Help! Can't even get secured card

[Anonymous]

So my credit is in the toilet.   It wasn't that way a couple years ago.   We brought family into our home to help them out, but they stayed longer than expected.  During that time we began to struggle financially, and now it's completely ruined our credit so we have to start over.   I just found out that my last CC was cancelled in June even though I've been in contact with the issuer to let them know of our difficulties, paid what I could even though it wasn't the minimum and had plans to get caught up in the very near future.  So now I have nothing and can't even qualify for a secured card.   I will soon have the money to pay everything off, but that leaves me without a CC which I need in the next couple of months for travel.   Any suggestions?

[FinStar]

Hi @Anonymous, welcome to the myFICO forums.

I have moved your thread to the Rebuilding Your Credit section for better exposure to your question.

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So my credit is in the toilet.   It wasn't that way a couple years ago.   We brought family into our home to help them out, but they stayed longer than expected.  During that time we began to struggle financially, and now it's completely ruined our credit so we have to start over.   I just found out that my last CC was cancelled in June even though I've been in contact with the issuer to let them know of our difficulties, paid what I could even though it wasn't the minimum and had plans to get caught up in the very near future.  So now I have nothing and can't even qualify for a secured card.   I will soon have the money to pay everything off, but that leaves me without a CC which I need in the next couple of months for travel.   Any suggestions?

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Open sky does not perform credit check, so you may want to try that if your travel is within USA

If you're talking about international travel, you'd want a card without FTF, and that will be tricky. I do not think that secured Disco and Platinum have FTF, but I could be wrong. 

If you're still working on raising money to pay off debt, this may not be the best time to put money into security deposits. You'd be creating one problem while trying to solve another 

In any case, good luck 

[Medic981]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So my credit is in the toilet.   It wasn't that way a couple years ago.   We brought family into our home to help them out, but they stayed longer than expected.  During that time we began to struggle financially, and now it's completely ruined our credit so we have to start over.   I just found out that my last CC was cancelled in June even though I've been in contact with the issuer to let them know of our difficulties, paid what I could even though it wasn't the minimum and had plans to get caught up in the very near future.  So now I have nothing and can't even qualify for a secured card.   I will soon have the money to pay everything off, but that leaves me without a CC which I need in the next couple of months for travel.   Any suggestions?

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What secured CCs have you applied for and been denied?

[Anonymous]

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@Remedios wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

So my credit is in the toilet.   It wasn't that way a couple years ago.   We brought family into our home to help them out, but they stayed longer than expected.  During that time we began to struggle financially, and now it's completely ruined our credit so we have to start over.   I just found out that my last CC was cancelled in June even though I've been in contact with the issuer to let them know of our difficulties, paid what I could even though it wasn't the minimum and had plans to get caught up in the very near future.  So now I have nothing and can't even qualify for a secured card.   I will soon have the money to pay everything off, but that leaves me without a CC which I need in the next couple of months for travel.   Any suggestions?

---

Open sky does not perform credit check, so you may want to try that if your travel is within USA

If you're talking about international travel, you'd want a card without FTF, and that will be tricky. I do not think that secured Disco and Platinum have FTF, but I could be wrong. 

If you're still working on raising money to pay off debt, this may not be the best time to put money into security deposits. You'd be creating one problem while trying to solve another 

In any case, good luck 

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What is FTF?  

I'll be traveling to Mexico and just need a card for check in.   BTW, I've sold my house, so all my debt will have been paid off in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Does open sky work like a regular credit card?  

[FireMedic1]

Post retracted due to no mention of selling house and paying all debts before travel in original post. Enjoy your trip!

[Medic981]

OpenSky Visa is a secured CC that doesn't require a credit check. 

FTF is a foreign transaction fee which you would incur in Mexico if the card charges them.

OpenSky doesn’t pull your credit — there is no credit check. You can get approved for an OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card whether you have poor credit or no credit. The card is designed to help build a credit history with its monthly reporting to all three major credit bureaus. As a secured card, it does require a security deposit.  

[KJinNC]

Secured cards do work like normal credit cards in the sense that you can use them to pay for stuff using the Visa, MasterCard or Discover network, whichever that particular card uses. Store cards can also be secured, but only work within that store, so that wouldn't really be applicable for travel.

Open Sky should do what you need, as long as you can deposit enough for the limit to be usable for you. With most secured cards, your deposit = your credit limit, and that is true with Open Sky.

Someone else asked, and I'm also curious, what secured cards you've been denied for. Hope this thread helps!

[Anonymous]

I did get approved for the Citi secured, but I put a low initial deposit, thinking I could increase it, but I've been told that's not possible, so that will be of no use to me after all.

Disc turned me down.