The Capital One Secured Credit Card Low Down

The Capital One
Secured Credit Card low down
I made a call to Capital One's Canadian head office and spoke to one of their customer service reps about the process of getting a secured card.

The information is as follows:

The process of getting a Capital One secured credit card takes about 14-21 days.

Need a Apply Today! Capital One Secured Credit Card?

After you do an application, it will take 7-15 business days before you'll hear back from Capital One. You'll get a letter in the mail stating whether you've been accepted or not and for which type of credit limit.
If you've got bad credit, it may take a few extra days to do some research on your credit report, your job history, whether you rent or own your home, etc etc...

Once you've been accepted, you will be asked to mail in your security deposit via cheque or money order. Once the security funds are cleared from your account, the card will be automatically accepted and you will receive it after another 7 days.

NOTE: Once Capital One receives the cheque the funds have to clear properly. This could take 2-14 days depending on the type of cheque you've sent in and the type of account you have. Money orders would be the fastest for processing.

TIME LINE:
Make application: 7-15 days
Cheque clearing: 2-3 days once
Card processed and mailed: 7 days

Capital One Secured Credit Card Limits
I asked the customer service rep if the credit limit given was based on a person's credit score. She said this was the one component that was based on your credit score as follows:

Bad credit: $75.00 gives $300 credit limit
Moderate credit: $75.00 gives $500 credit limit
Good credit: $75.00 gives $750 credit limit.

These credit limits are determined during the initial review period when Capital One staff review your credit history and determine whether or not they will accept you

Capital One Secured Credit Card Interest Rate
The interest rate for this card is fixed at 19.8%. I asked the CSR if this interest rate was flexible if my credit score increased and she replied that as far as she knows, it's a fixed rate.

It's not the lowest rate in Canada, however, it's not the highest either. And... if you've got bad credit, it's a good interest rate.

Regarding increasing your credit limit
I asked the CSR how long it would take to increase my credit limit if I used the credit card and paid it off as agreed each month.

She didn't have an exact time frame, but told me that her husband applied for a Capital One secured card, used it and paid it as agreed.. It took 12 months and they automatically received a credit limit increase without asking.

She indicated that you need to show a balance every month, even if you pay it off every month.

I asked her this question: "If I don't use my Capital One secured credit card every month, will that increase my credit rating with Capital One?" (IE... if I don't use the card, I don't carry a balance, and I won't be behind in payments)

Her reply was that she didn't have an exact answer. From her experience, using the card each month and paying it off each month shows Capital One that you can actively use your credit wisely, and gives them a better indication of your credit habits.

WHICH CREDIT BUREAU DOES CAPITAL ONE PULL FROM?
This is a really important question that I asked:
When Capital One processes a credit application, which credit bureau do they pull to see what your credit history is like.
The CSR said that Capital One Canada pulls it's credit reports from:
Trans Union Canada Inc
This means that if you want to see what Capital One is going to see before you apply, you should get your TransUnion credit report first.

So... to summarize, Capital One will more likely give you a credit limit increase after 12 months automatically if you show that you're actively using the card as agreed.

It takes a while to rebuild your credit, but once it's rebuilt, it's easy to keep that way!

I'm glad that I got some definitive answers about the Capital One secured credit card for our readers.

If you have other questions please feel free to let me know.

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6 Comments
On Aug 22, 2011, Steve Said:
Well I'm frustrated with Capital One before I even receive my card mainly by how long they take to do anything. I have excellent credit history with no debt and significant savings - just not in Canada since I recently moved to Canada so it's fair enough if I have to get a secured credit card to start off new credit history in Canada. Like Mabo below, I was also "instantly approved" for a Capital One credit card, then it takes them an age to even send you the letter for the security deposit. I paid the deposit on the same day I received the letter using online bank transfer which should in theory be very fast. However after querying C1 customer services what was happening they said it's standard procedure to hold on to the deposit for 10 business days before any further processing occurs. They told me they would then they would send a request to issue the card by sending a letter in the post from their Canadian office to their Boston office (sounds like a pretty inefficient method of internal communications but that is what I was told they do). I then asked if I would need to have my ID verified or anything else which might delay the issuing of the card and they said no - nothing else was required and expect to receive the card soon. However a week later I got another letter requesting to get my ID verified at the post office (which I did the same day as receiving the letter). Anyway to cut a long story short it's been around 12 weeks since I was instantly approved and I have done everything they asked as soon they requested it, but still I wait to receive the card. I'm not quite sure what they are doing for 12 weeks - it can't be that complicated. It's not like they are even taking any risk since they offered a 300CAD limit based on me sending them 300CAD security deposit. I'm so frustrated with C1 already and I haven't even received the card yet. Based on their customer service so far I'm not looking forward to how they handle my account in the future. I'm thinking I'll just ask for a credit card from my bank instead since I always keep at least 5K in my checking account anyway (to waive the monthly fees) so could just assign something like 5K to be a security deposit which would be way better than the unusable limit on my C1 card (if I ever receive the card). Like Mabo below, I was also "instantly approved" for a Capital One credit card, then it takes them an age to even send you the letter for the security deposit. I paid the deposit on the same day I received the letter using online bank transfer which should in theory be very fast. However after querying C1 customer services what was happening they said it's standard procedure to hold on to the deposit for 10 business days before any further processing occurs. They told me they would then they would send a request to issue the card by sending a letter in the post from their Canadian office to their Boston office (sounds like a pretty inefficient method of internal communications but that is what I was told they do). I then asked if I would need to have my ID verified or anything else which might delay the issuing of the card and they said no - nothing else was required and expect to receive the card soon. However a week later I got another letter requesting to get my ID verified at the post office (which I did the same day as receiving the letter). Anyway to cut a long story short it's been around 12 weeks since I was instantly approved and I have done everything they asked as soon they requested it, but still I wait to receive the card. I'm not quite sure what they are doing for 12 weeks - it can't be that complicated. It's not like they are even taking any risk since they offered a 300CAD limit based on me sending them 300CAD security deposit. I'm so frustrated with C1 already and I haven't even received the card yet. Based on their customer service so far I'm not looking forward to how they handle my account in the future. I'm thinking I'll just ask for a credit card from my bank instead since I always keep at least 5K in my checking account anyway (to waive the monthly fees) so could just assign something like 5K to be a security deposit which would be way better than the unusable limit on my C1 card (if I ever receive the card).
On May 1, 2011, pod911 Said:
well i have been a capitalone client for a year now with the secured card i am young and they increased my limit and just wanted a great credit rating for the future my credit score has increased alot to good standing and my bank i was with give me a visa with a ok rate but i hope i get a great rate in the future for a home mortgage thanks capitalone
On Sep 2, 2009, Mabo Said:
Well, I cancelled my Capital One secured card account in frustration because after ten weeks from being "instantly" approved I still had not received my card. I had plenty of time to shop around and found that most banks will give you a secured card with no annual fee (compare to the $59 annual fee Capital One charges). Also, Capital One does not pay interest on your security deposit, whereas banks will. Most banks will automatically give your security deposit back when you qualify, C1 won't. After wasting ten weeks waiting for C1 to get me a card (everything goes through snail mail,it took a month just for them to send me a letter saying how to send my deposit, it took 2 weeks for my money order to clear...), I cancelled my account before I even got or activated my card because I read so many horror stories on the internet about people not being able to close their accounts etc, and they said it will take two months before they will even send me my deposit back. I said I wasn't surprised. I would recommend not going through Capital One for a secured credit card; go through one of your local banks!
On Apr 8, 2009, Matthew Said:
Capital One also uses Equifax - they pull BOTH bureaus when you apply for a credit product with them. I've had their secured card for nearly 5 years, starting off with a modest limit of $400 in 2004 (I applied for this card after having my credit trashed due to ID theft) - I sent in security funds early in 2005 which allowed me to raise my limit to $2500 - in June 2005 they (after 6 months of responsible use) increased my limit to $3500 - sweet! Then for the next 3+ years, my limit and intrest rate did not budge - even though my credit profile improved dramatically. Finally I threatend to take my business to MBNA - that "motivated" them to increase my limit to $4500 and lower my intrest rate to 9.90% on the purchase segment of my account - sweet! Capital One will shower you with goodies in the first 6-12 months of account opening then turn off the taps for years.... my strategy was to be persistent calling in every 3-6 months to push them to improve the account terms (this only works of course if your credit scores are improving over time) Overall my experience with Capital One is quite positive... I would recommend this as a great way to rebuild your credit IF you absolutely cannot quailify for a secured card from your bank or another issuer. Capital One loves to hold on to those security deposits (with 0% interest paid) ... I still have not got mine back after 5 years of perfect credit history with them and all of my other credit accounts, so prepared to kiss your deposit goodbye for LONNNNNNG time. Besides that, no other worries.
On Sep 16, 2008, jacquelyne jackson Said:
TAKE NOTICE CUNSUMERS we were given a settlement from capital one in july 07 which we understood the settlement had been paid in full in july 08 we received a phone call from total credit recovery that they were going to take our home to have a garage sale of the puchases we purchased with the capital one credit card now remember we understood through the bank paying the first settlement to allied finance now total credit recovery which we paid another settlement to now remember this weas to be all done in 07 now we are receiving harrasment again from nco financial and capital one supposedly has there hands tied since july 08 saying they are working on this if anyone else has had the same issues from dealing with capital one i would appreciate hearing from you we are greater in numbers to stop the phony settlement offers from them lets stop the harrasment P.S nice false advertisement
On Mar 29, 2008, Brenda Said:
I'm wondering about the security deposit. Does it earn interest while it's being held by Capital One?

The Capital OneSecured Credit Card low down

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The Capital One
Secured Credit Card low down