Secured Cards

[MidnightOwl]

Can someone please give a list of companies that offer secured cards ? I'm trying to get my credit back on track and I haven't been able to find any secured cards available online. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Good luck in your efforts to getting things back on track.

I would recommend that you check out Bank of America and US Bank.  US Bank will pay you interest on your deposit.  One catch though is that they "freeze" your credit limit aka deposit for the first six months.  After the initial six months, then you can increase your deposit amount and thus increase your credit limit.  Bank of America doesn't pay interest according to the last time I looked at their terms and conditions.  (September 2009-ish time frame)

[MidnightOwl]

BoA shot me down even though I have both a checking & savings account with them. Actually, I was a little shocked that they did. I live in Delaware & I'm not sure US Bank serves my area with any offers.

[aquatic1]

Penfed has a secured card for members.  The minimum is $500 to start.  you may also want to try a local CU in your area.  Don't feel bad about BofAm.  I was shot down with them TWICE for a secured.  Will NEVER apply with them for ANYTHING.  I closed my savings account with them as well.

[MidnightOwl]

As soon as I get set up with another bank I'm going to close my accounts with BoA. I mean, they say their card is there to help you re-establish credit yet they deny you when you apply. I could understand if I was applying for the unsecured card but, a secured card ? makes no sense. If they let me open up a checking & savings account with them I should be able to get a secured card with them. The funny thing is, after I applied & sent the $ 500.00 into my savings account for them to take out, I got the " congratulations your card will be sent out in 7-10 days message but, when I went to check my email they sent a decline notice. What the ?? I'm at a loss for words.

[StarraeAday1]

I've had luck with both Orchard Bank (HSBC) secured and Public Savings Bank secured. Neither of them convert to unsecured, though, which I didn't realize until I already had the accounts. But opening them helped our credit scores immensely and quickly!

[haulingthescoreup]

MidnightOwl, I'd pull out your Yellow Pages and see if you have locally-based credit unions in your area. They're generally great for helping folks build/ rebuild credit.

Many CU's (certainly not all) pull Equifax. In the upper Midwest, many use TransUnion. You can pull a new FICO EQ (or FICO TU) score report, print it out, and take it with you as you visit loan officers at CU's. They would have to pull a hard inquiry if you decide to apply, but you might be able to get them to first give you an educated guess as to whether you would qualify for anything based on your myFICO report and score.

Tell them that the EQ FICO is a Beacon 5.0, or that the TU FICO is a TransUnion Empirica Classic '98. (Not the '04, unfortunately.) These are the industry names for the FICO scores, and this will tell them that you're not waving FAKO's around.

[MidnightOwl]

i was able to apply online for a savings account with addison ave fcu. i setup $ 500.00 to be pulled from my bank of america account to fund the savings account with addison. i got a email reply from addison saying they may need to verify some info, if they do they'll call me within 24 hours to get things rolling. they said if i don't hear from them in 24 hours then everything will be setup & they'll send a confirmation email. i want to get a secured card through them because i hear they are really great. boa & citi shot me down for a secured card so, i'm hoping the cu won't be as tough.