Secured Cards Info...

[K-in-Boston]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

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@Charmante wrote:

Why everyone is trying to peak in my purse is beyond me and seems very intrusive and rude.

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You've asked an unusual set of fairly narrowly focused questions across multiple threads. When I look at how they happen to be framed, different questions lead me to envision completely different profiles. We just want to ensure that we're giving you the best advice. We don't want to see you waste applications on products that aren't a good fit for your situation.

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This exactly.  If you are asking questions for someone else's credit profile, it would be extremely beneficial if you are clarifying that it is for someone else and to list their details so that members of the community may help.  Otherwise, we are only seeing the whole of your posts and it becomes quite confusing.

Regarding the income questions, it sounds like you are basically receiving an unstructured trust.  For tax purposes, the parent giving you the money should consult their tax professional regarding taxation for gift amounts exceeding $15,000 annually but it would be correct that you do not owe taxes on it if these are not wages paid from a SP but rather a gift from a parent.  However, since this is neither income nor gains on your own monetary assets you may very well encounter substantial difficulties with creditors in the future if you are claiming it as income rather than monetary assets at the time you have them; it is not income and we are merely trying to help you avoid a possible pitfall of having accounts closed.

[Charmante]

@K-in-Boston You sound extremely knowledgeable on this. So, I'll ask you. You don't have to be super specific, just let me know IF it's possible: If so, I'll talk to an accountant to have it accomplished. Lol

Would it be possible to set it up where I CAN pay taxes OR whatever needs done, where it WILL pass AMEX's strict Income Verification thing?

Cause it sounds like once my CREDIT is AMEX Ready -- my Income Structure is NOT! LOL

THANKS K!

[K-in-Boston]

I would definitely discuss it with a financial planner or accountant.  If it can be counted as assets, then it's not really an issue with having essentially $0 income but having assets with Amex; but anything that is not income should not be reported to Amex as income.

[dacv01]

@Charmante  No worries! Not saying you cannot still get approved with alert, just make sure info is accurate especially phone number. Of course hindsight is always 20/20, I wish I had done more than the 1k deposit ( I spend 2-3X that monthly on the card so have to make multiple payments) but other than that I am very happy with it so far. Fingers crossed for an early graduation 

[Charmante]

@dacv01 What's the earliest graduation you've saw?

Is it hard to add MORE to the security deposit (raise limit) once you've opened the account?

[dacv01]

@Charmante  Earliest ive seen on this forum is 9 months. Average is between 12-14 months depending on credit profile. 

[Anonymous]

@Charmante I am going to answer your original question regarding the secured cards that I am familiar with. Almost all secured cards require a hard pull like most unsecured cards.

BoA Secured - Graduates in 12 months, 8 months is possible but profile dependent. 4900 max limit.

SDFCU - Graduates in 12 months. No info on max limit, 1 report of it being as high as 5 figures. Soft pull for the card, but hard pull for membership. 

Citi - Graduates in 18 months, possibly a bit sooner. 2500 max limit. Hard pull.

Discover - Graduates in 7 months, again profile dependant. Hard pull.  

Wells Fargo - I don't think this card is offered anymore. Wells has a business secured card though. 

PenFed - I dont believe they have a secured card. 

Unify CU - 2500 max limit. The card appears to be soft pull but I could not find whether they hard pull for membership. Also while it does appear to graduate, I have no data on how long it takes. Might have to reach out to them if interested.  

Most secured cards have a relatively low max limit and large deposits may potentially complicate account graduation.

Although all cards say they graduate that actual time can vary widely.

It might be a better idea to work with the cards you have, if possible and seek cli over time until your profile is strong enough for large starting limits.

Also keep in mind hard pulls are not the end of the world. They affect your score for 12 months and fall off in 24 months. Some profiles barely see points drop from one at a time.

Last thing, it might be a better approach to keep what you have and garden for 6 months to a year before applying for your next unsecured card. 

Good luck!