Question: Exchanging Secure Cards for Higher Limit Unsecured Cards?

[Dj4Money]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Have you tried the Cap1 pre-qualification site yet?  You can only have two rebuilders but I would check to see if you are pre-qualified for one of their prime cards.  Cap1 defines excellent credit VERY differently than most everyone else.  You might be surprised since you've been building positive payment history with them.  I'd check it out, the only thing you waste is your time, the pre-qualification is a SP, you only get the HP if you actually apply.

Good luck!

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 I found the pre-qualify link on another site. It came back without a match.

 I think a major factor is the high balances carried on both cards -

 $136 free of $2,000 and $.57 of $529

 That's why I said paying off the one card decreases my utilization currently at about 93%

 It sounds like an issue but it isn't. The each balance under $700 I can wipe out in one week. 

 
 If I wasn't going on my trip I could do this and actually that was the plan, when I returned in late Feb I would systematically pay off each of the smaller cards and it would take about three months to pay down the $2,000 to about $328 or 8% of total utilization.

[Anonymous]

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@Dj4Money wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Dj4Money wrote:

  I have a Capital One Platinum Secure Card and a SDFC Rewards Secured Card.

 As somebody said in some thread called Toy Limits, these small limits are hampering me. 

 For 2016, I will be re-focusing on my DJ business and will need to make some equipment investments. I rather not get a store card but it wouldn't be a bad thing since Sam Ash and Guitar Center will price match prices found on legitimate websites.

 That said, I just rather use my regular credit  cards and just have bigger balances.

 I can start to pay off and close my Capital One card starting on Wed (1/6) but that is dipping into my cash reserves for my trip to Brazil. $400 is unsecured, so $129 will be returned to me. If it takes exactly 30 days for my closed card to register, it I won't be able to apply for the new card until Feb 6th. I leave for Brazil Feb 4th. Not that I can't do it from my laptop but I rather have the card ready to go before I left.

  Another way I guess would be to keep that card open, just pay it off. It won't hit until Jan statements closed around the 25th of the month. As soon as that happens I could apply for the card.

 If approved I would get in about 10 business days. 10 Days from the 25th would be Feb 5th but since the mail goes on Saturday, it's possible I could get it the day I leave, maybe before.

 Is this worth doing? What I mean is that if I pay-off and keep open or close this account, applied for the new unsecured card would Capital One start me off with $500 limit or do you think it would be closer to $1,000?

  One reason I can see them not giving me a higher inital limit is my score which is being beaten down by high utilization. The Merrick card I was pre-approved for add $700 of available credit. In the short amount of time I can pay my UTL down to about 30%. But the plan was to pay them down to 9% for when the repo comes off between May and August, my score should hit 680-690 with the only negative remaining the charged-off First Premier card.

 However if I use that cash, I need the credit back for my trip.

 Is it worth doing now or should I just wait?

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You will be able to apply for an unsecured Cap One card the very next day after closing the secured card - assuming there is a $0 balance. There is no thirty days to wait.

Hard to say what they may start you off at - do you know your EQ FICO Score 5?

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 My FICO 8 according to Experian is 649, I can pull my scores here to be sure.

 I have enough cash to pay off the Cap One secured card.

 Does Capital One treat them as seperate accounts or one account? 

 Like I said I didn't want to pay-off the card and then only get $500 in return, even $750 would be a disappointment of sorts.

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Hard to say what they would start it off at. After I combined my cards last August, I apped for another Platinum and they started me out at $500 with mostly sub-600 scores.

[itsnew]

Is there a reason why you can't apply for cap one unsecured while you have the secured card?

[gdale6]

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@itsnew wrote:
Is there a reason why you can't apply for cap one unsecured while you have the secured card?

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No, but they do limit the number of rebuilder cards you can have to 2.