Pros
- Reasonable $35 annual fee
- $200 minimum deposit
Cons
- 3% foreign transaction fee
OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card
Additional Info
- No credit check to apply. Zero credit risk to apply!
- Looking to build or rebuild your credit? 2/3 of cardholders receive a 48+ point improvement after making 3 on-time payments
- With an 87% average approval rate for the past 6 months, OpenSky gives everyone an opportunity to improve their credit
- Extend your $200 credit line by getting considered for an unsecured credit line increase after 6 months - no additional deposit required!
- Get free monthly access to your FICO score in our mobile application
- Build your credit history across 3 major credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion
- Fund your card with a low $200 refundable security deposit to get a $200 credit line
- Apply in less than 5 minutes with our mobile first application
- Choose the due date that fits your schedule with flexible payment dates
- Fund your security deposit over 60 days with the option to make partial payments
- Join over 1.2 million cardholders who’ve used OpenSky to build their credit
- More Details & Reviews About OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card
OpenSky Secured Credit Card Review Summary
The OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card is a good credit card for people with a bad credit score who want very high odds of getting approved. The OpenSky does not check applicants’ credit history, which makes it easier to get than most secured cards, and its annual fee is just $35. This card also reports account information to the major credit bureaus each month, which is the key to credit improvement, along with on-time bill payments.
As a result, the OpenSky is worth it for people who are concerned about getting rejected for another credit card and want to get started building or rebuilding their credit as soon as possible. People with a clean credit report may be able to get approved for a cheaper offer, though.
OpenSky Secured Credit Card Highlights
No Credit Check
It might be hard to believe, but it’s true. OpenSky will not review your credit history when you apply for your card. Instead, OpenSky will merely verify your identity using your name, address and Social Security number. Bad or no credit generally won’t stand in your way in terms of getting any secured credit card, but this obviously takes things a step further. Not only does it emphasize the lack of a minimum creditworthiness requirement, but it also means you won’t have to deal with the temporary damage to your credit standing that can accompany a hard credit inquiry.
That, at the very least, makes OpenSky Secured an excellent fallback option if you get turned down for a card with higher standards and don’t want another inquiry on your record. The lack of a credit check could also be your saving grace if you recently went through bankruptcy or owe back taxes. Many credit-card offers, even the secured variety, explicitly state that applicants in both categories are ineligible.
$35 Annual Fee
OpenSky’s $35 annual fee is about average for a secured card, according to WalletHub data, and is by no means expensive when you consider the overall value of credit improvement. But it is $35 more than some secured cards charge, which must not be forgotten.
$200 Minimum Deposit
Secured credit cards are the best credit-(re)building tools available because even folks with significant credit damage can get approved and some offers are free to use. They also report account information to the major credit bureaus each month, thereby devaluing previous mistakes or filling out a thin credit file. However, it can be difficult to come up with the cash needed to place a deposit, especially when the minimum is $300 or more. In this respect, OpenSky Secured makes things easy on you, allowing you to open an account with as little as $200. It isn’t the only secured card with such a low deposit, but there aren’t too many others, either.
OpenSky Secured Credit Card Lowlights
3% Foreign Transaction Fee
The OpenSky Card makes a terrible international travel companion, costing you an extra 3% on every transaction processed abroad.
Average Regular APR
The OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card’s interest rate is about the same as the secured-card average, according to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report, but that still doesn’t mean you should ever carry a balance from month to month. Just think of it this way: carrying a balance on a secured card basically amounts to charging yourself to use your own money, considering that your credit line is self-funded. So strive to enjoy this particular benefit on an emergency-only basis. The goal is to improve your credit, not to finance large purchases.
$25 Credit-Limit-Change Fees
During the first year your account is open, you will be free to add to your security deposit as you please — up to a maximum of $3,000 — thus helping your credit score via improved credit utilization. But when the second year rolls around, you will have to pay a $25 fee to either add to or withdraw from your deposit. That’s just not right, considering that it’s your money at play, and it’s one reason why you should try to keep this card for no longer than 12 months.
Other Things To Consider About OpenSky Secured Credit Card
No Overlimit Fee
Capital Bank won’t charge you if you spend more than your available credit, but those types of transactions probably won’t get approved anyway. Besides, you have to actively opt in for the ability to outspend your limit for a credit card issuer to charge you a fee. And in that case, a credit card’s overlimit fee can’t be higher than the amount by which you overspent.
Costly Cash Advances
In addition to a fee of $6 or 5% of the amount you withdraw, whichever is higher, OpenSky’s regular APR for cash advances will immediately begin to add up.
Limit-Increase Uncertainty
With most secured credit cards, you can simply increase your credit limit by adding to your security deposit. But it doesn’t seem to be that simple with OpenSky. You first have to submit a request to customer service, and then your case will somehow be reviewed. If the request is approved (based on what is unclear), you’ll be given instructions for how to add to your original deposit.
You should therefore keep a close eye on your credit score after using this card for six months or so without issue. This will help you determine when you’re ready to graduate to a cheaper card that provides either more deposit flexibility or an unsecured credit line. You can track your credit score for free using WalletHub — the only site to offer free daily updates.
Multiple Ways To Deposit
You have four options in terms of funding your refundable security deposit: 1) debit card/bank transfer; 2) wire transfer to Capital Bank; 3) Western Union money transfer; and 4) mail a check/money order.
OpenSky Secured Credit Card vs the Competition
To help clarify the OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card’s place in the secured-card hierarchy, we compared it to three popular alternatives in terms of six factors that collectively speak to an offer’s overall value. You can find the results in the following table.
Info | OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card | Citi® Secured Mastercard® | Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card |
---|---|---|---|
Annual Fee | $35 | $0 | $0 |
Bonus Offer | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Rewards Rate | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Purchase Intro APR | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Transfer Intro APR | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Regular APR | 21.89% (V) | 26.99% (V) | 29.99% (V) |
Editors' Rating | 4 | 4.6 | 5 |
Details, Rates & Fees | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |