Capital One Secured Card funds

[Qtpi]

I have now had my Capital One secured card for two years. My credit is not so great after my husband was in an accident and we used a credit counselling service. We paid all our debt and the credit counselling debt in full 2 1/2 years ago. We have virtually no debt, own our house and both our cars.
I do work for a furniture store which does its own credit services and they have been kind enough to extend credit to my husband and I, so we are building credit there.
I want my secured funds back though...how long do I have to have the secured card for before the funds are returned to me and I qualify for a regular card? I do carry a small balance on the card, to build credit and always make my monthly payments.
What else can I do to build credit quickly? At this point the bank won't even give us overdraft...although we have plenty invested in GIC's with them.

[EricsMom]

You will not get your security deposit back from them until you close the account. I have personal experience with this. Also, carrying a balance does NOT improve your credit score. Using your card and making regular, on time payments does improve your score, whether you pay off the balance every month or not. As long as you are meeting the minimum payment requirement. Paying off the balance each month BEFORE the due date means you won't pay interest and you work on improving your CR. If you want more info on Capital One, PM me.

[NickyC]

I don't know about Capital One but I do know about credit. Firstly, it doesn't hurt to call them to request them run a credit app to see if you qualify for card unsecured. BEFORE you do that though make sure you order your credit report to see what your credit report is like.

Its about $14 if you buy it online and it tells you your score. You can order your report free and they will mail it out to you-however, it won't tell you your score. It will simply indicate if you have L1 or R1 values (PM me if you aren't familiar with what this means) I'd say based on the info. you've given -its probably worth the $14 bucks to get the score. The higher the score the more likely you'd qualify for unsecured credit.

Most financial institutions use Equifax and Trans Union. I'd suggest ordering the report through equifax and order the freebee through transunion.

**Its important to note that ordering your own credit report does NOT impact your credit score nor does it tell any credit companies that you ordered your report.


Do not carry a balance on the credit card but if you have too a good rule of thumb is 65% - do not exceed 65% of the value of the credit. So for a $1000 limit don't go over $650. The ideal is to have the balance paid off every month AND this is not just to save on interest. Every month capital one sends a report to the credit reporting agencies telling them if you made your payment on time, if you made the minimum (paid as agreed) and balance of the account, along with the limit.

Same goes for the credit you have with your employer.

While its great that your employer extended you credit. Keep the balance at zero. You want 2 credit lines ...meaning 2 pieces of credit showing that you have access but don't carry balances on. This quickly builds your score.

Because you went through credit counseling - in order to get credit through a financial institution you'd have to wait 3 years from the date you paid off the balances. This is another reason to check your credit report - to make sure the creditors and that the credit reporting agency have accurately updated your credit report.

The fact that you went through credit counseling in the financial institutions eyes is better than you having gone bankrupt.

At your 3rd year marker, you go into your bank and you tell them you would like overdraft. Also make sure you bring proof of payments and make sure you've checked your credit report.

It didn't take overnight for your credit to go down -so it won't take overnight to get you back on good footing. HOWEVER, you can get there. Be patient. Make sure your bank is working with you. A reason like yours is legitimate and you the fact that you chose to pay out the debt and deal with it reflects well on you and any banker worth their salt should help you through this.

Another suggestion is instead of asking Capital One to do a credit application it might not hurt to see if you can get a secured credit card at the bank. For what reason? Well, you mentioned GIC's. If they are unsecured or in a TFSA then it can be used as collateral. They may, on an exception basis, get this card to you sooner than the 3 year marker. At the same time it gets their involvement in helping you. In 6-9 months so long as you've been using your credit properly, its likely you can get the security removed and get that overdraft. Depending on the amount of your GIC's I wouldn't be surprised if they offered both the card and the overdraft. This gets rid of capital one and banks are usually easier to deal with when removing security (AS LONG AS YOUR CREDIT IS GOOD). Its a bit of a trade off with the whole taking security however, it may serve you better in the long run.

Best of luck