Fast Loan Secured
How large an amount would you deposit for your Secured Credit card?
I’m about to get a secured credit card in order to build my credit (I’m getting it from citibank). If I choose to put the minimum on the card ($200), will that hurt me? Or does the amount not matter at all? All I want to do is build my credit as fast as possible (I’m 20 yrs old), so that I can get a loan for a car, in order to further build my credit.
The amount does matter. $200 isn’t really enough to show that you can reliably pay back several thousands of dollars, which is what a car loan would be. If that’s all you can do, then do that, but you’ll need 6 months ot a year of using the credit card and paying it on time to show good use of credit.
If you can manage it, I’d suggest putting $1,000 on the secured card. Yes, it ties up your money, but you ought to have some saved anyway – and you should be getting interest on the money while it’s in the secured account. You’ll get it all back after a year or two (whatever the terms are for your card) and be able to continue using the card on an unsecured basis, so there’s no risk.
By the way, as long as you have some kind of job or steady income, you can get a car loan. The auto company that sells you the car will help you with that, although without much credit, your interest rate may be high.