OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card review: An easily accessible way to rebuild your credit

The Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card requires a credit check for approval, so it’s a bit less accessible for people with limited credit histories and damaged credit. It’s also the less-expensive option. The Platinum secured has no annual fee (See Rates & Fees), whereas the OpenSky carries a $35 annual fee.

Carrying a balance on the Capital One Platinum Secured, on the other hand, will be more expensive. OpenSky cardholders get an APR of 25.64% (variable). Capital One Platinum Secured cardholders are saddled with a regular APR of 29.99% (Variable) (See Rates & Fees).

The Capital One Platinum Secured is the more flexible choice for someone who can’t put down hundreds for a security deposit. Depending on your creditworthiness, you can get an initial credit limit of $200 for a security deposit as low as $49 (Minimum will be either $49, $99 or $200). On the other hand, if you know you’ll need a higher credit limit to work with — to keep your credit utilization ratio low while still being able to spend — the OpenSky's higher potential credit limit ($3,000 maximum) may be your best bet.

The Discover it® Secured Credit Card is a great choice if you want to earn rewards on your spending and build your credit at the same time. It earns 2 percent cash back at gas stations and restaurants (on up to $1,000 in combined purchases per quarter and 1 percent thereafter).

But if you think you’ll carry a balance, you’ll do better with the OpenSky card. The APR on the Discover it® Secured Credit Card is more middle-of-the-road, but other secured cards may have lower APRs.

The Discover it® Secured Credit Card comes out ahead with its welcome offer. Discover’s Cashback Match® program matches all the cash back that you earned at the end of your first year with the card.

If you have a poor credit standing and need to build your score with a simple-to-use card, then the OpenSky Visa may be a good fit. It has the right credit-building features to get you on track for a better score and you can possibly get a high starting credit limit if you put down a matching security deposit.

If you have a poor credit history or no credit at all, then the OpenSky Visa may be a good option given that it doesn’t require a credit check to apply. You can use the card as a stepping stool for building your credit before moving on to an unsecured credit card with better features.

A student or credit-building card’s cost has a large influence on its overall score. 

Students already face a ton of expenses, so extra card costs are best avoided if possible, and people with limited or damaged credit tend often find the cards they can qualify for are much pricier than traditional credit cards designed for people with a good or better credit score. 

We compare a card’s total cost, including any annual fees, account activation fees, monthly fees and more against the total cost of other cards in this category and assign each card a score based on its affordability. We also factor rewards-earning potential into our assessment of a credit-building card’s total cost, subtracting a card’s expected earnings from the sum of its fees. 

To get a sense of a card’s rewards-earning potential, we estimate its average annual rewards rate and average annual earnings based on the most popular spending categories (as covered in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer spending report). 

However, we use a slightly lower spending assumption ($300 per month or $3,600 per year) to estimate average earnings, assuming students and credit-builders will start out with a lower credit limit, will want to keep credit utilization low and will focus primarily on small purchases they can easily pay off.

Given the many costs students face — from textbooks to laptops — the presence of an introductory APR on purchases or balance transfers also plays a role in a student card’s score.

A card’s APR is also a major factor in its credit-building score. Each card’s average APR is compared against the average APR of other cards in the category, and the cards with lower-than-average APRs receive a higher rating. 

Though high APRs are hard to avoid when you’re just starting out or working on your score, credit-builders should strive for as low an APR as possible since they’re likely to either be new to managing cards or trying to establish better financial habits and avoid falling into debt.

Along with a credit-building card’s cost, our rating system takes into account how easy the card makes it to build credit. To assess this, we evaluate its credit limit potential and minimum deposit requirement.

Unsecured cards with a high starting credit limit and secured cards that let you put down a large deposit and get a matching high credit limit will score the highest according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric and are more likely to appear on our list. 

This is because a high credit limit can make it much easier to keep your credit utilization low, a primary credit-building factor that makes up 30 percent of your FICO credit score. 

Secured cards have a slight advantage in this category since the maximum credit limit on a secured card tends to be much higher than the typical starting credit limit on an unsecured card that’s available with a bad or fair credit score. However, unsecured credit-building cards have the upper hand in another key aspect of building credit: accessibility. 

Cards that carry no or a low deposit requirement can also receive a high score according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric since these cards offer a lower barrier to entry than secured cards that require you to put up hundreds of dollars in an upfront deposit. 

Indeed, some users may prefer to pay a non-refundable $50 annual fee while they work on their credit score than tie up hundreds in a refundable security deposit.

We also evaluate each card’s benefits based on how useful they are for students or someone looking to build a positive credit history and save money on everyday spending. 

We consider the inclusion of a rewards program, student-centric perks and access to your credit score or a credit monitoring service of prime importance, along with the ability to prequalify for the card with only a soft credit pull and a clear path to increase your credit limit or graduate to an unsecured or full-fledged rewards card.

Cards that include these benefits are likely to score higher according to our credit-building card scoring rubric.

Since OpenSky doesn't pull your credit report, anyone with a valid Social Security number is eligible to apply and be approved for an account. Applying for the card might be a convenient way to improve your credit history if you don't have a credit score or if your credit score is low.

While the OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card doesn't check your credit when you apply, other factors can result in your application being denied, such as insufficient income or an error on your application.

No. Any credit increase must be requested. By sending in an additional deposit, you can increase your credit limit for free up to a maximum of $3,000 in your first year, but any changes to your credit limit will cost $25 the second year.