"QUESTION CONCERNING CREDIT"

suga5 · 02-07-2008, 10:03 AM

Good Morning,

I have a question concerning bringing my fico scores up, if I go and get a secured credit card that reports to all 3 bureaus today will that bring my fico up or down when the credit card creditor reports it?
I am trying to bring my scores up I have a 602 at Trans union 585 at experian and a 595 at equifax.
And I also have 2 credit cards already one which I have had for 5 years they just increased yesterday (limit now is 1300.00) And the other one I have had for 6 months coming march they will increase it to 400.00. I always wanted a department store card such as walmart, do you think with these scores I can get approved for one?

magyar123 · 02-07-2008, 10:24 AM

Secured credit cards generally do not dramatically increase your credit scores even after months and months of timely payments. Stick to unsecured cards even though they might come with annual fees - Orchard, Household

suga5 · 02-07-2008, 11:01 AM

I am worried will i get approved or not with these scores i have
and will my scores drop any applying for the cards that you suggested?

Hedwig · 02-07-2008, 12:58 PM

I believe that Bank of America secured cards report as unsecured. Your score will take a hit initially as you will have a new account, and your average history will shorten. You will also have the inquiry.

Over time your score will go up.

What percentage of your credit lines are you using? If it's over 50%, the single thing that will bring your scores up fastest is to get your utilization down.

jlynn · 02-07-2008, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suga5

I always wanted a department store card such as walmart, do you think with these scores I can get approved for one?

FICO likes to see a mix, so you will likely see some improvement after the intial hit for a new card. If I remember correctly, Target is easy to get, and there are also a couple of jewlers that are easy, and will grant and report a large credit limit, which will help some with utilization.

Maybe someone can remember which jeweler, is it Crown or Kay?

The biggest question is what is holding your scores back? That could affect who you might should try to apply with.

Hedwig · 02-07-2008, 02:41 PM

Crown Jewelers. But I think you need to buy something for it to report.

suga5 · 02-07-2008, 03:49 PM

Well i was just approved for the orchard card should receive it soon. but the card i want to apply for is the target or walmart. since i have applied for this orchard i will wait a month before applying for the walmart card or does it matter?

jlynn · 02-07-2008, 05:37 PM

You can likely get away with two at a time - in fact, you might try it today, maybe the inquiry hasn't hit. YMMV

suga5 · 02-07-2008, 07:41 PM

What do you mean get away with 2 at a time? are you speaking of inquirys? i want to try for a walmart card now but i am thinking i want get approved so i will wait about 6 month before i try for it.

jlynn · 02-07-2008, 10:27 PM

You seemed worried about the number of inquiries affecting your chances. I was suggesting maybe if you applied same day, the 1st inquiry would not be available to be seen by the 2nd inquiror.

suga5 · 02-07-2008, 11:31 PM

No not worried about the inquiries, but more worried about getting turn down because of my scores.

Hedwig · 02-08-2008, 01:56 AM

You might want to call them and ask what the score range is that they're looking for.

centex · 02-08-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magyar123

Secured credit cards generally do not dramatically increase your credit scores even after months and months of timely payments.

I'd love to see your source on that given that many (including myself) have seen increases from the presence of ANY card with a decent limit. I know when I was recovering from ID Theft, I started with a secured card from Fleet...funded it with roughly $5K. FICO, generally speaking, does not know whether an account is secured or unsecured.

Perhaps you are confusing secured card offerings with loans that are made using a CD as collateral...note loans influence the mix but often do not have a large effect on score as they are paid down.

Quote:

Stick to unsecured cards even though they might come with annual fees - Orchard, Household

disagree, especially since Orchard and its progeny are long noted for a failure to grow with the user. At least a secured card will often graduate to unsecured at some point in time.