State Dept CU card going to unsecured status - is it possible

[kb2ehj]

This is a similiar post to another I just made about a Capital One card.

I have a State Department Credit Union secured CC with a $500 CL 

I've had this card for 18 months now with unfortunetly one late payment of 30days.

Sometimes it carries a balance, usually verys small, sometimes i have a zero balance on it (like right now).

Have any of you that have this card been succesful in getting a CL or getting it unsecured with a single late payment on the record?

I emailed SDFCU and basically got a "we don't have any control over it the 'computer' will tell us when to unsecure you." answer.

Mark

[Pway]

How long ago did you have the late 30 day payment?

[kb2ehj]

They both where in March of this year, one with State Dept and the other with PenFed.   All my other cards have never been late.

Mark

[OmarGB9]

I don't have any personal experience with SDFCU, but I think *any* lender would be hesitant to unsecure you with such a recent late.

[Lou-natic]

I don't want to talk in absolutes because the credit world works in mysterious ways and all...but...

I honestly believe that once you get a late on a secured card you can kiss your chances of it ever graduating goodbye.

I'm sure there is someone out there that had a late and was graduated the next day...they also had a great grandparent survive the sinking of the Titanic and won 25k on the only scratchoff they ever bought. The chances of that being you are infinitesimally small.

Maybe you'll get lucky but honestly I would give up on the notion else you'll just be disappointed in the long run.

[Pway]

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@kb2ehj wrote:

They both where in March of this year, one with State Dept and the other with PenFed.   All my other cards have never been late.

Mark

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The 30 day late is the sting. Typically on a secured card they like perfect history before unsecuring. 

[kb2ehj]

That was my fear also.

I might call them Monday morning and see how many days past the 30 day mark I was and if it wasn't to many days try and see if a good will letter to them might work.  Guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

mark

[kb2ehj]

Yeah that's my fear actually 

mark

[jnbowmar]

When they graduated mine, it went from 2k to 3k limit, Fico 8 was around 660 at the time i believe, aboout 18 months old. 

SDFCU is a real hardo, they use fico experian 2 mortgage scores for EVERYTHING, but i consider them my most important banking relationship, as i do my personal banking there too. The platinum card is a great low apr card and i use it all the time, and hope to app for the 2% card in the future. They will graduate your card eventually im sure, but the damage done to your mortgage score will be the deciding factor IMHO. I would expect between 6 to 24 months after the late, depending on utilization and other negative info on your report. 

[kb2ehj]

Thank you for sharing your experiance.

I  emailed them today and was suprised I actually got a response the sameday, usually it's a good 24 hours before I hear anything from them.

They basically told me under no surcumstanace would they goodwill remove the late payment from the record.  They also didn't even address my question becuase of the damage had I done myself in for graduation to an unsecured card.  But I'll use the card sparingly and make dam sure I keep track of due dates.  One little oversite on my part kind of hosed me for awhile and I was doing REALLY well with keeping up with things to.