Citi Secured Credit Card

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2018

Hello everyone,

I would like to know what is the best way of using the Citi Secured Credit Card? I have a $200 limit. Should I charge it all the way up to the limit and pay it in full each month or do I have leave a small balance of 1%-9% for the next 18 months? Thanks for your help everyone.

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone,

I would like to know what is the best way of using the Citi Secured Credit Card? I have a $200 limit. Should I charge it all the way up to the limit and pay it in full each month or do I have leave a small balance of 1%-9% for the next 18 months? Thanks for your help everyone.

Hey, OP!

Thanks for posting.

From I have read here, charging up all the way and paying in full every month is a good way of letting Citi know that you can handle a higher-limit card. However, doing so could hurt your scores---unless you let a small balance report to the credit bureaus.

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2018

This is the problem I see, there is no definitive answer. This should be interesting for sure.

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
This is the problem I see, there is no definitive answer. This should be interesting for sure.

I know. IMHO, use the card how you see fit. Citi should unsecure the card regardless. Just make sure you are current during the 18-month period.

SOGGIE · ‎07-17-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone,

I would like to know what is the best way of using the Citi Secured Credit Card? I have a $200 limit. Should I charge it all the way up to the limit and pay it in full each month or do I have leave a small balance of 1%-9% for the next 18 months? Thanks for your help everyone.

I would strongly suggest to utilize approx 5% ($10.00) per billing cycle and PIF EVERY month until the account graduates to unsecured status. All persons (personally known to me) were advised by me to follow this method. All of them substantially benefited later with fast unsecuring of account and large CLIs. Good luck!

Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother, rather than all major credit cards. ~Robert Orben

Cookiegrabber · ‎07-17-2018

I can only say what I do personally on my $200 Discover secured -- I just keep using it and PIF every 2-3 days, then leave a $2.something balance before the statement date so it reports as 1% util.

It's a pain but I end up reviewing every purchase multiple times a month, and I've learned that I buy too much cheap stuff from China.

AmEx | Cash Magnet | $2,700 | 12/2018 (most of CL was transferred to BCP)

SyncB | Paypal Cashback World MC | $20,000 | 10/2019

Citi | Diamond Preferred | $10,900 | 01/2020

AmEx | Blue Cash Preferred | $20,000 | 02/2020

FHB | Priority Destinations World Elite | $7,500 | 08/2022

Starting Scores: No Scores (03/2018)
Current Scores: 779 - 789 (08/2023)
Goal Scores: 780 across the board
Current Total Credit Limit: $109,900 (08/2023)
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Anonymous · ‎07-17-2018

@SOGGIE wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone,

I would like to know what is the best way of using the Citi Secured Credit Card? I have a $200 limit. Should I charge it all the way up to the limit and pay it in full each month or do I have leave a small balance of 1%-9% for the next 18 months? Thanks for your help everyone.
I would strongly suggest to utilize approx 5% ($10.00) per billing cycle and PIF EVERY month until the account graduates to unsecured status. All persons (personally known to me) were advised by me to follow this method. All of them substantially benefited later with fast unsecuring of account and large CLIs. Good luck!

Thanks for the data point, SOGGIE.

Anonymous · ‎07-18-2018

Thanks SOGGIE,

Are you saying only spend up to $10.00 on the card and never spend more than this?