What is the best time of year to apply for a credit card?

[Anonymous]

I was thinking about applying for a secured card through Orchard Bank.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I was thinking about applying for a secured card through Orchard Bank.

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* slaps hand to forehead * OK, not Orchard if you can help it, but have you tried the Bank of America site to see if you would qualify for their secured card? There's a lot better chance of being able to graduate to a good card as your scores rise.

However, if you have opted-out of credit offers, it won't come up with anything for you.

[Anonymous]

I have not completed any opt out letters or any CC apps yet. I'm still just trying to get as much advice as I possibly can.

[Anonymous]

I have the FICO discount code. You did say that I can purchase all 3 of my FICO scores at one time on this site right?

[haulingthescoreup]

If you're not worried about identity theft, and you aren't afraid that you will make a plan for your credit recovery but mess it up by app'ing earlier than you had planned, you might want to skip opt-ing out. As long as you don't let it distract you from where you want to be, those CC offers can be a good indicator of how you're doing. And that BofA site is worth checking out. I don't know how low a score they will take for a fully-secured card, but it's a good option.

They have been softing EQ for me. I live in Tennessee. (Sometimes CCC's pull from different CRA's according to where you live.)

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I have the FICO discount code. You did say that I can purchase all 3 of my FICO scores at one time on this site right?

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Yes, they just renamed all their products, but I think it's called "FICO Scoring Complete" now.

Once you get the scores, be sure to go through every screen on all three, and see what they're telling you about your strong points and weak points, and play with the sims on the last screen for EQ and TU.

[ccaddict]

Best time of the year is..............

when your scores are higest