Which Secured Card for Hight DTI?

[Anonymous]

Hi! I'm rebuilding. I applied for the NFCU secured card and was immediately denied.  The reason is high DTI. The only debt owed, which is very high, is one student loan. Significantly lowering my student loan any time soon is impossible. I have no other open accounts. My middle FICO 8 is 600. Which banks DO NOT take into account student loans into DTI? Also, any way to push back with NFCU? 

[Anonymous]

OpenSky secured or Green Dot platinum secured do not do a credit check and should approve you. In any case, you won't get a hard inquiry if you apply. They both have an annual fee and don't "graduate" but they will do the job. Green Dot really helped me when I first started.

[Anonymous]

I have 19k and some change default right now, think three are over 100%+. My scores according to multiple sites range from 554 to 596. I had a discover saving account I was paying my student loans with. I had % of my check going into it for auto pay and something some how some where I screw up or my company screwed up, they DD was not going in but the student loans were coming out to the tune of 800$ and some change. I work on a boats in alaska so by the time I noticed it Discover closed the account. This was 2017ish, I applied for a Discover secured card and was approved. I never paid the 800 or ever even heard about it.

[FireMedic1]

Welcome @Anonymous 

Agree with @Anonymous . You have to start somewhere to kick start a credit file. You could also try TD Bank, BoA, Wells Fargo, and Citi. You just need 1 to get things rolling. Then go with 2 then 3. I'd go as far to say Cap1 pre-qual for the Plat. If offered the secured which doesnt graduate. Hey its a foot in the door. Then grow from there. No loans. Your student loans cover that part of the FICO credit mix. Good Luck !

[Red1Blue]

If you are looking for secured card with out credit check or hard inquiry. OpenSky is a good card. There is an annual fee. Other option is to try Affinity Federal Credit Union ( New Jersey ) Secured card. They do not do credit check. There is no annual fees or any other fees. Your deposit earns interest. Those two are best options with your credit check or decline.

[KJinNC]

The first secured card I was approved for was Citi. However, I didn't have the DTI issue. My scores were probably similar to yours for different reasons. As others have said, right now, you just need ONE thing to start getting traction. Open Sky is the most obvious choice, but as an alternate or additional idea, you could do a Self Lender secured personal loan. They "loan" you $500 and put it in a CD "for you". You then pay back the "loan" each month. After 12 or 24 months depending what you selected, you have "repaid" the "loan" and they release the CD to you. In budget terms, it's like a savings account with a negative earning percentage (you lose around 10%), but in credit terms, it's the same as an auto loan. Once you reach a certain point as far as "repaying" the "loan," they also offer a no-credit-check secured Visa. That Visa probably isn't actually very useful for buying stuff, but it's another tool for building credit.

Either way, once you have 2-3 months of positive history with basically anything, you may be able to move up a notch to stuff like Discover secured (the Rolls Royce of secured cards). Good luck and I look forward to reading about your 2020 success story next year!

[Anonymous]

I started off far worse than you. I had 17 defaulted student loans, a $235 Xfinity(Comcast) collection and a $2015.00 Medical collection and in June 2018 my FICO score was a pathetic 443.

After reading a thousands of messge/community boards posts, watching a ton of YouTube videos on rebuilding credit and securd cards, I applied for the BIG Three (Capital One, Cit and Discover).  I was declined for all three, so I applied for the Bank of America Cash Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard and after verifying my address, I was approved for up to $1000, but I settled for the minimum of $300, because i knew I was going to get more secured credit cards. 

During that same week, I applied for the USAA AMEX and was instantly approved. Then, about a month later I gave Capital One, Citi and Discover another shot. I was approved for the Capital One and Cit, but for some ungodly reason Discover, even to this day, refuses to allow me to obtain their Discover it secured, even after managing my other secured credit cards "PERFECTLY." 

I almost forgot, during that time, I was also approved for the TD Bank Cash Rewards Secured Visa, so Bank of America and TD Bank are my only two secured credit cards that gives me cash back for everyday purchases, with BOA even giving me a $150 Sign-Up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days.

I mentioned Bank of America and TD Bank for a reason, since you are on the long road to repairing your credit, you might as well choose secured cards that make it worth your while to have them, and a cash back secured credit card is an exceptional option.

Also, I can't believe this wasn't already advised, but I would try your local/regional credit unions. Also, there are numerous credit unions from around the country that would allow you to establish a relationship with them with via other small requiremnets.

Now, I agree OpenSky is a great option, "IF" you can't get your feet in the door with the cards I've mentioned, because outside of the USAA Secured AMEX, each of the cards, I've listed graduates to an unsecured card over time.

But personally I would stay clear of Green Dot's Platinum Secured Visa, as there are numerous reports of people not being able to get their deposits back and there is no customer service to help, just an automative system. I'm telling you this from experience ,as I applied for theis card, because it didn't pull your credit, and trust me, I got the card in less than five business days, why? Because they won't you to load your deposit amount immediately, so they could hit you with that annual fee and I was going to do so. But, when I tried for over three weeks to speak to a "LIVE"(human) CSR, due to several questions, I was never able to do so, so I refused to activate the card by loading my deposit on the card and the card was canceled after 90 days, because if the card isn't activated in 90 days, they cancel it.

Plus, due to the fact that I never activated the card by funding my deposit, the card never showed up on my credit.

I said all that to say this, once you start to research secured cards, 95% of the recommendations are going to be Discover, Citi and Capital One, but due to heavy research, I was able to find out about the Bank of America Cash Rewards Platinum Plus Rewards Secured Mastercard and the TD Bank Cash rewards Visa, both of which I obtained "BEFORE" there was even a YouTube video about them.

Finally, outside of the Green Dot Platinum Secured Visa, you have recieved some great advice, but I'm truly dumbfounded that nobody, not one person, advised you to visit your local credit unions.

Again, it's all about the "RESEARCH!" I've spent hours online, in chats, communities boards, visiting banks and credit unions and more and I'm extremely happy with my secured credit cards and since June 2018 when my FICO was 443, it has increased to FICO 613 and counting.

p.s. Be careful, when your score starts to improve, the credit bureaus will flood you with offers from unsecured, predatory lender(fee harvestors) stay away from them. Yet, you will see decent offers from Avant, Mission Lane and Merrick Bank, Mission Lane and Merrick Bank will double your starting limit with proper management six to seven months later, but even they will send you offers with an annual fee, just ignore the first month or so of offers from them and they'd eventually send you the same offer or better, but this time "without" an annual fee.

Good luck and join the marathon, friend!