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jason0618
Frequent Contributor

Discover secured card

Hi,

 

So long story short..  I messed up my credit recently.  Made some co-signing errors in judgment, and tanked my score down to a 472 FICO currently.  It's ugly.  That said, I'm wanting to start my rebuilding ASAP.  I had no inquiries on my reports, and so I apped over the weekend for a Discover secured card.  I had a Discover card before, and closed it in good standing.  Anyway, apped for it and instant approval.  

Just trying to see what my best course of action is now.  It's been a while since I've been in the "building" stage.  

I just set it up with a $200 limit.  Should I keep that, or increase it?  Second secured card?  I know with a 472 score, this approval, secured or not, was probably about 100% based on my previous experience with Discover.  I expected a denial, to be honest.  

 

I remember there used to be talk about getting a secured Discover to convert to the kind with the 5% rotating cash back, but now the site just says 2% flat.  Is that still an option, or is the 2% what I get?  

 

Thanks for any and all advice.

Scores as of 04/2021





Gardening until further notice
Message 1 of 14
13 REPLIES 13
ItsCASHual
Regular Contributor

Re: Discover secured card

Have you started to address any of the baddies from the fallout?

 

It is said that $200 on secured card is fine. You don't extra FICO points for having any higher of a limit. It's all about the care of the accounts you do have such as paying on time, keeping utilization low, etc.

 

Good luck in your rebuilding. We have all been there in some way, shape or form.

FICO 8

Message 2 of 14
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Discover secured card

Congrats on your determination to recover. The secured is like their chrome card. With FICO its doesnt matter how high the SL is. Its whats reported each month. With one card. Use it and PIF each month. In time it will graduate. The main thing is fixing whats broken first so you can get better things down the road. Sorry about the co-signing thing. Seen it too many times on here. The co-signer always gets the raw deal out of it. But the secured for now will help. Work on the baddies for now.


Message 3 of 14
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Discover secured card

BTW. If you can list the baddies. We may be able to guide you in eliminating them.


Message 4 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover secured card


@jason0618 wrote:

Hi,

 

So long story short..  I messed up my credit recently.  Made some co-signing errors in judgment, and tanked my score down to a 472 FICO currently.  It's ugly.  That said, I'm wanting to start my rebuilding ASAP.  I had no inquiries on my reports, and so I apped over the weekend for a Discover secured card.  I had a Discover card before, and closed it in good standing.  Anyway, apped for it and instant approval.  

Just trying to see what my best course of action is now.  It's been a while since I've been in the "building" stage.  

I just set it up with a $200 limit.  Should I keep that, or increase it?  Second secured card?  I know with a 472 score, this approval, secured or not, was probably about 100% based on my previous experience with Discover.  I expected a denial, to be honest.  

 

I remember there used to be talk about getting a secured Discover to convert to the kind with the 5% rotating cash back, but now the site just says 2% flat.  Is that still an option, or is the 2% what I get?  

 

Thanks for any and all advice.


Congrats on starting the rebuild! To answer your question, you can call them after your first statement and be switched to the 5% revolving categories.  

Message 5 of 14
Rebuild2019
Valued Contributor

Re: Discover secured card

I would also get an Open Sky Card. I have one and all the negatives you may read are wrong. No issues with payment. Called twice when I was first approved and no issues. They religiously report to all 3 CA on time. They did not do a hard pull so I was happy about that. They don’t graduate, but excellent for rebuilding. Good luck on your rebuild.

https://www.openskycc.com/

CARDS: Discover It | Kohl’s | Truist Spectrum Cash Rewards | Truist Bright | CITI Custom Cash | Chase Freedom Flex | Chase Amazon Prime Visa | VACU Cash Rewards Mastercard | Sam’s Club Mastercard | PenFed Gold Visa | NFCU CashRewards | NFCU More Rewards | NFCU Platinum Visa | AMEX BCE | Verizon Visa | Wells Fargo Active Cash | Amazon Prime | NFCU Auto Loan
Starting Scores 05/2019: EQ:519, EX:525, TU:574

CLOSED : Capital One Quicksilver One | OpenSky |
Message 6 of 14
jason0618
Frequent Contributor

Re: Discover secured card

Thanks,

 

So, I cosigned for a car lease.  I knew nothing was out of the ordinary until the car was repossessed out of my driveway in the middle of the night.  I paid $2300 to redeem it and I've been making the payments on it since then and just being paid directly every month, but the damage is done.  GM Financial, 30,60,90 day lates, and it's at least reporting pays as agrees now, but it does reflect RP back in June.  

My other baddies aren't too bad in comparison...

 

1 charged off cell phone bill for $1700 from Verizon (this one is all in my name because I didn't have to pay a security deposit for it, and its two iphones.  My employer pays for mine, so I never noticed service interruptions, etc.)

1 collection from Caine and Weiner for $160 for an old insurance bill.  It's like $160.  

1 collection for $350.  No idea what it is.  They won't give me info, but they verified it when I disputed.  

1 30 day late with Volkswagen Credit.  That's mine.  No excuses.  I pushed the envelope on paying it late, and got it just after 30 days.

1 charged off capital one (Cabelas) credit card.  $4300 on it.  They sued, it got dismissed, they offered to settle for $2500, but wouldn't put anything in writing, so now its just kinda sitting..  It's with Portfolio Recovery..

 

 

Scores as of 04/2021





Gardening until further notice
Message 7 of 14
jason0618
Frequent Contributor

Re: Discover secured card

I'll look at that one. I bank with Wells Fargo, and I know they offer a secured card. I'd thought about applying for that one and just using a chunk of savings..
Scores as of 04/2021





Gardening until further notice
Message 8 of 14
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Discover secured card


@jason0618 wrote:

Thanks,

 

So, I cosigned for a car lease.  I knew nothing was out of the ordinary until the car was repossessed out of my driveway in the middle of the night.  I paid $2300 to redeem it and I've been making the payments on it since then and just being paid directly every month, but the damage is done.  GM Financial, 30,60,90 day lates, and it's at least reporting pays as agrees now, but it does reflect RP back in June.  

My other baddies aren't too bad in comparison...

 

1 charged off cell phone bill for $1700 from Verizon (this one is all in my name because I didn't have to pay a security deposit for it, and its two iphones.  My employer pays for mine, so I never noticed service interruptions, etc.)

1 collection from Caine and Weiner for $160 for an old insurance bill.  It's like $160.  

1 collection for $350.  No idea what it is.  They won't give me info, but they verified it when I disputed.  

1 30 day late with Volkswagen Credit.  That's mine.  No excuses.  I pushed the envelope on paying it late, and got it just after 30 days.

1 charged off capital one (Cabelas) credit card.  $4300 on it.  They sued, it got dismissed, they offered to settle for $2500, but wouldn't put anything in writing, so now its just kinda sitting..  It's with Portfolio Recovery..

 

 


Before applying for anything else. Take that "chunk of savings" and pay these collections off so they quit updating and start to fall off and age. I'd pay the Portfolio quickly because they will delete the account off your reports once done. Its their policy. If you have the address of the CA who wont give you any info. Send them a certified letter demanding who are they collecting for and if they own the debt. If they dont respond to you can contact the CFPB and file a complaint.


Message 9 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover secured card

To add to what @FireMedic1 said just above, send that letter CMRRR so you have proof they received it. You’ll need that if you dispute with the CFPB to have the collection removed from your reports. Otherwise they can just come back with “what letter?”
Message 10 of 14
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