That pre-paid card my buddy swore by turned out to actually help rebuild my score

I'll be honest, I thought secured cards were a total scam for years. My buddy Matt in Denver kept pushing one after he got his credit up from like 520. I finally tried it about 6 months ago with a $200 deposit. Put my Netflix and gas on it each month, paid it off in full every time. Just checked Credit Karma and I jumped 45 points. Still not where I want to be but I can't argue with those numbers. Has anyone else had a secured card actually work out for them?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_tessa1mo ago

Matt's Denver address is key because Colorado's credit laws actually cap those annual fees at $15.

margaretramirez1mo ago

Hold on, I gotta push back a little. I tried a secured card a few years back after reading all the hype, and honestly it just felt like a trap. They took my $300 deposit, charged me an annual fee anyway, and the credit line was so tiny it barely made a dent in my utilization ratio. I ended up just sticking with a free regular card and using it more carefully, that actually got me better results. The 45 point jump sounds nice but I'm not sure it proves the system works long term. Plus I hated having my own money locked up for months.

karenb971mo ago

45 points in 6 months? That's not nothing, but seems like you're paying $200 in cash just for the privilege of proving you can pay a bill on time. Regular card with a lower limit would've done the same thing without locking up your money.