Total Visa® Card review: Building your credit comes at a steep price

Though you’ll have to shell out for a security deposit, the OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card is still significantly less expensive than the Total Visa credit card. The annual fee is a much more straightforward $35, and the OpenSky’s lower APR might be more manageable. Like most other cards for bad credit, the OpenSky doesn’t offer significant perks, but it’s a solid, inexpensive means of building credit. The OpenSky is the right choice for credit-builders looking to keep more money in their pockets by avoiding a stack of fees.

The current APR for the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa for Rebuilding Credit* — while still a bit high — is much lower than the Total Visa’s hefty 35.99 percent variable APR. The annual fee might be on the steep side, but you not only earn rewards with this card but can take advantage of additional features like free online access to your credit report, customizing your payment due date, zero fraud liability and automatic account reviews for credit line increase. While the Credit One Platinum Visa might have fees that you should keep an eye on, you can enjoy more benefits with this card, and it's still a more cost-effective option.

Those with bad credit have limited options when it comes to credit cards they’ll be eligible for, so the Total Visa may be one of the only possible picks to choose from. By paying your balance on-time every month and keeping track of your credit score, you can be well on your way to improving your credit score.

If you don’t have a solid credit history and don’t mind that the Total Visa doesn’t have many perks besides credit building, then it could be a worthwhile option. You can get a taste of rewards while maintaining healthy spending habits and credit card use. 

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.

The Total Visa Card is designed for individuals who may have limited or less-than-perfect credit history. It works like any other credit card, allowing you to make purchases anywhere in the U.S. that accepts Visa. 

You will receive a monthly statement, so it's important to make timely payments to build a positive credit history.

Applying for the Total Visa Card is simple and can be done online. Just visit the website and complete the secure application form. You will need to provide some personal and financial information, such as your name, address, employment details and income. 

The Total Visa Card offers several benefits to its cardholders. It provides an opportunity to build credit by reporting your payments to major credit bureaus. Additionally, it provides online account access, making it quite simple to manage your card and make payments at your convenience. And as you use the card responsibly, you may become eligible for credit line increases over time.