Secured Credit Card Recommendations

[cometkitty]

We don't have our 341 meeting until Jan 6th but I know that I will need a credit card around April for a trip I have to take for a training session. I will need to rent a car and from what I have read you can't do that with a debit card. What are some good secured cards to apply for? Can I apply for one prior to discharge but after our 341?

[LadyInTheRed]

You can rent a car using a debit card. Enterprise is one company I can say for sure will rent to you. There are others. Call the office where you will rent the car and ask them if they accept debit cards. They will probably put a hold on your debit card, so you will need to find how how big a hold they require and make sure there is a sufficient cash cushion in your account.

You could apply for a card prior to discharge, but I'd wait until after. Your chances of approval are better after discharge and having inquries before discharge could decrease your credit score and may hurt your chances of approval later.

[cometkitty]

Thank you! I will look into Enterprise because I would prefer to just use my debit card for everything.

[ccmisery]

Enterprise or Alamo are Debit Card friendly, they also will not put a hold on your card at the levels Hertz and etc require nor did they run a credit check on me.

I had no luck with two secured cards, 6 months past discharge. Even from my bank.

[CCsAreEvil]

We are 4 years post discharge now. I had my wife open a Wells Fargo secured with just $300 put into the secured account since she was declined on a couple of unsecured apps. The only other rebuild card she had was being an authorized user on a $750 limit CapOne card. Within just a month or two of opening that $300 secured CC, she received an offer from Merrick bank for an unsecured. She was approved for a $1,250 credit line. They said as long as you use the card along with paying on time, yadda, they'd increase her line to $2,500 after about 6 months automatically. It's only been about a couple of months so far.. but was surprised that just by opening a secured line, it actually does appear to open up other opportunities to help rebuild.