secured credit card question

[noochski]

I currently have a secured BofA credit card with a very low available line of credit. I was thinking about requesting a credit increase and was wondering what the impact would be on my credit score. Will the increase in avaiable credit improve look better or will it have a negative effect?

[injustifiiable]

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@noochski wrote:

I currently have a secured BofA credit card with a very low available line of credit. I was thinking about requesting a credit increase and was wondering what the impact would be on my credit score. Will the increase in avaiable credit improve look better or will it have a negative effect?

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Well, if it's a secured card, you'd have to fund the CLI yourself, tho...the increase would look better in regards to utilization but only if the utilization is low to begin with. It'd be easier to help you if you told us the limit and the current balance.

[noochski]

Fully secured card with a $300.00 limit. I started with that low of an amount because that's really all I could afford to put aside at the time. The card currently has a balance of $120.00 dollars on it. I've only had it for 2 months and got it to help rebuild my credit. Do you think it's too early to ask for an increase or do I just need enough money to secure it?

[injustifiiable]

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@noochski wrote:

Fully secured card with a $300.00 limit. I started with that low of an amount because that's really all I could afford to put aside at the time. The card currently has a balance of $120.00 dollars on it. I've only had it for 2 months and got it to help rebuild my credit. Do you think it's too early to ask for an increase or do I just need enough money to secure it?

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Well if it's fully secured, they are probably not going to do an unsecured CLI on it (CapOne's Secured card is the only secured card known to give unsecured CLI's from time to time). If you have the extra cash, I'd just add to it.

If you treat the card well, it'll unsecure by month 13 and you'd get the deposit back anyway. People have reported also getting a decent CLI at that point once it graduated.

[noochski]

I have extra money to secure a higher limit. I was going to at least request an additional $300.00 limit, even though I don't plan to have a balance above $150.00

[Revelate]

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@noochski wrote:

I have extra money to secure a higher limit. I was going to at least request an additional $300.00 limit, even though I don't plan to have a balance above $150.00

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Talk to a CSR, I've seen people on this forum with a partially secured BOFA up to $500, you may be able to get that as well.

[OhioCPA]

As stated above, a BOA secured card should unsecure after a year. If you increase your CL by depositing more money you likely will be restarting the twelve month period for the card to unsecure and incurring a HP. Thus, if you want to add to your deposit, do it sooner than later. You can always call a CSR and confirm if this is applicable to your account.

When the card does unsecure many people have seen their initial unsecured limits increased to $1,000.

[Anonymous]

I started my boa secured card with $1000 and after 12 mos and calling in and unsecuring it, they left it at 1k and didn't give me a CLI. They told me they only usually increase to 1k if you have a 500 Or so CL. When It unsecured I made a post about it and someone else also made a similar post in which they were told the same thing about the CL

[noochski]

Sorry in advance for this question. . . What's do you mean by "incurring an HP"? What's an HP?

[Anonymous]

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@noochski wrote:

Sorry in advance for this question. . . What's do you mean by "incurring an HP"? What's an HP?

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I forgive you. HP = hard pull/inquiry. You get a slight ding on your credit score when you incur an HP.