Secured CCs. Finding out if they report it as "secured"

[Anonymous]

I am going to apply for a secured credit card with my bank or whoever i find to be the best to start building my new credit.

So according to what i have been reading, it will be better to have one that reports as a regular CC instead of "flagging" it as secured right?

Where do you find this information? is it stated anywhere in their agreement or do you just go by word of mouth? I wouldn't even 

waste time to "ask" the bank associate or whoever is on the phone. They will of course tell you whatever you want to hear so they can sell you the card. I want that information on writting.

I have done a search here on the forums and the posts coming up with this topic are already 3 years old or more. 

Some people mentioned capital One... but then it also says they will likely just raise the limits on the secured card and not upgrade to an unsecured one so i am not interested on that.

Thanks

[newhis]

Take a look here:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Updated-for-2015-Secured-Credit-Card-List/m-p/3856240

I started with BoA secured and Discover, from no score to 731 after 6 months. I think it doesn't matter if they report as secured (BoA reported secured). Good luck.

[Anonymous]

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@newhis wrote:

Take a look here:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Updated-for-2015-Secured-Credit-Card-List/m-p/3856240

I started with BoA secured and Discover, from no score to 731 after 6 months. I think it doesn't matter if they report as secured (BoA reported secured). Good luck.

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Agree with newhis about it not mattering about reporting as a secured card.  I have Cap 1 and Discover and know that of the two, Discover can unsecure.  Another option is SDFCU but it also doesn't unsecure and reports as secured.  Discover and Cap 1 don't report as secured. 

[Anonymous]

So wait... if reporting as unsecured or secured is not important at all, why is there a column with this data on the table you show me from that other thread (http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Updated-for-2015-Secured-Credit-Card-List/m-p/3856240) ?

You guys mean being reported as "Secured" is not important when you want to start building credit but it may be important for something else? 

why is it that people care about this detail then? i am confused now.

in your case you mentioned that you had both, one reporting as unsecured and  another as secured CCs. so do you think that maybe the first

one is the one that actually helped you the most?

Thanks for the info guys, im trying to get educated here.

[newhis]

For FICO scoring, there is no difference between a card reported as secured and other that doesn't.

There are many post in this forum from people that started with only 1 secured card reporting as secured and after 6-9 months were able to get the same cards I got after 6-9 months, same limits and APR.

Maybe there is a little advantage having a card not reported as 'secured' but I think it helps more if you can put more money into a secured card that reports as secured but it shows a higher limit, so other lenders can see that you can handle bigger limits. AFAIK that helped my DW get bigger limits on her cards.

I like BofA secured card, because:

- I was able to add the cash rewards option (before 1st statement), so I got more cash back than the AF

- DW was able to put $500 initialy, but $5,000 at month 7th, they auto graduated the card at month 9 and change the card to Visa Signature

- We both were able to lower the APR, mine 4% drop, DW 6% drop

- We both were able to remove the AF

We don't use the card much because now we have better cards. But without AF is worth keeping. I may try to app for BBR in a few months.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I applied to wells fargo secured credit card as my first credit card with a $300 deposit.

I have made close to 10-11 monthly payments on time, never missed a payment and it has helped me build my credit score,but it is reported as"secured card",It still has not been graduated despite the fact that I have been approved for unsecured credit cards since then. I have called them up and all they say is that they do reviews twice a year.