Secured credit card

[bichonmom]

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@daybreakgonesXe wrote:

Just remembered! I heard Open Sky Secured card won't result in an inquiry. Also another secured option.

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http://www.cardhub.com/d/open-sky-secured-credit-card-503c/

I would avoid this like the plague! $50 AF plus...

This credit card does not have a grace period, which means that interest will begin getting assessed as soon as you make a purchase.

After your Account is open for one year or more Capital Bank will charge you a Credit Limit Increase Fee of $25.00 each time you add Deposit Funds and increase the Credit Limit and a Credit Limit Decrease Request Fee of $25.00 each time you request a reduction in your Credit Limit.

[athan12]

Yes, I still have my BofA Stundent Credit Card, and that's my only CC as of now.

What does PIF stand for? Sorry I'm pretty new to this forum

So you mean to say starting an secured credit card wouldn't help me much with my scores?

and no I don't have anyone who's in the military or is a member of USAA. I guess NFCU is my only choice if I'm going to start a secured CC and work my way up to an unsecured CC. Does NFCU only offer to those who has a full membership? Do I have to know someone who is a member of the Navy for me to get offered an unsecured credit card?

So you think I can still GW my lates because I have 2 30-days lates, 1 60-days late, and 1 90-days late on my credit report.

[athan12]

Ok. Because I'm just worried for having too much inquiries because one time I got a letter why I got denied for an application was becase of a "Hard Inquiry" while I only have 4 inquiries in my report and 1 of them is an unknown inquiry and I wasn't aware of it.

I guess my best bet would be NFCU if ever they have a secured credit card.

[daybreakgonesXe]

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@athan12 wrote:

Yes, I still have my BofA Stundent Credit Card, and that's my only CC as of now.

What does PIF stand for? Sorry I'm pretty new to this forum

So you mean to say starting an secured credit card wouldn't help me much with my scores?

and no I don't have anyone who's in the military or is a member of USAA. I guess NFCU is my only choice if I'm going to start a secured CC and work my way up to an unsecured CC.

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PIF is paid in full..and unfortunately NFCU is a lot harder to get into than USAA with no military affiliation...maybe try DCU?

[athan12]

I'm confused. So I was reading this article on yahoo about people with almost perfect scredit score, and one of them said that instead of PIF every month like any other CC holders do. He pays his credit card every 4 or 5 days and he also use his CC almost everytime even buying a coffee.

Here's the link and read the first persons statement

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/secrets-of-the-credit-score-superstars.html

I'm confused if I should always pay in full or split my balance and pay it off every friday or every 4-5 days.

[daybreakgonesXe]

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@athan12 wrote:

I'm confused. So I was reading this article on yahoo about people with almost perfect scredit score, and one of them said that instead of PIF every month like any other CC holders do. He pays his credit card every 4 or 5 days and he also use his CC almost everytime even buying a coffee.

Here's the link and read the first persons statement

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/secrets-of-the-credit-score-superstars.html

I'm confused if I should always pay in full or split my balance and pay it off every friday or every 4-5 days.

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That's completely up to you there's different ways to PIF. In general, when we say PIF, we mean to avoid interest. So, PIF could be before the statement date, could be before your payment date to avoid interest after the grace period, etc. This dude likely pays every 4-5 days to avoid his cards posting a balance. To maximize your FICO score, what you should do is have a balance report only on one card, then have a 0 balance report on every other card.

Since you only have one card, what you can do is have a 9% balance report on it by statement date. You can do this any way you please. Maybe you can only use your card for a few purchases, let it report the <9% utility, then pay it all by the due date to avoid interest, and repeat. Or, you can use it for all your purchases, then before the statement date, pay a good chunk on it so it reports the <9%, then pay before the due date for the rest. Or you can do what the guy said above, pay every 4-5 days, so that those small cups of coffee balances eventually reports the small utilization.

Do what feels comfortable for you The key is to always have a small balance report, and preferably pay everything by the due date to avoid interest. Once you start doing it, you'll get into the swing of it and it'll all make sense!!

[athan12]

Now I feel enlightened. So if my CL is $1000, its advisable to only use 9% of it before the statement date which is $90 per statement.

You said the best way to build up my score was to have 0 balances on any other card and only have balances on one card. So is it still advisable to get a secondary secured card even if I'm only supposed to have balances on one card?

[bichonmom]

#1, You need to have some military affiliation to join nfcu. Their criteria are on their website https://www.navyfederal.org/about/eligibility-checklist.php

#2, I didn't read the article so I'm not sure why that person would choose to pay every few days. Some people do that because it helps them to budget their money easier. It doesn't help your FICO or history with the cc to pay that often. You only need to pay once a month By the due date. 

#3, In an effort to maximize their FICO, some people will PIF before the stmt cuts so that the CCs report a zero bal to the CRAs. They let only one cc report a bal of less than 10% of their CL. Since you only have one cc right now, it's not really relevant.

[daybreakgonesXe]

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@athan12 wrote:

Now I feel enlightened. So if my CL is $1000, its advisable to only use 9% of it before the statement date which is $90 per statement.

You said the best way to build up my score was to have 0 balances on any other card and only have balances on one card. So is it still advisable to get a secondary secured card even if I'm only supposed to have balances on one card?

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Yup, that's right!

And yes, actually. The sweet spot for maximizing your FICO score is having at the very least 3-4 revolving accounts. So, if you would like to get favorable rates one day on an auto loan or mortgage, it is best to build your portfolio! However, don't feel that there's any rush if you don't plan on applying for any loans in the near future. In the credit game, slow and steady wins the race

[bichonmom]

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@athan12 wrote:

Now I feel enlightened. So if my CL is $1000, its advisable to only use 9% of it before the statement date which is $90 per statement.

You said the best way to build up my score was to have 0 balances on any other card and only have balances on one card. So is it still advisable to get a secondary secured card even if I'm only supposed to have balances on one card?

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You can use as much of your $1k CL during the month as you want. Right now, I wouldn't even worry about the <10% util reporting. That only applies when you're optimizing your FICO for a cc app. If you do only want 10% to report, you can make a pmt for less than the balance BEFORE your stmt cuts, and leave a small bal of $90 on the card. Then when the stmt cuts, it will report the $90 bal to the CRAs. But as I said,that only really matters if you're planning in applying for credit.

at some point, it would be a good idea for you to open a second card. I just don't know if this is the best time because your lates are so recent and you really have no positive history reporting. If you try to GW the lates and start building a pos history, then in 6 mos, you might app for a cc. If you're able to get the lates off, then you wouldn't even need a secured cart at that point. 

Also, I doubt your denial was because of inquiries. It was likely because you had some inq and no positive history. Sometimes CCs seem to use inq as a reason for denial, but it isn't always the case. People here have gotten prime CCs with huge CLs and have a lot of inq. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware, I treasure my inq and am very careful about how many I get. I have even frozen my credit reports so that no one can do a HP without my knowledge.

Heres a list of common abbreviations used here http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/User-Guidelines-General/Common-Abbreviations/td-p/88458