Spent $150 on a secured credit card and it barely helped my score after 6 months

I put down a $150 deposit on a Capital One secured card back in January figuring it would jumpstart my rebuild from a 540 score. After 6 months of on-time payments and keeping the balance under 20%, my score only moved up 12 points to 552. Is there some secret trick to making secured cards actually work faster, or do I just need to wait the full year before seeing real movement?

4 comments

4 Comments

tara6422mo ago

My Capital One card took a full 10 months before it jumped 45 points.

elizabethmason2mo ago

Right, because waiting nearly a year for a 45 point bump is basically like watching paint dry (but less exciting). I swear Capital One moves slower than my grandma on her morning walk, and she uses a walker. My card just kinda sat there for months, like it was judging me for checking the app every other week. At least you got a jump though, mine just gave me a tiny 12 point nudge after 8 months and acted like it did me a favor.

henryp402mo ago

The 12 point gain actually sounds about right for six months on a secured card. Secured cards are more about building trust than moving your score fast, and Capital One has to report activity for a while before the bureaus see enough data to change anything. Your score probably would've stayed flat if you'd done nothing at all, so that 12 points at least shows you're trending the right direction.

parker_palmer441mo ago

10 months for 45 points sounds about right for Capital One honestly. I mean, theyre not trying to speed things up, they just want you to prove you can pay on time. My secured card took like 11 months to show any real movement and it was a 40 point jump all at once. Idk why they drag their feet so much but at least the bump finally comes. Maybe its just me but I think 12 points in six months is actually decent for a secured card, it shows youre building something even if it feels slow.