Carl Blake, Member
@carl_blake
You cannot ask for a Capital One secured to unsecured graduation, but graduation is definitely possible. The first option when it comes to graduating is the Capital One Platinum, which is a reasonable no-annual fee credit card.
So hang in there, and keep making those payments!
Capital One® Secured Mastercard®
Ariel Gonzalez, Member
@agonzalez2
I woudn’t even try to apply for a capital one secure one card. They will take your deposit and use it against your credit with the idea if you build good credit with them that they will change it after some time to a unsecure account. Turns out that is a hoax...The card will remain secure for the life of the card no matter how well you do with your credit. I used the card for over a year now with no miss payments. Yes they raised my credit limit after 8 month from 200.00 to 500.00 with 1 of those hundreds being my deposit. When I called to graduate the card they told me they were not autherized to change it now there are any chances of graduating a secure to unsecure. that is just not possible as they mentioned i would have to apply for a new one. And they will not refund your money unless you canel the account. This is the kind of business Capital One does to people who are establishing credit. I will not apply with them for a new card simply for the fact that it will become a new account which is not good for the credit. So in my opinion if you are trying to establish credit ..and looking for secure card do yourself a favor and stay away from capital one.
Scott
@judenfrei2019
I think you are nuts. Getting a cap one secured card will certainly RAISE your credit score. Especially if it has been decimated by collections account or repo's. For me 61 points at a 200.00 limit with 100.00 security deposit. That was 30 days after my initial deposit. The only HOAX that is going on in this equation is you. A very important factor you failed to mention is WHAT KIND OF BALANCE WERE YOU CARRYING each month? If you utilize the card and use it often and keep your account under 10 percent utilization when that pay date comes, you WILL be recognized. Who CARES if the card remains secured for the life of the card? The goal is to get graduated to UNSECURED "yes a seperate card" with SMART UTILIZATION. Your assertion that applying for a new card will HURT your credit is border line special olympics thinking. A hard inquiry might drop you 4 points however that acceptance can shoot you thru the roof. Down listen to this clown who obviously had a HIGH balance every month, then expected a handout. Cap 1 is awesome, no yearly fee, no monthly fee. Use the card SMARTLY keep your balance LOW at paydate and you will succeed.
Tamara O
@tamhr5
Agreed stay away from capital one
Mr Miles, Consultant
@mrmiles42
One way to go from a Capital One secured to unsecured card is applying for a new Capital One credit card that doesn’t require a security deposit. There are also reports of Capital One graduating secured cards to unsecured, but you can’t be sure they’ll make the switch in your case. It doesn’t hurt to ask, though.
If you would like to request a switch, you can call Capital One customer service at 1-800-227-4825. Enter your card number and ask to speak to a representative. Then, ask about your options for graduating to an unsecured card. The longer you’ve been making timely payments, the better your chances will be.
There are a few more points to think about before you take action.
Here’s what to consider before going from a Capital One secured to unsecured card:
- Your two options are applying for a new Capital One card or asking Capital One to graduate your existing card. Neither is a guaranteed success.
- You can ask Capital One to graduate your secured card to unsecured by calling 1-800-227-4825.
- Capital One might offer to graduate your secured card even if you don’t ask. That would mean you’ve been a very responsible cardholder.
- Some users report graduating from Capital One secured to unsecured after anywhere from 8 months to 2 years.
- The more your credit score rises, the better your chances are of getting a new unsecured card or graduating from your secured card. On-time payments are crucial to that.
- Other than the deposit, there’s little difference between a secured card an unsecured card. Both report to the credit bureaus and have the same credit building potential.
- You can increase your Capital One secured credit limit up to $1,000. You can do this by adding more money to your deposit within 80 days of opening the account. Capital One may also increase your limit after you make your first five payments on time.
If you want to go from a Capital One secured to unsecured card, the best thing you can do is make your payments on time and generally using your credit responsibly. Aside from that, it’s mostly a matter of patience. Once your score has improved, you can either try for a new card or ask if Capital One will graduate you.
Tamara O
@tamhr5
Unfortunelty Mr Miles is partially incorrect. Capital One does not offer conversion from secured to unsecured although when you sign up customer reps will mis inform you. It isn’t till later that you discover the credit score recking truth. Capital one uses media to build their reputation but it is filled with untruths. You must cancel your capital one secured card and apply separately for an unsecured. And as stated you will do damage to your credit score in the process. I would go near them there are better options that offer graduation from secured to unsecured where the transition only requires a soft credit pull and account history review so their is no damage to your credit score. I assume they hope is that people will be opposed to cancelling and they will get to keep your security deposit. Awful scam ... I do not do business with liars .. I rather search high and low for companies that tell you the truth upfront loudly and boldly... Not hidden in fine print or blurred by pitches worded to cause confusion or misinterpretation. Why spend all those advertising dollars only to lose customers because they uncovered a lie ??? Capitol one you lost great customers and you will continue to lose them.
Raymond
@rayzink1972
@cadwhiz: exactly the same problem I am having with Capital one secured platinum card. $251 credit limit 8 month account age. 681 score. 0 debt , 0 carry over balance , 0 neg marks. , 0 LATE PAYMENTS. But i cannot use card at all or my utilization will drop score 50 points. Basically the card is worthless besides keeping it in my top dresser drawer.
Gena
@gena23smith
@cadwhiz: Yep, I can confirm this as well. Just called about this. Have had the card since 2013 with a stagnant credit limit, and thought, okay...people say this works, so let's try it. It's a no go. My credit is excellent now, I have another Capital One card with a much higher limit, but still no. Very disappointed in their customer service. I closed the card. I want to close my other Cap One, but that would be too detrimental to my score.
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Adam, Member
@adam_rhea
Nothing in the fine print seems to suggest that you can ever convert the card to an unsecured one, nor does the fine print suggest that you can ever get your deposit back unless you have completely paid your balance before closing the account (which will then hurt your average age of credit).
I’d say that if a person were interested in getting this card, they should: 1) be fully aware of those two facts; 2) consider this card as just another piece in an overall credit-building plan (along with a Discover It secured card, which will not only give you cash back, but will automatically refund your deposit after something like 6-8 months of responsible use, and graduate you to a secured version of the card); and 3) consider the “deposit” to be a non-refundable, one-time-only fee (which is better than getting charged an annual fee like some other starter cards will do).
If you mentally frame it this way and use the card responsibly as you get started, I feel that it can be a good experience. Just keep the card forever, charge it once in a while, pay it back on time, and know that simply having the extra bit of credit that this card allows will help your average length of credit history while building it, and even benefit you by having a higher overall credit line to assist you in keeping your overall percentage of credit utilization down. And if something ever happens to your other card, at least you’ll still have this one while the other gets replaced.
This card kind of sucks, really. There’s nothing flashy about it. But if you’re just starting out, and you’ve already gotten the secured Discover It card, you might as well get this one, too.
That’s just my take on it. I’m not a financial advisor or a professional anything, but this is the line of reasoning I used to talk myself into getting it. Maybe it’ll give some other credit newby something to consider.
@josh_wiker
The same three sentence paragraph that mentions the security deposit is refundable as a statement credit, that you mentioned also says, "If your account is deemed eligible for unsecuring, we will return your security deposit to you as a statement credit." Your post was maybe 20 days ago, so Capital One may have updated their fine print in that time period. It appears account could become unsecured - no one knows criteria or time period.
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