Secured Credit Card Questions

[Anonymous]

mistaritalian I've had my BoA $500/99 secured card since May 06, and have been pretty satisfied with it. I do have a question though. If I change over to an unsecured card, will it turn over to a new account? This is a concern, since my BoA is my longest opened account, and transferring to a new card will destroy my credit length.

Do not apply for a new card, call CSR and ask abt being transferred to an unsecured card, if you've had good account history ( on time payments, no overlimit, late pays) you have a good chance of getting switched over.  BoA keeps the account history on all changed over cards (I know we have an Amex and Plat with them) we have changed several times on both accounts and all history remains just you get a new account number that replaces the old one.  Good Luck Vicki

[Anonymous]

My secured CL was $900 and unsecured $1400.  I should have probably waited to call until I paid my balance in full as it was $300 when I called. Nonetheless they graduated me.

I wish you all of the best in May !

[bott6698]

Well my main goal is to rebuild my credit of course and Nat City does show that they report to all 3 Cra every month so I figured since I bank with them it would be a good one to go with. The annual fee is $36 per year which comes out as $3 per month. I never really thought about graduatiing to an unsecured but that also would be nice. SO BOA offers an unsecured after 1 year even if your credit still hangs around 500? And is it correct on a $250 card I shouldn't spend more than $12.50 since that is 5% utilization?

And  bTW thanks for all the help here I appreciate it

[Anonymous]

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bott6698 wrote:

Well my main goal is to rebuild my credit of course and Nat City does show that they report to all 3 Cra every month so I figured since I bank with them it would be a good one to go with. The annual fee is $36 per year which comes out as $3 per month. I never really thought about graduatiing to an unsecured but that also would be nice. SO BOA offers an unsecured after 1 year even if your credit still hangs around 500? And is it correct on a $250 card I shouldn't spend more than $12.50 since that is 5% utilization?

And  bTW thanks for all the help here I appreciate it

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Just FYI, I doubt BofA will unsecure your card after a year if your scores are around 500 after that time.  Hopefully after 12 months of timely payments, your score will have improved.

Also, you want the card to report utilization of 1-9%, which would mean around $22 maximum on a $250 CL.  That doesn't mean you can't use more than that amount.  It just means that if you use more than that, you will want to make a payment before the card reports its balance to the CRAs, so that it only reports a maximum of 9% utilization.

In order to play this game, you will need to find out at what point in your monthly billing cycle your card reports.  99% of CCs report the statement balance to the CRAs, so for those cards you will need to make sure you never have a balance of more than $22 when the statement cuts.  HSBC (Orchard) is a notable exception, however.  They report the balance to the CRAs on the last business day of the month.  To play the util game with an HSBC card, you need to make sure to pay the balance down to no more than $22 on the 27th-28th or so of each month.  Then don't use the card again until after the 1st of the following month.  Keep in mind that even when you make these additional payments, you still need to make your required minimum payments before the due date so you won't be counted late.

We hear different numbers thrown around for an "ideal" utilization percentage, but it is generally agreed that 1-9% is best.  In most cases, you won't get any more points for letting the card report 1% than you would get for letting it report 9%.

Message Edited by cheddar on 01-28-2008 08:03 PM

[Anonymous]

Hi Bott,

It makes sense to go with NC as you are currently banking with them. That is one of the reasons I lean toward BOA as I have banked with them for the last 17 years.

I don't know about graduating you with scores in the 500's but would hope that your time/efforts toward rebuilding your credit during the time you have the secured card would afford you the opportunity to increase your scores.

I wish you all of the best with obtaining your new cc.

[Geordi]

Hi busywoman,

I was hoping that the graduation would be automatic. If I have to call and remind them, I may call in March

[Anonymous]

Hi Geordi,

They may do it automatically or you may need to call them. I took the "bull by the horns" and called BOA because it didn't happen automatically with them.    I'm sure that each individual situation is different but I had it on my calendar just in case I didn't see graduated after 1 year.

[bott6698]

if you don't mind busywoman what may I ask was your fico when you started a secure card and how much did it change after one year?

[Anonymous]

Hi Bott,

It is difficult to say because I was absolutely clueless about my FICO scores in Nov 2006 when I got this card.

I assume that they were worse than when I started monitoring in Jul 2007.  My scores are in my siggy below and I was graduated to unsecured in Nov 2007. 

I wish I could be more helpful about my previous scores by I have to be truthful in that I really don't have a clue !!!