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The Credit One Secured Card is a reasonable option if you want to build or rebuild credit without forgoing rewards. It has a 1% cashback rate for various categories, including groceries and gas, and no annual fees or account-opening fees.
Because it’s a secured card, you’ll have to pay a security deposit. But the good news is that the money will be earning interest for you while it’s sitting in a Credit One bank account.
Quick Review
If you’re looking to build or rebuild your credit with no annual fees, the Credit One Secured Card is a good way to get started. Like many credit cards for bad credit scores or limited credit, it’s secured—meaning that you’ll have to pay a security deposit. However, unlike with some secured cards, your deposit won’t just sit around doing nothing; it’ll be earning interest for you while it’s in the bank.
Meanwhile, you’ll get credit reporting to all three major bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. So if you use your card responsibly and make timely payments, it’ll help your credit a lot.
Unfortunately, the Credit One website doesn’t say anything about whether you’ll be able to upgrade to an unsecured card if you keep your account in good standing. It does mention automatic reviews for credit line increases, but doesn’t specify whether these would be unsecured or secured credit line increases (i.e., it’s not clear whether you’d have to pay more deposit money). So if you’re looking to graduate from secured credit as quickly as possible, the Credit One Secured Card may not be the best option.
However, it’s still a reasonable card and worth considering, given the low fees. And you can even earn 1% cashback rewards on certain purchases, including:
- Groceries
- Gas
- Monthly cell phone bills
- Internet
- Cable
- Satellite TV services
Credit One Secured Card Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Credit card issuer: Credit One Bank
- APR: 26.99% (variable)
- Annual fee: $0
- Grace period: 24 days
- Rewards rate: Up to 1%
- Minimum initial credit limit: $200
Additional Information
- Automatic account reviews for credit line increases.
- Credit card compatible with Apple pay and Google pay.
- Your security deposit account earns interest.
- Flexible due dates.
- Free credit scores.
- Optional credit protection.
- Free identity theft monitoring tools from Experian (e.g., Social Security number monitoring, credit card monitoring, and lost wallet assistance).
- Zero fraud liability.
Credit One Secured Card Feature Breakdown
Fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Cash advance fee: $5 or 8% of the amount (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: $1 or 3% of the amount (whichever is greater)
- Late/returned payment fee: Up to $39
- Authorized user card fee: $19 annually
Notably, this card has no annual fee. However, the fees for authorized users (where you add other cardholders to your account) and cash advances (where you use your card to withdraw money from an ATM) are quite high, so be careful about using these features.
Interest Rates
- Purchase APR: 26.99% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 26.99% (variable)
- Minimum interest charge: $1.00
The Credit One Secured Card APR is relatively high, though it’s on par with other credit cards for credit rebuilders. However, it’s not recommendable to carry a balance on this card, as interest charges can stack up quickly.
Grace Period
A credit card grace period is a window of time after each billing cycle when you can pay off the debts in full without any interest charges. The Credit One Secured Card has a 24-day grace period, starting on the first day of each new billing cycle.
If you pay your Credit One bill in full by the due date, your account won’t incur any interest for purchases you make during the grace period. On the other hand, if you carry a balance from previous billing cycles, you’ll pay interest on top of any credit card payments you make during the grace period.
Security Deposit
A credit card security deposit is a sum of money that you have to pay when you open a secured credit card account.
Credit One requires a deposit for the Credit One Secured Card, and they can keep this money if you fail to make your minimum payment each month. In this case, the minimum deposit amount is $200, and the amount you pay will become your credit limit.
Your deposit will be placed in an account and returned when you close your card. You’ll even earn interest on this account (which isn’t a common perk when you pay a credit card security deposit). 1
Rewards
Not many credit cards for building or rebuilding credit offer rewards programs. However, Credit One has such a program, although it includes only certain types of purchases.
You’ll get:
- 1% cash back on eligible groceries and gas as well as your monthly cellphone, internet, cable, and satellite TV services
- 10% cash back rewards from top retailers through special offers in Credit One’s “More Program”
When you earn rewards, Credit One will automatically add them to your account as a statement credit after each billing cycle.
Cash Advances
A cash advance is when you use your credit card to take out money at an ATM. Not all credit cards work for withdrawing money, and the ones that do usually charge fairly high fees for it.
The Credit One Secured Card charges particularly high fees—usually 8%. So if you’re planning to make cash advances on a frequent basis, look for another card with lower cash advance fees, or use a debit card only for withdrawing funds.
It’s also worth noting that credit cards won’t give you a grace period for cash advances as they normally do with purchases. Instead, the debt from your cash withdrawals starts to accumulate interest immediately. As such, cash advances are expensive and best avoided.
Balance Transfers
A credit card balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another, and it’s a common form of debt consolidation. Secured cards aren’t usually ideal for balance transfers, since they often limit your credit to the amount you’ve paid as a security deposit.
The Credit One Secured Card doesn’t allow balance transfers at all. If you’re looking for a way to consolidate your debts, you’ll have to find a different card—ideally one with a cheap balance transfer fee and a low balance transfer APR.
Foreign Transactions
Many credit cards charge foreign transaction fees when you make purchases abroad or shop on non-US websites, for example. This fee is often 1%–3% of the transaction amount.
The foreign transaction fee on the Credit One Secured Card is 3% of the transaction amount (or a minimum of $1). 3% is a fairly standard amount, but these kinds of fees can add up after a while. So if you’re looking for a card you can use abroad, keep shopping around for other credit cards with no foreign transaction fees.
Credit Limit
Your credit limit on the Credit One Secured Card will be equivalent to the security deposit you pay. This must be at least $200.
Later on, you may be able to get a credit limit increase from Credit One, as they do automatic reviews to check whether you’re eligible for a higher credit limit. However, they don’t specify whether credit limit increases will be secured or unsecured (namely, whether you’ll have to pay more deposit) or how often these increases will potentially happen.
Nonetheless, if you want to maximize your chances of getting a credit limit increase, you should make sure you pay your bills on time and, if possible, look for ways to improve your credit.
Credit Reporting and Credit Building
Credit reporting is crucial for credit building. Your credit report consists of whatever information your lenders send to the credit bureaus at the end of each month.
However, your lenders don’t legally have to report your credit history in this way. Some lenders report to only one or two credit bureaus; some don’t report to any at all.
Fortunately, Credit One regularly reports to the credit bureaus. It reports to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Because the Credit One Secured Card has regular three-bureau credit reporting, it’s very helpful for credit building. But make sure you remember to pay your bills on time, as your credit may suffer otherwise.
In addition to credit reporting, the Credit One Secured Card has some other features that make it easier for you to build and manage your credit:
- Flexible due dates
- Free credit score access
- A free summary of your credit report each month
- Optional credit protection (which allows you to pay for a type of insurance that will cover some or all of your credit card bill if you lose your job, become disabled, or pass away).
Approval Odds
The Credit One Secured Card is advertised as a way to build or rebuild your credit. This means it’s likely suitable for holders of limited credit. And it’s also likely to be available to holders of lower credit scores—potentially even bad credit holders.
Application
To apply for the Credit One Secured Card, start by doing the prequalification process online. This will give you an idea of whether you’re likely to be approved if you apply and whether you should risk staining your credit report with a hard inquiry (a type of credit check that usually lowers your credit score by a few points).
If you’ve already received a pre-approved credit card offer in the mail, go to Credit One’s Accept Mail Offer page to proceed with the next stage of the application.
You can then check on the status of your application by visiting Application Status.
Customer Service
If you need help with your Credit One card, the phone number for customer service is (877) 825-3242 or (702) 405-2042 outside the US.
You can also write to Credit One at the address for general correspondence, which is:
Credit One Bank
P.O. Box 98873
Las Vegas, NV 89193-8873
Authorized Users
You can add authorized users to your Credit One Secured Card account, but it’s not free of charge. You’ll have to pay $19 per year per additional cardholder.
If you want to add other people to your credit card account, it’ll be cheaper to look for cards that let you add authorized users without a fee.
Should You Get the Credit One Secured Card?
FinanceJar verdict
The Credit One Secured Card is definitely a contender if you have limited or poor credit. It’s not too common to see cashback rewards in this tier, so this card is among the better credit card options available for credit builders and rebuilders.
Who is this card for?
- Borrowers who need help with their credit: Because the Credit One Secured Card is secured (meaning that Credit One doesn’t risk too much when they open new accounts), it’s more accessible to people with bad or limited credit. If you’re struggling to get approved for unsecured credit cards, secured cards like this one are a good alternative. Credit One’s comprehensive credit reporting will also help you to improve your score with all the major bureaus.
- Rewards-seekers with less-than-ideal credit: If you have poor credit or limited credit, it’s harder to qualify for cards that offer rewards. However, even if your credit is lackluster, the Credit One Secured Card poses a good opportunity to earn cash back in the form of statement credits.
Comparable Cards
To decide whether the Credit One Secured Card is a good fit for you, let’s compare it to three other secured cards you could apply for.
