All the Best to you and your families in the New Year!!! Monty, Vitzbitz and average joe. I now have enough info and links to get done what i had hoped to accomplish.......I will be in touch and i will also be visiting this site frequently..........Thanks Again.......PS. I might have to change user name to notlosthope, lol

Average Joe: The secured cards are well hidden on Citizens Banks website, they don't list them but in the application pre-screen for their normal cards if you answer "yes" to any of the "risky loan" type questions it directs you to the secured card information (which I posted in my original answer below).

Losthope: The "basic secured card guys" are Hometrust, HorizonPlus and Capital One. All suffer from the same shortcomings it seems, ie. you have to cancel the card as it will never "convert" into a normal (low/no fee, low rate etc) credit card, and all three have fees in the range of $60-90/year.

The Citizens Bank (or really any other major banks secured card offering) is advantageous as it will just change into a normal card over time (assuming responsible use) and you won't need to cancel it, instead preserving what will (then) be a long standing properly maintained credit line.

It sounds like what you have now is simply a prepaid card, and none of them report to the credit bureaus as you are spending your own money, not "credit".

All the "secured" (credit issued against a deposit held as security in case of default) cards mentioned here report to the credit bureaus.

Both Monty and Average Joe are right, if you're looking to improve your credit rapidly you may want to obtain a variety of credit (ie. two secured cards) and maybe even a loan you don't need from CitiFinancial or WellsFargo (and simply bank the money and repay the loan over the course of a year).

Just be wary of the fees all these companies will charge. Decline balance insurance and other "extras" and read the fine print carefully.

Again, Great Advice guys !!!!!! Key word "guy", as i am 1, LOL, That's "laughing out loud" NOT " lots of love". Thought i had better clear that up.

PS Apologies Accepted........

average_joe... agreed...
It's all a matter of the persons urgency.. if you want to increase your score faster, get more secured credit cards...

If you're able to wait a year or so, then one will do...

In the credit game, time heals all things, especially 6 years worth of time.

Monty,

The reason I said one secure credit enough is good enough, because I have a friend that went bankrupt and after he was discharged he applied for a capital one secure credit card and after a year or so of using it he was able to get another credit card without a deposit. I realize that if you have more then one secure card might help Losthope in her cause. I believe she said she had up to $1000.00 for a secure card. If that is the case capital one you will need a min of $300.00, horizon min of $500.00 and hometrust min of $1000.00.In this case she is good for two secure cards or just one..

Cheers

losthope... thanks for the thanks... we try to give our readers value.

average_joe... the benefit of getting more than one secured card, is that it puts more "good" pieces of credit on your report to offset the bad pieces of credit. It's just a matter of saving up the security amount.

IE... if you have 10 bad credit items.. it's a good idea to offset those bad items with more than one good item. It also tells the creditors that you can manage more than one account properly.

All secured credit cards will report to equifax or transunion.

Losthope,

There is always hope when your on this site. The wealth of knowledge on here is priceless. I would try Scotiabank, BMO, Td Canada Trust, Cibc and the credit unions in your area. I wouldn't call their toll free numbers; instead I would walk into the branch and ask a branch manager.

In my research I did like capital one more then the other secure credit companies for these reasons.1) The deposit requirement is only $300.00 if your approved.2) They report with both credit agencies.3) The do not charge you a monthly fee whether you use their credit card or not.4) They have two annual fees for their secure cards, the difference is the interest rate. These are the things I don’t like about capital one but I could live with.1)I don’t like the fact they won’t return your deposit after a certain time frame.2)I don’t like the fact you have to close your account if you want to be approved for a regular card.

I would not get more then one secure credit card, if you use the one right in due time you will be able to get another one without a deposit.

Cheers

First Thanks goes to Monty Loree. Your site is going to be an invaluable source of information for me, not just on my cause but for general education.
Secondly a Thank You goes to average joe and Vitzbitz for responding so quickly. The Capitol One Mastercard i had considered because apparently they reported to Equifax and Transunion. I currently own a MuchMusic Mastercard that is apparently just a prepaid debit card that does not report to the credit agencies. I just deposit a couple hundred $ at a time as needed as i only use it for internet transactions. The Royal Bank of Canada(as of 2003 they did not have a secured Visa card) told me the same thing as Vitzbitz is claiming about the Citizen's Bank Visa. That is if and when i can get a secured Visa i would have to use it every month for at least 24 mths, even as little as $20/mth to show consistency. Back to Capitol One. They were the only secured card that i heard reported to the agencies but i was reluctant to apply as Capitol One was a casualty of my 2nd downturn. I held the card less than 1yr and the balance was less than a G, i wanted to keep it but it was lose all or nothing.
Now i see average joe has done a little research on Citizen Bank, Thank you but i will call them just the same. I noticed that there is an advertisement for Hometrust with a secured Visa? As Vitzbitz mentioned i can afford to put a deposit up to even a $1000 if that will show i'm serious and now that i know i'll collect interest is just a bonus!!
I want to really say Thank You again and this now has given me renewed Hope.......... :)

Vitzbitz,

I don't see a secure credit card on the citizen’s bank site.

Cheers

Hi Losthope,

I tend to agree with Vitzbitz.I was thinking if you didn't have much money to tie up capital one would be the affordable one. Capital one will give you a secured card for as low as $300.00.I personally don’t think capital one will approve you for the $750.00 and only $75.00 deposit. I have heard that capital one doesn’t like to give their deposits back after a certain time, they rather you cancel their card and apply for another one, which I think this is a stupid way of doing business. If you have the money to tie up for a year or two the one Vitzbitz recommends sounds great. I find the five major banks will do a secure credit card and will also give your deposit back after a year or two.

Cheers