Would it be better to increase the balance of my secured card or open a new credit account?

I have a secured credit card with a low balance of $200. This is my only credit card right now. I want a card with a higher balance to improve my credit score. I hardly ever use credit, so I was thinking I increase the balance and maintain a good debt to credit ratio. The catch is, I'd have to send in a deposit check for the secured card in order to receive the increase (basically buying the credit limit increase). I feel like because my credit score is relatively low, I don't have much options. It is slowly improving and I don't want to risk adding inquiries to it by applying for unsecured cards (and possibly get rejected). The only other option would be to get another secured card and have two cards. I was thinking of possibly adding something like $1000-1800 to the card I have now, increasing the limit to $2000. My FICO score is 601, I believe. So the two options: -Keep one card, and go from a $200 to $2000 limit. -Have two cards, one with a $200 limit and one with an $1800. They'd both be secured with relatively good terms (apr and penalty-wise). Which is better in terms of improving my credit? Thanks 'ConfusednOHIO'! Now that I know FICO prefers variety, I'll do exactly what you said, add to the smaller account and open a second one.

4 weeks ago - 2 answers