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We give the OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card two out of five Stars. While it’s only used to build up credit, and is easily accessible, it offers little else.
securely on the issuer's website
The one and only goal of the OpenSky Secured Visa is to help build your credit up. What’s rare here is that Capital Bank, the issuer, won’t do a credit check, so just about anyone can be approved.
You’ll be required to make an initial deposit of anywhere from $200–$3,000, and the amount you choose will determine your credit limit. You’ll be able to request an increase in credit limit after showing responsible use, and your deposit is refundable after you close the card.
You’ll receive basic Visa benefits, but there is no rewards program and an annual fee of $35.
There isn’t much to this card, and you may have better options available. But if you’ve been having trouble getting approved, read on to see if this is your way back into positive credit.
Capital Bank is not the same as Capital One, an issuer that provides a wide selection of credit cards for travel, cash back, and building credit.
Because this is a secured card, you’ll be required to make a refundable security deposit. This will determine your initial line of credit.
The minimum deposit you can make is $200, up to a maximum of $3,000. The money is placed in an FDIC-secured account that doesn’t earn interest. The main point of this card’s deposit, according to the issuer, is to ensure you can open an account without having to go through a credit check. Most secured cards require a credit check however, so this card stands apart in that respect.
We recommend you put down as much as possible, because having a higher credit line is much more useful. For one, you’ll worry less about declines when making larger purchases knowing you have a sizable line of credit backing you up. For another, having that higher line can help keep your credit utilization low. Lower utilization can lead to less of a negative impact on your credit scores.
You don’t have to make the deposit right when you finish your application, but you will need to before Capital Bank will send you the card.
Unlike most secured cards, you don’t need a bank account to pay the security deposit. You can pay by:
After having the card for some time and showing responsible use, like consistent on-time payments, you can apply for a higher credit line. You need to deposit more to increase your credit limit, however.
You’ll get your deposit back after you pay off any balances and close your account.
Cardholders will only get the most basic of Visa card benefits. But the point of secured cards is not to get strong benefits, it’s to get your credit to a place where you can apply for better cards that do have good perks and benefits.
The card issuer states the OpenSky Secured Visa comes with “all the benefits of a Visa card,” but doesn’t explicitly list those benefits aside from mentioning fraud protection and global acceptance. So it’s hard to say which benefits you’ll specifically receive, but it’s safe to assume they won’t be anything beyond a very basic level.
Purchase APR | Balance Transfer APR | Cash Advance APR |
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17.39% Variable | None | 17.39% Variable |
Annual Fee | Foreign Transaction Fee |
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$35 | 3% |
Balance Transfer Fee | Cash Advance Fee |
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See Terms | $6 or 5% of the amount of each Cash Advance; whichever is greater. |
Penalty APR | Late Fee | Returned Payment Fee |
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None | Up to $38 | Up to $25 |
There’s really not much here aside from the annual fee. You won’t be able to make any balance transfers, and there’s a foreign transaction fee so you won’t want to use this card if you’re going to be out of the country.
The OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card is a way to rebuild credit, reporting all activity to the major credit bureaus, although it may not be the best option available to you.
Like other secured cards, you’ll be required to make an initial deposit which will form your credit limit. But you won’t need a bank account, and you’ll be able to apply for a higher limit over time.
You’ll get the most basic Visa benefits available, and earn no rewards. But there’s no credit check required, so you’ll have an easier time getting approved for the OpenSky Secured Visa than other cards.
It’d be worth your time to check out the other secured cards on the market, however. Some of them have decent selections of benefits, including credit monitoring tools, and some even earn rewards.
Just hit the Apply Now button for the OpenSky Secured Visa below. You’ll be directed to the card issuer’s website, where you can securely apply. You’ll usually hear back pretty quickly whether or not you’ve been approved, but some applicants may be asked for more information.
As we’ve said, you don’t need any credit score in particular to qualify for the OpenSky card, because a credit check isn’t required for approval. This is pretty rare, though some other cards have the same feature.
However, even though a credit check isn’t required, this doesn’t mean everyone will be approved. If there’s some issue with your application, or your identity can’t be verified, for example, you may not be approved.
securely on the issuer's website
The Discover it® Secured (Review) is a secured card with more than a few interesting, and useful, features.
The minimum deposit you can make with this card is $200, while the max is $2,500 (depending on your creditworthiness). Your credit line will be equal to your deposit.
The OpenSky’s maximum is $3,000, so the credit limit cap is a little lower with this Discover card. Discover will not upgrade you to an unsecured card, but it will review your account every eight months and may choose to return your deposit after seeing responsible behavior.
Unlike the other secured cards mentioned here, this credit card offers a cash back program which is pretty solid even among unsecured rewards cards. There’s a free credit monitoring tool, which anyone (cardholder or not) can use, but no shopping or travel protections.
This is one of our picks for the best secured credit cards; rebuilding your credit can be far more enjoyable when you’re earning some cash back and keeping tabs on your progress while you’re at it.
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The information related to Discover it® Secured has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
securely on the issuer's website
The Citi® Secured Mastercard® (Review) is a secured card that shares a rare feature with the OpenSky Secured Visa.
You don’t need to have a bank account to make the security deposit for the Citi card, which runs from $200 to $2,500. As long as you apply for the card at a Citibank location, you can pay cash.
So the max deposit is a little less than the OpenSky’s $3,000 limit. Otherwise, it’s pretty similar, aside from allowing you to view your FICO Score 8 based on your Equifax credit report.
But there’s also a handy upgrade path: After showing responsible use, like making payments on time, Citi may refund your deposit and upgrade you to an unsecured card, such as the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card (Review).
Citi is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The Secured Mastercard® from Capital One (Review) has no annual fee but also offers no rewards, as it’s only designed to help build up your credit.
The security deposit here is a bit different than other secured cards. You’ll be asked to make a deposit of one of three amounts from a valid bank account:
But no matter what you’re asked to put down, your starting line of credit will be $200. You can, however, pay more to increase it, up to $1,000. And after your first six months, you’ll be automatically considered for a higher credit line, without having to make an additional deposit.
That’s a helpful feature to have in the world of secured credit cards. And if your creditworthiness improves, Capital One might let you upgrade to an unsecured card.
So the maximum credit line available is considerably lower than the OpenSky’s max limit, but the Capital One card provides the opportunity to increase your limit without having to make another deposit. There are also more protections with this card than the OpenSky.
The information related to Secured Mastercard® from Capital One has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
The Capital One Platinum Credit Card (Review), unlike the other cards here, is not a secured card.
It’s an unsecured card, but also designed to help build credit back up. And because it’s unsecured, it doesn’t require a deposit to fund the credit limit.
There are still no rewards and very few benefits with the Capital One Platinum. You probably won’t start with a very high line of credit, but after your first six months of card use you’ll be automatically considered for a higher limit.
If you’re looking for another route to build credit, and you have fair or average credit to start, this card might work for you.
The information related to Capital One Platinum Credit Card has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
securely on the issuer's website
Do you use the OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card, or a different secured card? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments!
Looking for great ways to build up your credit? Here’s our definitive guide! How to Build Credit With Credit Cards: The Definitive GuideThe OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card was created to help build you a better credit history. There’s no credit check required when applying, just an initial deposit. It has an annual fee of $35.
Credit Card Insider receives compensation from advertisers whose products may be mentioned on this page. Advertiser relationships do not affect card evaluations. Advertising partners do not edit or endorse our editorial content. Content is accurate to the best of our knowledge when it's published. Learn more in our Editorial Guidelines.
The information related to Discover it® Secured, Secured Mastercard® from Capital One, and Capital One Platinum Credit Card have been collected by Credit Card Insider and have not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of these products.
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