Credit Score: 601 Credit Limit: 400 Age: 35-44

Income On Application: $60

Posted 12/04 2018

I had to rebuild after being 18 and running up 2 credit cards. So years later my father passes away and my life changed over night. All of a sudden, I had to move and my credit score was 570..not nearly enough to even get into an apartment. So I signed up with Experian and got to work paying off 4 medical collections. I had another company knock off 1 30-day late payment from 6 years ago. These actions caused my score to go up about 30 points plus I had a car loan in good standing. I have been with BOA for 2 years now and I have a checking, savings, and business account and none have ever been in the red. It only made sense to start out with my own bank. I talked to a rep at my local branch and he said to wait 60 days until the collections fall off. He also signed me up for there business rewards since i can keep 50,000 in the bank which will give me fantastic cash back rewards when I get the unsecured card. By now my CS was up to 604, the collections had either fallen off or had updated to PAID. So I pulled the trigger with the BOA secured. It took 60 seconds and I was approved. Now, they did pull my Experian and my Equifax which I thought was odd. But whatever..I am very thankful for the chance to prove myself. Days later I applied for the Discover it chrome secured and got approved. My credit score did drop after BOA ran it.. 1 point on Experian and 3 points on Equifax. And Equifax sent me a letter clearly stating some of the drop is because its reported as secured. Those few points are priceless compared to taking care of the card and raising my limit. Any advise I can give... Knock out any old issues..Banks need to see that you don't have a lot of debt in order to extend more credit. I know it can seem like your in between a rock and a hard place but I focused on the collections and one late payment. I also check my CS every single day..Its like a child that needs to be tended to daily!!!

 

Credit Score: 500 Credit Limit: 1500 Age: 25-34

Posted 01/17 2018

I am a non-resident alien on a working visa. I came to understand that you need to build a credit history in the US to make your financial life easier. I did some research and applied for the BOA secured credit card because I had opened a checking account with them. I deposited $1500. I made sure I paid the bill in full every month. I use close to $1000 of my available credit every month. On two occasions I carried a balance. After one year and three months, I was told that I had graduated and the card was no unsecured. The $1500 was returned to my checking account. I have also just received a line increase to $2500. Thank you to BOA for helping me build a credit history.

 

Credit Score: 570 Credit Limit: 500 Age: 35-44

Posted 01/17 2018

I have had a checking and savings account with BOA for a few years. One day, I received a mail with their secured credit card 99/500 offer. I decided to go for it to build up my score. I was approved and deposited $99 to get a $500 limit. I called customer service and was told that I would get a review after 12 months for an upgrade to an unsecured card. I used the card for 8 months, paid it off in full every month and decided to just call again to see if they could upgrade me early. To my surprise, I was approved for an upgrade. The $99 was deposited back into my checking account and the new limit on the card was $2000.

Oh - the other thing to mention is that the BOA mobile app is pretty good. You can transfer money to others and also pay your credit card bills.

 

Credit Score: 518 Credit Limit: 300 Age: 35-44

Posted 01/17 2018

A few years ago, I lost my job got into financial trouble. My scores obviously tanked. Though I did not file for bankruptcy, I had a couple of collections in my report. I had a couple of rejections when I applied for secured cards from other banks. I was approved for BOA. I put down the minimum $300 deposit to get a $300 credit limit. I managed to graduate to a secured credit card after one year. The only thing I noticed is that they report as "secured" in your credit report. But once I graduated, they did report as unsecured. My deposit was returned promptly as well.

I am grateful to BOA for giving me a chance.

 

Credit Score: 610 Credit Limit: 500 Age: 25-34

Posted 01/17 2018

When I applied for the BOA secured card, I was required to deposit $99 in return for a $500 credit limit (partially secured). When I received the card and the "package", I realized that it also has cash back rewards and was actually a secured version of the 3-2-1 cash rewards card. I was pretty thrilled about it. I used only 20% of the credit (ie $100) every month and made sure I paid off in full. I set up autopay with my BOA checking account and it works like a charm. The app is also very neat and you can monitor both your checking and credit card account through it. I was graduated after 10 months and the annual fee going forward was waived.

One thing I realized was the BOA reports as "secured" in your credit report. And I was one of the lucky ones that had the annual fee waived when I graduated. If you read the forums enough, you would realize that some were not as lucky as I was. I still do not know what criteria you need for them to waive your annual fee.

 

Credit Score: 570 Credit Limit: 300 Age: 25-34

Posted 01/16 2018

I applied for the BOA secured and was approved. I deposited $300 for a $300 limit. My score was 570 with EX at the time. A couple of months later, I applied and was approved for the Capital One secured. I had to deposit $99 for a $200 deposit. I used both cards and was careful not to go over 30% in utilization and I always paid in full. After 6 months, Capital One increased by limit to $500. Nothing happened for BOA. But after 9 months, I was told that I had graduated and that my new limit would be $1500 and my $300 deposit would be returned.

My scores are now close to 700 and I have been able to get an auto loan, 3 more unsecured no annual fee credit cards and I just managed to get a mortgage approved for $250000. I think the key to improving my score was that I had more than one credit card. If you are building or rebuilding your credit, I would definitely recommend the BOA secured card, but also get another card. For me, Capital One worked out well.