I have searched for a while and cannot quite find the answer I am looking for. I have seen a post here before about the subject, but I cannot seem to find it. I have a Orchard bank Secured MC w/limit of $235. I have had it 3 months and pay it off completely before my billing date, immediately most of the time. I am looking to increase my limit, as well as to get rid of the secured label. Would it be to my benefit to carry a small balance so the bank can make some money from me? Should I only pay the min payment for a few months? Not to get overboard and fall behind, of course. Or does it matter? Is a balance really necessary for a credit increase? If someone can give me some advice, or at least point me in the direction of a prior post, I would be greatly appreciative. Eq: 513 Ex: 558 Tu: 572
I started out with an Orchard secured card too. It is one of the best starter cards around. They don't gouge you with fees and they are more liberal than Cap.1 in granting CL increases. It will probably take 12-18 months to get it fully unsecured if payments are timely and you don't go over limit which is easy to do at this stage because it's easy to overlook the next annual fee or finance charges. You could get your first increase at about 6-9 months. If you don't get one after six, call and tell them that the small limit makes the card difficult to use for your everyday recurring expenses. After the first year, the increases come more frequently. Without asking, I was getting four a year like clockwork once I established a good history. Eventually, my card got to 5K but then no more increases for two years. When I called to close the account, they offered another $500 but I decided to close it anyway. I don't think carrying a balance will influence getting increases all that much but your practice of paying off the card before the billing date might not be such a good idea. Orchard reports your balance to the three CRAs as of the billing date. This means that it could look to other creditors like you aren't using the card at all. Make sure to ask for annual fee waivers. Although they wrere good about doing this, I couldn't get a permanent removal of the fee. I had to call every year. I did carry a balance sometimes. This may have influenced them to waive the fee. Unfortunately, this card will not grow with you. Once your scores climb into the high 600s and you have 2-3 years of credit history, you will find that Orchrd doesn't compete with other lenders throwing offers your way. The rock bottom APR they offer is 15.9 and you won't get that unless you ask.
Jeremy, one other thing I didn't mention that might be helpful is that you should add a few $$ to your savings on a regular basis to up the limit. This will look good.
They have reported a balance of like $48 or so because it was a charge that went through after my payment, a few days before the cycle was cut off. I will carry a small balance every few months so that it will reflect that I indeed use the card (and I do a lot). I sent them $100 to increase my limit and they used it as a payment, even though I had no charges. I called and asked how to add to my secured account and a CSR said I had to fill out a form and he would send me one. About 2 weeks later, I received a letter denying me a credit increase because my account was too new. How did you add funds to your secured account? Thanks for the help.
