Metro 2 Account Type Code 2A: Secured Credit Card

Specification

Code	2A
Meaning	Secured Credit Card
Field	Account Type (Field 15)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	2 chars · 84–85
Category	Revolving Accounts
CRRG reference	CRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes)

The deposit is what separates 2A from 18. The product otherwise behaves like a normal revolving card.
The credit limit is usually equal to, or a defined multiple of, the deposit, and it moves when the deposit moves.
Does NOT mean the card is a debit card. The consumer is borrowing against a line; the deposit is collateral, not the spending balance.
Does NOT mean the account is reported differently in payment terms. Utilization, minimum payments, and delinquency all work exactly as they do on 18.
When an issuer graduates a consumer to an unsecured card and returns the deposit, programmes differ on whether the tradeline continues or a new one opens. Consistency matters more than which convention you pick.

1An issuer reports a secured card with a $500 limit backed by a $500 deposit for a consumer with no credit history.
2A credit union reports a share-secured card to a member rebuilding after a bankruptcy discharge.
3An issuer reports a secured card whose limit increased after the consumer added to the deposit.
4A fintech issuer reports a secured card that graduates to unsecured after twelve months of on-time payments.
5An issuer reports a secured card that charged off, applying the deposit to the balance and reporting the remaining amount owed.

Populate Credit Limit with the actual line, and update it when the deposit and line change.
Do not report the deposit as a payment. Applying the collateral at charge-off reduces the balance, but it is not a consumer payment.
Use 18 once the account genuinely converts to unsecured, if your programme's convention is to keep the same tradeline.
Keep reporting monthly. The whole value of a secured card to the consumer is the payment history it builds.
Do not suppress a secured-card tradeline because the limit is small. A small limit reported accurately is more useful than no tradeline.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 2A has to satisfy.

Portfolio Type must be R (Revolving), which means Credit Limit is meaningful and expected, and Terms Duration is reported as REV rather than a month count.
Credit Limit should track the secured line. A stale limit after a deposit increase understates the consumer's available credit and overstates utilization.
Current Balance above Credit Limit is possible through fees and interest even on a secured card, and it is a flagged condition worth checking against the current limit.
Highest Credit should be updated when a new high balance occurs.
Terms Frequency is M on a monthly-billed card.
After a charge-off, Account Type stays 2A while Account Status changes, and Date of First Delinquency must be populated and must not be re-aged when the deposit is applied.
Authorized users are carried in ECOA with a J1 or J2 segment.