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I had applied to DCU for a share-secured credit card, over the phone, but today I came to know they lost my application!

The application number they gave me does not turn up anything and when they pull my credit, they only see the pull for the membership.

I already have two cash-secured credit cards running for two months now on my report.

Should I try "my luck" with DCU and ask them for an unsecured credit card first and then ask for the share-secured credit card if that does not work out?

I want to be cautious as my friend told me getting turned down for a credit card is really bad for you, and one should apply again after 6 months after begin turned down, but was not sure how that was so.

Would not my application for an unsecured credit card "look the same" on my credit report as the application for an cash-secured credit card?

Or are the "kinds of report" that a lender pulls for a unsecured credit card different from the one they pull to give you a cash-secured credit card?

I don't want to risk getting turned down for their secured credit card because I tried to apply for and got turned down for their unsecured credit card.

UPDATE: I got the secured credit card offers because I asked for them. Later, when I had some confidence to ask for the unsecured credit card, I got offered one as well. From my experience, it makes sense to ask for an unsecured credit card first. They pull your credit in any case, so better put that to use.

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    What for? What are you trying to achieve? You have two cards already, chill down and let your credit build itself, what's the rush?
    – littleadv
    Commented Oct 6, 2011 at 23:42
  • I will close my WF card next year. I want two cards - in case one gets stolen :-)
    – f1StudentInUS
    Commented Oct 6, 2011 at 23:51
  • Well then deal with it next year
    – littleadv
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 0:12
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    It doesn't, and it doesn't know it was turned down.
    – littleadv
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 20:11
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    It doesn't. You tell them (sometimes they require a copy of the denial letter, sometimes they just believe you, because they know there was a recent hard pull).
    – littleadv
    Commented Oct 10, 2011 at 3:41

1 Answer 1

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Most secured cards will issue you a card so long as you do not have a history of fraud or indicators of criminal intent. So if you are just looking for a back up card then applying and being denied for an unsecured card is not going to cost you the secured card unless the reason was fraud or criminal intent. With a secured card they already have the money should you choose to stop paying. So they collect all the fees and interest with little risk from bad credit habits. They are worried about tens to hundreds of applications in a short time not a few applications. A large number may be an indicator of potential fraud.

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  • When one gets turned down for a card, they can request their report for free and that does not get counted against their annual free report? How does a credit bureau differentiate between a secured credit card app and an unsecured card app that got turned down?
    – f1StudentInUS
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 19:48
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    I believe the bureau just sees request for credit report. It does not know why the request was made. If one request is followed shortly after by a new account then a deduction can be made but it may not be valid. You do not want a history full of requests every few weeks. You also do not want a history full of 20 or 30 at one time especially if none of them can correlate with a new account. The bank is only going to do 1 pull of your credit report because it costs them money to do so and they already have the info. If a new account shows up only your bank will know you were turned down.
    – user4127
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 20:15
  • So how does it know that it should allow me one more "free" report after I was turned down for a card? Or do you have only one "free" report from each credit bureau per year regardless of the number of times you were turned down that year?
    – f1StudentInUS
    Commented Oct 8, 2011 at 2:14
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    @f1StudentInUS The bank or the denying agency will usually give you a form to request the report that states you were denied. There will be instructions on the form of what you need to do.
    – user4127
    Commented Oct 11, 2011 at 15:34

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