US Bank Secured or Fifth Third Bank Secured

[CreditDrama85]

do either of these secured credit cards graduate to unsecured and give the depost back? how long does it take?

[Anonymous]

With US Bank (at least, in my experience of it), they'll only consider graduating you to an unsecured card after you've had the secured one for a year - no point even asking before that point, they told me the exact date I'd be allowed to put in the request on. They then upgraded me to an unsecured Visa with a $1000 limit and returned my $500 deposit (plus about 7 cents in interest) a couple of weeks later. They've also told me that once I've had the new card for three months, I can ask to be considered for something more... interesting, as the card they gave me is the most basic, rewards-free, uninteresting Visa out there. That's another thing - you can't just choose to apply for the product you want when you get the card unsecured, they apparently decide what product you qualify for, although to me that sounds like 'we'll just give you the boring one, regardless'.

About Fifth Third... not sure. Theirs actually sounds pretty identical to the US Bank one, from what I've read on their site.

[CreditDrama85]

what was your fico score when you got the us bank card? which credit bureau did they pull? did it report as a secured card or a credit card? was that account closed and a new one opened after you had it for a year? thanks for the info

[Anonymous]

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@CreditDrama85 wrote:

what was your fico score when you got the us bank card? which credit bureau did they pull? did it report as a secured card or a credit card? was that account closed and a new one opened after you had it for a year? thanks for the info

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I don't think I had a FICO score when I got the card - in fact, I know I didn't. I'd moved to the US less than a month previously and applied for the card as soon as I got my SSN (I did have credit, having been accepted for a Macy's card about 3 weeks previously, without even having an SSN, but doubt I had a credit file for US Bank to even see that on at that point!) - but I do show a hard inquiry on all 3 bureaux for that application.

US Bank told me that it wouldn't report as a secured card, however it did - I think it said 'revolving, secured' or something similar. Once I'd had it for a year they told me I needed to put in a request for them to review the account and switch me to an unsecured product (not sure if they'd automatically volunteer to do so without being asked if you leave it long enough, as I made the request on the very first day they would allow me to - exactly one year and one day after the account opening date!) - I did so, and a few days later noticed that my credit reports were now showing a $1000 limit instead of $500 for that card, and no longer reporting it as secured. Sure enough, a few days after that, I got a letter in the mail confirming they were switching me to an unsecured 'Classic Visa' card, and that the check for my deposit would be in the mail shortly (that took about 3-4 weeks to arrive after I made the initial request to change to an unsecured card). The account reports with the original opening date, which is great - however, when I asked about this, nobody at US Bank seemed to know what would happen, so it was a relief to see that my credit reports didn't suddenly show a new account!

Oh, incidentally... they told me they'd make the decision on whether to give me an unsecured card based solely on my handling of the account over the year, rather than on my credit scores, etc - but despite telling me that, they did put a hard inquiry on Equifax. I think my EQ score was a point or two above 700 at the time, although I can't be sure exactly what it was on the day... certainly not more than about 704, though.

Hope that helps a bit!