Hello all,
So almost 2 years ago, Cap1 shut down my cards due to NSF payments -- they were basically my only tradelines at the time other than I had just been approved a few months earlier for a Secured Disco...
I decided to go the secured route to rebuild and was approved for a secured Citibank and 2 secured US Bank cards (had only intended to get one but due to a glitch in the application process, got 2 but figured as long as the tradelines were open, keep them and build history).
Last month, Citibank told me they were going to hold my security deposit for another year (not that I'm bitter or anything!). Hadn't heard anything about US Bank but I wasn't optimistic since I had lots of new credit, had carried high balances with them (500 and 300 card limits so not hard to do). I still had one collection on my TU account when they did a hard pull last week (which since disappeared). Since then, I got in with Navy (secured) so figured I would cut US Bank loose and get my money back.
Called last week to ask about graduation and fully prepared to close if I got denied. I decided to take the HP and ask for graduation -- got the "we'll let you know in 7-10 days"...
So yesterday, I got an email saying that new "contactless" cards had been issued. Thought that was odd since both cards don't expire until next year -- same account numbers. Figured it was a "covid" thing where banks were shifting to contactless cards.
Today, I get 2 cardmember agreements -- no letter saying "Congratulations" or anything... the only clue was it said "US Bank Platinum Visa Card Agreement". So I called up the number on the back of my card and she said both cards were approved to go unsecured and that they mailed my deposits back on 1/25!
I was stunned! There isn't much information on them on the boards except how they are very conservative.
I did ask about doing a product change to Cash+ and she said I wasn't eligible yet but probably just because the card was issued and within a couple weeks once everything was fully set up, try at that point. Didn't ask for a CLI yet either -- I know others had said they didn't get a CLI upon graduation. I figured I would take what I could get at that point since I was just so blown away to have these cards graduate.
Anyway, just figured I would post this for anyone who has US Bank Secured -- yes, they do graduate and no, you don't have to be a perfect profile.
Data Points:
HP -- Transunion
Fico 8 -- 642
Overall Utilization -- around 44 percent across all cards
12 Inquiries
AAoA = 1 year 9 months (5 new tradelines since October between refinancing car, Navy, etc)
1 collection from 3.5 years ago
Several COs from 3.5 years ago
1 30 day late from last February but the rest of my lates were 2 years or older.
Good luck everyone... Thanks to everyone on this forum for your wisdom and advice. I'm really happy to be getting in with "big-boy banks"...
Congratulations on your graduations 🎓!
That is awesome! Can't beat 2 unsecured cards.
@designated_knitter wrote:Hello all,
So almost 2 years ago, Cap1 shut down my cards due to NSF payments -- they were basically my only tradelines at the time other than I had just been approved a few months earlier for a Secured Disco...
I decided to go the secured route to rebuild and was approved for a secured Citibank and 2 secured US Bank cards (had only intended to get one but due to a glitch in the application process, got 2 but figured as long as the tradelines were open, keep them and build history).
Last month, Citibank told me they were going to hold my security deposit for another year (not that I'm bitter or anything!). Hadn't heard anything about US Bank but I wasn't optimistic since I had lots of new credit, had carried high balances with them (500 and 300 card limits so not hard to do). I still had one collection on my TU account when they did a hard pull last week (which since disappeared). Since then, I got in with Navy (secured) so figured I would cut US Bank loose and get my money back.
Called last week to ask about graduation and fully prepared to close if I got denied. I decided to take the HP and ask for graduation -- got the "we'll let you know in 7-10 days"...
So yesterday, I got an email saying that new "contactless" cards had been issued. Thought that was odd since both cards don't expire until next year -- same account numbers. Figured it was a "covid" thing where banks were shifting to contactless cards.
Today, I get 2 cardmember agreements -- no letter saying "Congratulations" or anything... the only clue was it said "US Bank Platinum Visa Card Agreement". So I called up the number on the back of my card and she said both cards were approved to go unsecured and that they mailed my deposits back on 1/25!
I was stunned! There isn't much information on them on the boards except how they are very conservative.
I did ask about doing a product change to Cash+ and she said I wasn't eligible yet but probably just because the card was issued and within a couple weeks once everything was fully set up, try at that point. Didn't ask for a CLI yet either -- I know others had said they didn't get a CLI upon graduation. I figured I would take what I could get at that point since I was just so blown away to have these cards graduate.
Anyway, just figured I would post this for anyone who has US Bank Secured -- yes, they do graduate and no, you don't have to be a perfect profile.
Data Points:
HP -- Transunion
Fico 8 -- 642
Overall Utilization -- around 44 percent across all cards
12 Inquiries
AAoA = 1 year 9 months (5 new tradelines since October between refinancing car, Navy, etc)
1 collection from 3.5 years ago
Several COs from 3.5 years ago
1 30 day late from last February but the rest of my lates were 2 years or older.
Good luck everyone... Thanks to everyone on this forum for your wisdom and advice. I'm really happy to be getting in with "big-boy banks"...
Congradulations!
Can I ask for an additional DP?
When did you originally get the US Bank secured cards? When did they graduate? (I think you said 1/25)
I have a friend that needs to go that route, and I was suggesting B Of A, but maybe US Bank may be quicker.
Again congratulations on the early graduation!
@2ski wrote:
Congradulations!
Can I ask for an additional DP?
When did you originally get the US Bank secured cards? When did they graduate? (I think you said 1/25)
I have a friend that needs to go that route, and I was suggesting B Of A, but maybe US Bank may be quicker.
Again congratulations on the early graduation!
Thank You!
I applied for the first card the end of 06/2019. The second was a week later so the card reads 07/2019.
I wouldn't say it was "early" since I believe that USBank advertises 18 month graduation. I had applied for BoA around the same time and was declined so was grateful for US bank letting me in. I had also applied for Well's Fargo secured card and was denied that as well.
If your friend is in the southeast, they may want to consider TD Bank's secured offering as they say you can graduate after 7 months... and due to COVID, the process is completely online. I didn't get that card but if I hadn't gotten in with Navy, would have definitely gone that route.
One Advantage of USbank is that they actually pay interest on the deposit... not much but, hey... I'm not proud! I'll take th3 few extra pennies!
Hope this helps. I really posted because there is so little data on US bank on this board so hopefully my data points will help.
Cheers!
Thanks so much for answering those questions in detail. Great Insight!
