I was unemployed, so I got a secured card at one point by putting a $250 balance on the card and drawing from that, like a debit card.
Now I have been employed for a while and got an unsecured “fee” card elsewhere.
The question is, does the “secured” and “fee” status show on my credit report?
Should I drop these cards now becuse they are pulling down my numbers and keeping me from getting a “no fee” card?
Head over to www.annualcreditreport.com for a free copy of your credit file.
This is the legitamate free credit report site, run by the credit reporting agencies. There are other “free” sites that actually try to sucker you into paying for things like fraud alerts.
What do you mean by a “fee” card?
From personal experience, nothing shows up on one’s credit report indicating that the card is secured by a bank account or other deposit.
Usually the “secured” status of your card is only reported if the bank you went through wants to.
Many banks don’t for the basic reasons that most people getting a secured card do so in order to build up their credit (usually bad) scores. The report assumes an unsecured credit card, and your score goes up more than if the “secured” status is known.
As long as your paying your secured card on time, and not using up all of the credit line your score shouldn’t go down, it should go up as long as your using it. I’m not sure if this is true if the “secured” status is being reported. I’d check with the bank.