Secured Credit Cards

[TiggerDat]

I don't know if I would agree with the statement that BofA is the best secured card out there.  Yes, you can get a card with them with rewards.  You can also possibly get it to graduate after 9-12 months.  I had mine for years and others were giving me credit cards and they never graduated the card, so I finally just closed the card.  This was more than ten years ago, so, maybe things have changed.  I actually was just about to post a thread on secure cards which I compiled, so I will post the info here and in the thread.  Depending on if you carry a balance, then BofA might not be the best option.  Also, 3-4 secured accounts would be better than 1.  If you put $2,500 into 4 accounts then the results for scoring would be better than just on large account.  Anyway, here is the list.  As you can see there are some differences.  While USAA has a larger fee, it has low interest on the card.  In fact with them you can choose the card to be an Amex card.  The FNBO and USAA secured card earns interest on the funds.  If you carry a balance, then it would be wiser to choose the USAA card without rewards and save the interest.  If you don't carry a balance then the BofA card would be good to earn rewards if offered a rewards card.  I think you first have to apply for a card with them and get rejected to be offered a rewards version of the card.  I don't think you get the rewards by simply applying from the site directly.  Good luck.

Bank	Fee	APR	$ APR	Penalty	Int	Graduate	Ap Fee	Activation	Rewards
FNBO	$19	17.99%	25.24%	No	0.05%	No?	No	No	No
USAA	$35	9.90%	9.90%	No	0.54%	No	No	No	No
Open Sky	$29	17.50%	17.50%	21.50%	No	No	No	No	No
Harley Davidson by US Bank	$0	22.99%	23.99%	No	No	No	No	No	Harley	$10 Harley at signup, you earn Harley gift card rewards.
Merrick	$36	17.45%	22.45%	No	No	CLIs	No	No	No	additional card fee $10/ea
BofA	$39	20.24%	24.99%	29.99%	No	12 mo.	No	No	No/Yes	If you apply for a regular account then you might be offered a secured card with rewards.
Wells Fargo	$25	18.99%	23.99%	No	No	12+	No	No	No
Citizens	$24	23.99%	24.99%	29.99%	yes	?	No	No	No
Citibank	$29	18.74%	?	?	No	18	No	No	No
US Bank	$35	20.99%	23.99%	No	No	No	No	No	No
PNC	$36	18.99%	21.99%	28.99%	No	No	No	No	No
5/3	$24	23.99%	24.99%	29.99%	yes	?	No	No	No
Capital One - variable deposit	$29	22.90%	22.90%	No	No	CLIs	No	No	No
First Progress	29-44	11.99-19.99%	14.99-23.99%	No	No	No	No	No	No

[bigblue7722]

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

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I have to disagree on the cap 1 card. When your are rebuilding hard pulls are not the end of the world. The AF is low at 29 dollars. You might only have to put down 49 for a 200 dollar line. Plenty of people on here including myself recieved unsecured CLI. Also to add more money onto the card its no extra HP.It is a very solid card. 

[One7]

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

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I have to disagree on the cap 1 card. When your are rebuilding hard pulls are not the end of the world. The AF is low at 29 dollars. You might only have to put down 49 for a 200 dollar line. Plenty of people on here including myself recieved unsecured CLI. Also to add more money onto the card its no extra HP.It is a very solid card. 

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Well every one definitely has different opinions, HPs are everything to me so having 3 from one card company is pretty terrible especially when the card doesn't help you after you have completed your rebuilding stage. I notice you don't have a Cap 1 Secured in your Signature,  I do and it's a terrible amount. I'll definitely be discarding it soon, wish I would have gotten a different secured card such as the US Banks HD card or a USA card so all this hard work didn't go to waste when I eventually cancel the card. I want to keep it but now it's worthless. 

[Creditaddict]

First National Bank (FNBO) is a great secured card... they give you free EX Fico each month, they give unsecured CLI every 6 months and can unsecure at 18 months or you can apply before hand... 

since capital one is so easy to get unsecured, they would be my last pick for secured.

BofA would be my favorite because of unsecuring in possibly 9 months.

[bigblue7722]

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@One7 wrote:

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

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I have to disagree on the cap 1 card. When your are rebuilding hard pulls are not the end of the world. The AF is low at 29 dollars. You might only have to put down 49 for a 200 dollar line. Plenty of people on here including myself recieved unsecured CLI. Also to add more money onto the card its no extra HP.It is a very solid card. 

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Well every one definitely has different opinions, HPs are everything to me so having 3 from one card company is pretty terrible especially when the card doesn't help you after you have completed your rebuilding stage. I notice you don't have a Cap 1 Secured in your Signature,  I do and it's a terrible amount. I'll definitely be discarding it soon, wish I would have gotten a different secured card such as the US Banks HD card or a USA card so all this hard work didn't go to waste when I eventually cancel the card. I want to keep it but now it's worthless. 

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I did have the card. I closed it after i got approved for my qs card. Why are HP everything to you? HP should be the last thing on your list. Worry about on time payments, no collections, and perfect ulti. Those will help you way more than having less HP on your credit report. Sure when i started my credit journey feb 2013 I would have loved to just get the QS card but it was not going to happen. The secured card may not be with me anymore but it helped me build something postitve on my credit report and really allowed me to get my QS card. The work did not go to waste your looking at it all wrong. 

[One7]

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

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I have to disagree on the cap 1 card. When your are rebuilding hard pulls are not the end of the world. The AF is low at 29 dollars. You might only have to put down 49 for a 200 dollar line. Plenty of people on here including myself recieved unsecured CLI. Also to add more money onto the card its no extra HP.It is a very solid card. 

---

Well every one definitely has different opinions, HPs are everything to me so having 3 from one card company is pretty terrible especially when the card doesn't help you after you have completed your rebuilding stage. I notice you don't have a Cap 1 Secured in your Signature,  I do and it's a terrible amount. I'll definitely be discarding it soon, wish I would have gotten a different secured card such as the US Banks HD card or a USA card so all this hard work didn't go to waste when I eventually cancel the card. I want to keep it but now it's worthless. 

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I did have the card. I closed it after i got approved for my qs card. Why are HP everything to you? HP should be the last thing on your list. Worry about on time payments, no collections, and perfect ulti. Those will help you way more than having less HP on your credit report. Sure when i started my credit journey feb 2013 I would have loved to just get the QS card but it was not going to happen. The secured card may not be with me anymore but it helped me build something postitve on my credit report and really allowed me to get my QS card. The work did not go to waste your looking at it all wrong. 

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HPs mean alot to me because Ive only been denied credit due to too many INQs. Granted I didnt try and go for cards I knew I couldnt get from my scores but when I did get denied it was always for the same reason. I had two other secured cards which then became unsecured and now PC'd and have had the limits increase, all without losing any history, shows that Ivd had the cards for almost 2 years now. On the other hand I'll have to close my cap 1 card and apply for a completely new one for another 3 HPs (6 in total in just over a year) instead of just having the card unsecure and then PC'd. Dont get me wrong Cap 1 is good because they help out, but there are far better ones out there that continue to help you out and not just have to be closed out or continue to say "secured credit card" on every file. 

[bigblue7722]

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@One7 wrote:

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

---

I have to disagree on the cap 1 card. When your are rebuilding hard pulls are not the end of the world. The AF is low at 29 dollars. You might only have to put down 49 for a 200 dollar line. Plenty of people on here including myself recieved unsecured CLI. Also to add more money onto the card its no extra HP.It is a very solid card. 

---

Well every one definitely has different opinions, HPs are everything to me so having 3 from one card company is pretty terrible especially when the card doesn't help you after you have completed your rebuilding stage. I notice you don't have a Cap 1 Secured in your Signature,  I do and it's a terrible amount. I'll definitely be discarding it soon, wish I would have gotten a different secured card such as the US Banks HD card or a USA card so all this hard work didn't go to waste when I eventually cancel the card. I want to keep it but now it's worthless. 

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I did have the card. I closed it after i got approved for my qs card. Why are HP everything to you? HP should be the last thing on your list. Worry about on time payments, no collections, and perfect ulti. Those will help you way more than having less HP on your credit report. Sure when i started my credit journey feb 2013 I would have loved to just get the QS card but it was not going to happen. The secured card may not be with me anymore but it helped me build something postitve on my credit report and really allowed me to get my QS card. The work did not go to waste your looking at it all wrong. 

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HPs mean alot to me because Ive only been denied credit due to too many INQs. Granted I didnt try and go for cards I knew I couldnt get from my scores but when I did get denied it was always for the same reason. I had two other secured cards which then became unsecured and now PC'd and have had the limits increase, all without losing any history, shows that Ivd had the cards for almost 2 years now. On the other hand I'll have to close my cap 1 card and apply for a completely new one for another 3 HPs (6 in total in just over a year) instead of just having the card unsecure and then PC'd. Dont get me wrong Cap 1 is good because they help out, but there are far better ones out there that continue to help you out and not just have to be closed out or continue to say "secured credit card" on every file. 

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Capital one doe not report as a secured card. How many inq do you have on each report? I have atleast 7 on each and have added a ton of cards within this past year. Just because a credit card company says you were denied for too many inq does not mean anything. Theres so much that goes into credit card approvals are inq are a very very small part. 

[bk510]

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

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True, but still the benefit of being able to add more deposit to ur secured account without any HP is i think worth it.

So this is what I would do OP...3000 on cap1 and 1000 on both us bank and bofa.

[bk510]

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@TiggerDat wrote:

I don't know if I would agree with the statement that BofA is the best secured card out there.  Yes, you can get a card with them with rewards.  You can also possibly get it to graduate after 9-12 months.  I had mine for years and others were giving me credit cards and they never graduated the card, so I finally just closed the card.  This was more than ten years ago, so, maybe things have changed.  I actually was just about to post a thread on secure cards which I compiled, so I will post the info here and in the thread.  Depending on if you carry a balance, then BofA might not be the best option.  Also, 3-4 secured accounts would be better than 1.  If you put $2,500 into 4 accounts then the results for scoring would be better than just on large account.  Anyway, here is the list.  As you can see there are some differences.  While USAA has a larger fee, it has low interest on the card.  In fact with them you can choose the card to be an Amex card.  The FNBO and USAA secured card earns interest on the funds.  If you carry a balance, then it would be wiser to choose the USAA card without rewards and save the interest.  If you don't carry a balance then the BofA card would be good to earn rewards if offered a rewards card.  I think you first have to apply for a card with them and get rejected to be offered a rewards version of the card.  I don't think you get the rewards by simply applying from the site directly.  Good luck.

Bank	Fee	APR	$ APR	Penalty	Int	Graduate	Ap Fee	Activation	Rewards
FNBO	$19	17.99%	25.24%	No	0.05%	No?	No	No	No
USAA	$35	9.90%	9.90%	No	0.54%	No	No	No	No
Open Sky	$29	17.50%	17.50%	21.50%	No	No	No	No	No
Harley Davidson by US Bank	$0	22.99%	23.99%	No	No	No	No	No	Harley	$10 Harley at signup, you earn Harley gift card rewards.
Merrick	$36	17.45%	22.45%	No	No	CLIs	No	No	No	additional card fee $10/ea
BofA	$39	20.24%	24.99%	29.99%	No	12 mo.	No	No	No/Yes	If you apply for a regular account then you might be offered a secured card with rewards.
Wells Fargo	$25	18.99%	23.99%	No	No	12+	No	No	No
Citizens	$24	23.99%	24.99%	29.99%	yes	?	No	No	No
Citibank	$29	18.74%	?	?	No	18	No	No	No
US Bank	$35	20.99%	23.99%	No	No	No	No	No	No
PNC	$36	18.99%	21.99%	28.99%	No	No	No	No	No
5/3	$24	23.99%	24.99%	29.99%	yes	?	No	No	No
Capital One - variable deposit	$29	22.90%	22.90%	No	No	CLIs	No	No	No
First Progress	29-44	11.99-19.99%	14.99-23.99%	No	No	No	No	No	No

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USAA secured card doesnt grad and u must put it into a CD for 2 yrs much like how citi does with their secured card.

[bk510]

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

BofA is definitely the best secured card out there,  but I don't recommend Cap 1. First of all they will pull all three of your CRs giving you an inquiry on each one, and then they will never become unsecured.  If I could change one thing about my rebuilding journey I would have never gotten one of those, it's my oldest TL so I don't want to close it but I no longer need a secured card so I'll probably be cutting it soon. Good luck on everything. 

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I have to disagree on the cap 1 card. When your are rebuilding hard pulls are not the end of the world. The AF is low at 29 dollars. You might only have to put down 49 for a 200 dollar line. Plenty of people on here including myself recieved unsecured CLI. Also to add more money onto the card its no extra HP.It is a very solid card. 

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+1

I had a cap1 secured card for a yr and now closed.(it was 49 for 200).

Cap1 did its job, I cant hate them, lol (especially when I am in the middle of CLi of 4K via EO), hope i'll get some good news in a few days or so