Secured card below Cap One but above Open Sky?

[Anonymous]

I plan to open an Open Sky secured card and wish to add one more secured card. Discover and Cap One are not approving me. I feel the other big banks like Citi will likely deny me as well. CUs are a no go as I've already had a bad taste of them doing a HP to open a checking account plus some CUs wanting 120% deposit for a $500 credit limit, so $600 total deposit, no thanks!

My FICO is 515. Thoughts? Do I just stick with Open Sky and wait for my score to improve while also taking care of my baddies? I also have Credit One that I opened last month. I personally like Credit One as they do offer CLIs so the card grows while you rebuild.

Thanks!

[FireMedic1]

I'd stick with the 2 cards and let them grow for now. Without listing what your derogs are. After a year then hit Cap1 or Disco and you may have enough good history to get approved for unsecured by then. You also can list your derogs and see what the forum can do to help rid yourself from them. Welcome to the forum.

[Anonymous]

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

I'd stick with the 2 cards and let them grow for now. Without listing what your derogs are. After a year then hit Cap1 or Disco and you may have enough good history to get approved for unsecured by then. You also can list your derogs and see what the forum can do to help rid yourself from them. Welcome to the forum.

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Thanks. Quick question about baddies. I haven't made a list of everything myself as I haven't had the resources to tackle them.

I have a Disco CO that I got notice months ago that I was being sued. I have to look at the document again as it appears to be court papers but it doesn't say if a judgment was issued in favor of Disco. I never showed to any hearing if there was ever one. I may have received settlement letters from Disco prior to being sued but I had no way of paying anything at that time.

Now I recently got a settlement letter (35% settlement offer) for a car loan where the car was repoed and there was a balance left over. The Disco amount of the lawsuit and the car loan balance are nearly identical.

What are my options here? Should I look further into the Disco lawsuit and see if I can settle with them before any further legal action is taken and take care of the car loan later? From a CR and FICO point of view, is there any difference between settling the car loan or the Disco CO one before the other?

[simplegirl]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I plan to open an Open Sky secured card and wish to add one more secured card. Discover and Cap One are not approving me. I feel the other big banks like Citi will likely deny me as well. CUs are a no go as I've already had a bad taste of them doing a HP to open a checking account plus some CUs wanting 120% deposit for a $500 credit limit, so $600 total deposit, no thanks!

My FICO is 515. Thoughts? Do I just stick with Open Sky and wait for my score to improve while also taking care of my baddies? I also have Credit One that I opened last month. I personally like Credit One as they do offer CLIs so the card grows while you rebuild.

Thanks!

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Citi approved me instantly at a 494 credit score and I had/have open charge offs including capital one and discover and 8 collection accounts and repossession with no positive accounts at the time that I applied for them.

[calyx]

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@simplegirl wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I plan to open an Open Sky secured card and wish to add one more secured card. Discover and Cap One are not approving me. I feel the other big banks like Citi will likely deny me as well. CUs are a no go as I've already had a bad taste of them doing a HP to open a checking account plus some CUs wanting 120% deposit for a $500 credit limit, so $600 total deposit, no thanks!

My FICO is 515. Thoughts? Do I just stick with Open Sky and wait for my score to improve while also taking care of my baddies? I also have Credit One that I opened last month. I personally like Credit One as they do offer CLIs so the card grows while you rebuild.

Thanks!

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Citi approved me instantly at a 494 credit score and I had/have open charge offs including capital one and discover and 8 collection accounts and repossession with no positive accounts at the time that I applied for them.

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I was going to suggest you try Citi.  My scores weren't so low, but I've read a lot of reviews where they approve for really low scores/dirty reports.   Just note that their typical graduation timeline is 18months, so don't count on a quick graduation.   And you cannot add any funds after the initial deposit, so give them what you can.   The upside (I think) is that the graduated card is the Diamond Preferred, which can be product changed.

[Anonymous]

Green Dot Platinum (which is what I have) is about on the same level as OpenSky. It doesn't require a hard pull and no credit check. They've been good to me so far, no worries. I've since been able to get some store cards when my score went up to the low 600s. (And then later, an unsecured Discover.)

If you can actually get a Citi secured card, I'd definitely try for that, though. Green Dot, like OpenSky, never graduates.

[Anonymous]

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@calyx wrote:

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@simplegirl wrote:

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Citi approved me instantly at a 494 credit score and I had/have open charge offs including capital one and discover and 8 collection accounts and repossession with no positive accounts at the time that I applied for them.

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I was going to suggest you try Citi.  My scores weren't so low, but I've read a lot of reviews where they approve for really low scores/dirty reports.   Just note that their typical graduation timeline is 18months, so don't count on a quick graduation.   And you cannot add any funds after the initial deposit, so give them what you can.   The upside (I think) is that the graduated card is the Diamond Preferred, which can be product changed.

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Wow! I may have a fighting chance with Citi. Did either of you bank with Citi at the time of approval? Would it be a good idea to open a bank account with Citi prior to apping?

What credit bureaus does Citi pull for secured app?

[simplegirl]

They pulled my Experian and that was the very first product I have ever gotten with Citi and I applied to build a relationship with them.

[calyx]

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@simplegirl wrote:
They pulled my Experian and that was the very first product I have ever gotten with Citi and I applied to build a relationship with them.

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They double pulled me (EX & EQ) and it was also my first product - I applied to build a relationship as well.

[KJinNC]

I am new to building/rebuilding, so my comments should be taken as second opinion, not expert advice. I agree with trying for Citi. My situation is different than yours, but it was the first "name-brand bank" secured card to approve me. I give my Citi card credit (no pun intended) for helping me a lot early on, and I will be loyal to Citi as a result. A month later, I did get approved for Discover secured on my third try.

Otherwise, you should probably stand pat and let things build a while. Citi would be your third card, and everyone says three is enough at this stage.

If interested and it fits your budget, you can take out a Self Lender secured loan (you don't actually get money you can spend), and create a $5,000 My Jeweler Club account. MJC will cost $150 up front and then at least $50 more for some costume jewelry and, more importantly, a year of reporting a $5,000 limit on all three reports. Self Lender will cost $15 up front plus $48/month for a year (or a lesser monthly amount for two years), but at the end of the year, you get most of it back. They put the money you "borrow" in a CD for you and they release it to you after you have repaid the loan. It ends up costing you about $75 when it's all tallied up. The reason to do this is that it will show a positive installment loan on all three bureaus.

Main thing to work on in your case, though, is derogatory items IMO. Good luck!