Secured card idea...

[j_casteel]

I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later. 

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

[jordanmedical]

BoA reports Secured, so does Wells Fargo. NFCU and capone don't. I'm sure more suggestions will come along.

[-Cain-]

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@j_casteel wrote:

I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later. 

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

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BofA Secured will be a HP every time you want to add to CL, so you may want to start with a larger limit.

[Revelate]

Cap 1, USAA if qualified are the two which come to mind.  NFCU as well if qualified.  There may be others which allow you to easily add money to the card but I'm unaware of them, and that Armed Forces CU card rubs me the wrong way.

BOFA is a HP for each CLI, and while an *excellent* secured product (FWIW it's better than your current cards now when you get the guarunteed 1-2-3 rewards attached to it) I'd open it and pool money to bump it straight up to the max later if you can't do now.

FWIW I agree with the plan wholeheartedly, I'm on the fence now about my application spree at the end of the year, but I recently bumped my BOFA card up to 5K and it's supposed to graduate in October.  Since I don't really care about my TU anyway (which seems to be their typical CLI pull) if they keep the limit when I graduate, I'll consider that to be a *huge* win for future approvals moving straight into the Visa Sig category once my FICO is there rather than stuck building the hard way.

[cashnocredit]

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@j_casteel wrote:

I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later. 

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

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I love it. That puts a whole new meaning to "maxing out" credit cards.

I would initially check with the CC issuer to make sure you could increase the security deposit that often. It's so unusual that there is a possibility it might set off some flag.. The CC industry runs on very lage group averages so I'd make sure they are cool with the idea and have the CSR make a note in your file that you intend to frequently increase the security deposit is someone else looks at the file later.

[Revelate]

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@cashnocredit wrote:

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@j_casteel wrote:

I make good money but have poor credit scores and since I really don't need a line of credit I was thinking about opening a couple secured cards to help build credit and instead of depositing money into a savings account each payday i would deposit funds into the cards to increase their CL's quickly which will hopefully help me get better cards later. 

Which secured cards would work best for this? I would be making deposits every 2 weeks til I max them out. I'm thinking about the BoA secured card and also looking into some local CU's as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

John

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I love it. That puts a whole new meaning to "maxing out" credit cards.

I would initially check with the CC issuer to make sure you could increase the security deposit that often. It's so unusual that there is a possibility it might set off some flag.. The CC industry runs on very lage group averages so I'd make sure they are cool with the idea and have the CSR make a note in your file that you intend to frequently increase the security deposit is someone else looks at the file later.

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I can't imagine this would be a problem with any of the lenders which allow frequent additions in the first place.  There are dozens of examples of people who toss another $50 bucks or whatever into an account repeatedly, it's no different if you're depositing 1K a week instead.

The issuing creditor of the secured product has an incentive to have you depositng money: it counts towards their reserve requirements as mandated by the Fed.

Nobody else is even likely to notice, SP's are pretty infrequent for established accounts, and even then more than once a month is pretty much ever done, and it takes weeks sometimes to update a tradeline.  Statistically irrelevant in my opinion, as the only lender who really is going to know, would like you to do most likely assuming they don't jump to a fraud conclusion which is unlikely with most secured card limits.

[YahComb]

Definitely will want to increase your BOA deposit in big chunks if you get it. If you end up applying for some GECRB, Barclays, or Discover cards a year from now your TU report won't be too pretty with all the HP's.

[tboy1977]

if you are near a PNC branch, go in and apply for secured product (there's no advertising it).  The minimum is $250, the max $2500, increments of $50 and when you want to increase the limit you just go there with the money.  No credit review (HP or soft) at all.  Cap1 is nice too.  But a local credit union may allow you the high credit you want.  I want a card with 10k behind it.  And I'm more than willing to put 10k there rather than waiting for FICO.  Plus, I feel more secure with a secured card anyway.

[FitNutrix]

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@jordanmedical wrote:

BoA reports Secured, so does Wells Fargo. NFCU and capone don't. I'm sure more suggestions will come along.

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Hey for the NFCU secured card do you have to be a member???? Also, USAA does it report secured?

[DaveSignal]

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@1Health wrote:

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@jordanmedical wrote:

BoA reports Secured, so does Wells Fargo. NFCU and capone don't. I'm sure more suggestions will come along.

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Hey for the NFCU secured card do you have to be a member???? Also, USAA does it report secured?

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USAA does not report secured, and you can increase the credit limit by making additional deposits.  Your money is added to an adjustable rate CD which will earn better interest than a savings account, but you will pay a penalty if you close it before 2 years.