Capital One Secured Card Graduating to Unsecured

[Shizume]

Hello, it’s me again.

I recently did an online chat with someone at Capital One to inquire about the deposits I’d made to increase my credit limit and while I had their attention, I figured I’d ask about unsecured Capital One initiated credit limit increases. I do believe they misunderstood what I was asking but they did tell me that they periodically review accounts and that those in good standing would graduate to an unsecured account and the deposit would be given back..??

I wish that I’d had the presence of mind to copy the chat so I could quote them verbatim, but the response stunned me because judging by reviews I’ve read, I was under the impression that the card wouldn’t graduate.

Now I’m far more confused than I was before on the subject.

[fontanaman]

Hi Shizume,

Unless Capital One has recently changed their policy about this, as far as I know and from all I’ve read online, this card will not graduate to an unsecure card. I’ve heard people complaining about having this card for 2 or 3 years and never graduating.

I’m sure they could do it if they wanted to, so hopefully the person that you spoke to was right. I’ll see what I can find out, maybe I can call and ask to see if they tell me the same thing.

If I remember well, ambersun mentioned she was told that this is not possible. I hope she reads this so she can comment.

[ambersun]

Yes, that’s what I was told at that time and I have never heard of anyone’s secured card unsecuring with Capital One. Doesn’t mean anything I guess since I haven’t talked to everyone who has one lol. I was told I would have to close the account out if I wanted my deposit back. Also was told my account would be reveiwed periodically for credit line increases. Hopefully the policy has changed…or I was just given misinformation which is possible. Although I’m a firm believer in anything being possible with high scores/excellent credit history.

[Shizume]

That’s why this is sooo confusing. We’ve got employees telling one person one thing while other employees are telling other employees something else. Fontanaman, if you do call and ask, can you share your answer? I’ll be asking myself as well and then we can compare the responses we get.

I’ve read the stories of those who had the card for years without it graduating, however, I was just told something different on Friday. Hopefully the policy has changed and I wasn’t just misinformed.

I’ll post back when I get a response.

[fontanaman]

Yes, I’ll report back as soon as I call.

[Zwyattw1972]

When I initially applied for the card about 2 years ago I was told that my payment history would be reviewed after 18 months. If at that time I had no late payments my account would be changed to the No Hassle unsecured credit card. Since then it seems that the policy has change. Now I’m being told something different. Don’t get me wrong, Capital One is a good credit card to have, but the only reason I applied was because of the benefit of having it convert to a unsecured credit card. I will give it another 6-9 months, if it has not changed to the unsecured card then I will pay the remaining balance and close the account .

[ambersun]

Yes, that is what attracted me to the card, the fact that it would unsecure after some time. I will be reaching the 18 month mark with the card next month, but I haven’t seen a credit limit increase or anything about it unsecuring. I plan to keep my card until I get better cards and much higher scores.

[Shizume]

Here is the reply I got this time around…

Quote:

Capital One will periodically review accounts for graduation from

secured to unsecured cards, but we cannot provide specifics on when

these reviews will occur.

[Erin]

I recently asked Capital One via chat about graduating the secured card to a secured card and was told that cards could not be graduated. I haven’t have the card long enough to consider transfer, but I was curious, I’ve only had the card for about 6 months. Apparently Capital One employees aren’t given out the same information to their customers.

[fontanaman]

Quote:

Apparently Capital One employees aren’t given out the same information to their customers.

Yes, this is probably what’s going on. I still haven’t called myself but I doubt they have changed their policy on this.

[fontanaman]

Hello all,

I called Capital One yesterday. I’ve had this card for a little more than a year now and wanted to see what they had to offer. I spoke to two different people which pretty much told me the same thing. I told them I’ve had this card for more than a year, and wanted to see if I qualified for a better card, a limit increase or an upgrade without having to apply for a new card altogether. I told them I now have another card with Bank of America with a higher limit and that I was not using Capital One’s card much anymore because of this.

They told me I was in a good position to apply for an unsecured card with them, and encouraged me to apply, but that they can not upgrade or graduate my secured account. If I wanted to have a higher credit limit I would have to make another deposit. So basically, the only option they gave me was to apply for a new card and I almost did just to see what they offered me, but I said no. I didn’t want another credit inquiry on my report.

I told them I don’t see the point on having two credit cards with the same bank as I don’t want to close my secured card (it’s my oldest card at the moment). I think this would affect my credit. Also, I am preparing to apply for a car loan at a local credit union, and having a new card would probably not look good on my file as I just opened the BOA card 4 months ago.

I’m just going to leave my CapOne secured card as it is, and see what happens with this car loan. If I don’t get approved, I’ll probably try to apply for a card at the same credit union. I’ve heard good things about establishing a relationship with a local credit union.

Do you guys have any updates on your CapOne cards?

[Amy]

On my fifth statement with the Cap One secured card. I basically don’t use this card anymore but I keep it open because it is my oldest card. Currently have the Cap One Journey Student Card, Discover More card, and Citi Forward Card, and I use these cards instead because they are rewards cards. I plan to close the Cap One secured card after my 10th or 11th statement before the annual fee kicks in.

[melanie]

I thought I could graduate for my secured credit card to unsecured card but sad to say one of the specialist told me that there is no graduation for secured card,this is my first credit card to in able to get a credit score so I can apply for other credit cards in the future.I feel upset because last year when I open my account they told me that I can be able to graduate my secured credit card to unsecured credit card..I don’t want to pay another annual fee for this year,because some of credit card have free annual fee.I have been approved for my 2nd credit card which is chase freedom .If I will close my secured credit card account can it affect my credit score?

[Amy]

Hi Melanie,

Congrats on getting Chase Freedom! That is one of my dream cards that I hope to get in a few years. You should close the secured card before the annual fee kicks in. If you close it with a 0 balance, the secured card will continue reporting good history on your credit report for up to 10 years. There will be no affect to your credit score until then.

[melanie]

Hi Amy , Thank you for your response.I’m so happy to hear that.Godbless:)

[Author]

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