Capital One Secured

[Anonymous]

Hi

Question: Would my score be negatively impacted if I use more than 30% utilization, even if I pay it in full before the due date?

Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hi

Question: Would my score be negatively impacted if I use more than 30% utilization, even if I pay it in full before the due date?

Thanks for your help!

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Your score is only impacted by what is sent to the bureaus from your creditors, so depending on when they send your balance, typically when your statement is cut, normal mid-cycle usage is not reported. 

You may want to ask your lender specifically.

[Anonymous]

Ok cool. Thank you.

I had a card with them before, and would always PIF every month, but since I was young and dumb - I never checked my credit score to see how it was affected.

Called their customer service last week, and the representative wasn't very knowledgeable. Going to try again today.

[Anonymous]

I have the cap one secured. I have had 3 statements cut and they appear to only report the day after the statement cuts.

I use around 80% and PIF before due date then wait for it to report before using again. The 0 balance on statement is all that ever reports.

Hope that helps in addition to lowkeyorcas post.

[Anonymous]

Hey greatnowwhat-

Thanks for the info. So from what you're saying - always PIF before each due date and wait to use it again until after it reports to the CRA's.

Has that increased your CS or has it stayed the same?

[rmduhon]

Usage and utilization are 2 different things. You can run the card all the way to the limit and pay it every week and not have it affect utilization as long as the statement balance is low.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my score has been rising consistently, i had quite a rise a few months ago due to the fact i had a thin file and a very low score.  Now that i have some positive history for a few months it has slowed down to 5-10 point increases. 

to put into different words what rmduhon stated:

Utilization - To maximize your score, i believe you should let between 1% and 9% total utilization report to the CRA. 

Usage - use as much as you need to and make sure to pay at least the minimum before the due date.  When capital one reports the balance at statement cut, that balance will be used to calculate utilization %.

Hope i didn't overkill the explanation, just trying to be helpful.

[A1Credit]

I don't mean to hijack your thread @bluesky30 but can someonoe tell me the benefits of a secured card and why one may go with this type of card aside from trying to get a regular unsecured card?  I understand that it is for rebuilding purposes but is this method used when you are having difficulty obtaining an unsecured card?  Sorry again @bluesky30

[Anonymous]

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@A1Credit wrote:

@I don't mean to hijack your thread @Anonymous but can someonoe tell me the benefits of a secured card and why one may go with this type of card aside from trying to get a regular unsecured card?  I understand that it is for rebuilding purposes but is this method used when you are having difficulty obtaining an unsecured card?  Sorry again @Anonymous

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Yes, it's the best method of getting a credit card if your credit is poor enough that you'd have difficulty at that point getting an unsecured card. The idea is that you put your deposit in (put in as much as possible so that your SL is as high as possible) and then establish a history of responsible use, keeping your overall utilization as low as you can, making on-time and over-minimum payments every month (it's particularly good if you can pay your balances in full), so that within several months to a year, depending on how these and other factors affect your credit scores, you'll be able to apply for unsecured cards without undue risk of getting denied.

[A1Credit]

Thank you @joe8185 for that detailed explanation.  I may try for one of those as well.  Do you recommend a specific unsecured card?  Discover, Capital One, Chase?