know I did).  I think their standard for unsecuring is pretty high and as a result most people qualify for better cards with other creditors and move on before they get to the point where Orchard would unsecure them, but that's only my theory.  Maybe I just won the Orchard unsecure lottery.