We are trying to boost our scores as much as possible. Since we need to add positives should we get several secured cards or just one and try to get others unsecured? Does it matter if they are all secured? I am not sure at this point what we can get other than secured cards. Do they put an inquiry on your report when you apply for secured cards? I got an offer from First National Bank of Marin and I am planning on applying for FCNB secured and more. My husband got an offer from First National Credit Card that is unsecured but it does not say it is preapproved so I am not sure if it means he will get it for sure or not. We have bank accounts with Wells Fargo Bank and US Bank both of which offer secured cards. Which ones would you suggest we go with? If we got them all would that be too much at one time? Would our scores initially go down due to too much new credit? But then would it help after 6 months of on time payments? Thanks in advance for your advice!
You are the MAN!!!!!!! I am waiting on my credit reports and I am going to dispute everything! Lizard, I am not worthy!!!(Bowing Down to The Credit Repair God!!!)
Lizard, I keep telling you guys I am at work reading this, I have posted from home also. I am not trying to sting anyone, LOL! Just trying to improve my credit score. Please overlook my IP, LOL!
To answer your question Lizardking....I only have one positive line (dept. store card) and my husband has 1 credit card (First Premier) and a new car loan. So from your post I am understanding that you would go with secure cards rather than the offers from First National Credit Card and First National Bank of Merin. Is that correct?
Shelby...sorry! Sorry it took so long for me to respond to your question. I strongly have the following advice for you. I kind of said this in my first post but I will reiterate. 1) Get as many tradelines as you can in about 1 month. In your case with your scores honestly that will limit you to secured cards. You can not afford denials so I suggest the following banks. a)FCNB(First Consumers National Bank). You can get 2 accounts with them pretty easily, a visa and a mastercard with low deposits and they offer usually 1.5 x the deposit as the initial credit limit. Dont worry about how secured cards are reported. b)FNBM (First National Bank of Marin). They charge a monthly fee of $6 but it is worth it for the tradeline. I had them for 1 year and cancelled. c) Capital One secured visa. They will usually give you a $200 credit limit for a deposit of $199. Your course of FNB is ok but I have never dealt with them. I disagree with lizardking that 2 tradelines will boost your score significantly. I think that they only way you can get the scores you want is to have many tradelines (about 5) and then delete negatives. YOu see when the negatives are gone your score jumps b/c it looks like wow, you have many trades in good standing for several months and you dont have negatives. It accomplishes a reversal on your credit score. Dont worry about inquiries. My story proves that they count very little after several months (about 6). roni
YOu recall incorrectly. lizard Not at all Lizard....didn't you read my long melodrama..lol I started with FNBM(4/99) and CAp1 secured (11/99) b/c I didnot know any better and didnot have the advice of this board. I didnot know of any other banks and took their secured offers because they contacted me with me being on the shitty credit list. I have never gotten a preapproval in my life, Lizardking. I applied for Providian, Chase, Citibank, etc.etc. online on my own from reading about what the credit each bank looks for. I applied for Citibank on a whelm and started some real "mess" at this site. Review the board in 9/00 to find out that story.......ugh! But, to answer your question. I was never given any preapprovals. Now, I got one bogus solicitation from Citibank about a platinum select but I didnot get that card anyway i got a advantage card which I found hunting their website for an easy card. It worked! roni
Re: YOu recall incorrectly. li Roni, with the chase card did you have alot of inquires at the time. Thats what is killing me.In process of disputing them.thanks
Shelby. The wells fargo secured mastercard was my first credit card. I decided to start out with them, since I already had a checking account. They do report it as a regular card(not secured). The only problem is that they are very slow on reporting to the cra's, once every three months. The apr is pretty high and they have a annual fee of $35.00. There aren't any other processing charges. Customer support is pretty good. Hope this helps
I agree w/ lizard, 2 tradelines should be enough if you keep your debt ratio low. I also agree w/ roni's refernces for secured cards: Capital One and FCNB are good. However, avoid FNB of Marin - they have a very bad rep, and a $6 monthly fee is OUTRAGEOUS ($72/year - a very bad deal even for sub-primers). sAar
with scores in the 400-500 they can afford to be picky? I dont get this at all. I thought my situation proved something. People still stuck on the old mess. later roni
Shelby. You have to keep the account for one year. The person at the bank that I applied with, told me that there was no guarantee that it would go unsecured, and that I would have to reaplly after the first year. So if I knew then, what I know now, I probably would have picked someone different. BTW I still have 3 more months until I reapply.
