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The Horizon Secured credit card is for people with less-than-perfect or unestablished credit. To get the card, you’ll have to put down a security deposit between $300 and $5,000, and your deposit determines how much credit you’ll get.
Although you’ll have to pay a security deposit, the card is free from account-opening fees, annual fees, monthly fees, and many of the other fees that come with similar credit cards. Furthermore, your Horizon Secured credit card deposit is refundable, so you can get back the money you pay upfront.
However, the high APR, lack of rewards, and limited benefits are a bit of a letdown, so you may want to keep looking for better credit card deals.
Quick Review
If your credit needs work, a secured credit card like the Horizon Secured is a good solution. Secured credit cards are designed for people who want to improve their credit. They require a security deposit, which usually determines the card’s credit limit, and the lender uses this deposit to make sure you pay your bills.
With the Horizon Secured credit card, you can put down a deposit of $300–$5,000, and get an equivalent credit limit. $5,000 is quite a high maximum credit limit for a secured credit card, which is why it’s one of our favorite guaranteed approval credit cards with $1,000+ credit limits. However, getting such a high limit would require a lot of money upfront.
Other benefits of the Horizon Secured credit card are that it reports to all three credit bureaus, which is great for credit building, and that it offers free credit scores to help you monitor your credit-building progress.
Although it has a security deposit requirement and all the usual fees for features like cash advances and balance transfers, the Horizon Secured credit card has no:
- Processing fees
- Annual fees
- Monthly maintenance fees
- Fees for going over your credit limit
- Penalty APR
On the downside, the Horizon Secured credit card has a high purchase APR of 27.74% (variable). This means you’ll pay a lot of interest if you carry a balance from one month to the next. Unfortunately, high APRs are fairly common in credit cards for bad credit.
All in all, the Horizon Secured credit card is a reasonable option for credit building. As secured credit cards go, it’s fairly inexpensive and offers a highly flexible credit limit. However, there are still better cards available to borrowers with limited or poor credit, so we’d recommend that you shop around before you commit to applying.
Horizon Secured Credit Card Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Credit card issuer: Horizon Bank
- Regular APR: 27.74% (variable)
- Annual fee: $0
- Grace period: 24–30 days
- Initial credit limit: $300–$5,000
Additional Information
- Cash advances are available.
- Foreign transactions are available.
- Balance transfers are available.
- Reporting to all three credit bureaus.
- Authorized users are allowed.
- Partially flexible due dates.
- Free credit scores for account holders.
- Roadside dispatch as a cardholder benefit (emergency roadside assistance with services like towing, fuel delivery, and more).
- Zero fraud liability.
- Emergency assistance for lost or stolen cards.
- Fraud and identity theft protection (including monitoring of your credit report for major changes and of the dark web for any fraudulent use of your personal information).
Horizon Secured Credit Card Feature Breakdown
In this section, we’ll review some important features of the Horizon Secured credit card.
Fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Cash advance transaction fee: 3%–5% or $5–$10 (whichever is greater)
- Balance transfer fee: Either 3% or $5 (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: 2%–3%
- Late/returned payment fee: Up to $41
- Over-limit fee: None
Interest Rates
- Regular APR: 27.74% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 27.49% (variable)
- Balance transfer APR: 27.74% (variable)
- Penalty APR: None
- Minimum interest charge: $1
If you don’t pay your credit card balance in full each month, you’ll be charged interest. The interest rate you’ll be charged depends on your APR (“annual percentage rate”).
Grace Period
The Horizon Secured credit card gives you a 24–30-day grace period (beginning on the first day of the new billing cycle). The grace period allows you time to pay your bills in full without racking up any interest charges on new purchases.
If you pay off your balance in full by the due date, your purchases during the grace period won’t accumulate interest. However, if you carry a balance from previous billing cycles, you’ll have to pay interest on any charges you make to your card during the grace period.
Rewards
The Horizon Secured credit card doesn’t give you any rewards.
While rewards are hard to find in cards for low or limited credit scores, they do exist. For example, Petal credit cards offer cashback rewards to borrowers without credit histories, and the Discover It® Secured credit card has a rewards program for bad-credit borrowers.
Benefits
In terms of benefits, the Horizon Secured credit card offers the following:
- Free credit scores: Free VantageScore credit scores enable you to monitor your credit and see your credit-building progress..
- Zero fraud liability protection: This means that you won’t have to pay for any purchases on your card that you haven’t authorized (e.g., if your card gets lost or stolen).
- Assistance for lost or stolen cards: This lets you report your card lost or stolen and get emergency card replacements. You can also ask for emergency cash advances.
- ID theft protection: This gives you fraud and ID theft protection including dark web monitoring (to check for fraudulent use of your personal information) and one-bureau credit monitoring (to alert you of important changes to your credit report).
- Roadside dispatch: This provides access to a pay-per-use emergency roadside assistance program (e.g., for towing or fuel delivery).
Cash Advances
A credit card cash advance is when you use your credit card to withdraw money from an ATM. Various types of cash advances are allowed on the Horizon Secured credit card.
Note that cash advances don’t benefit from a grace period, so interest will be calculated from the day you make the withdrawal. The cash advance APR is 27.49% (variable).
Cash advance fees also apply. The fees are as follows:
- Convenience check cash advance: These are blank checks that you can use to pay off balances or make purchases. The fee for this kind of cash advance is either 3% of the amount of each advance or $5 (whichever is greater).
- Cash advance/cash advance ATM: This type of cash advance is when you use your card to withdraw money from an ATM or bank. The fee is either 5% of the amount of each advance or $10 (whichever is greater).
- Cash equivalent advance: Cash equivalent items include anything that you can easily use like actual cash (e.g., cryptocurrency, money orders, or traveler’s checks). The fee for cash-like transactions is either 5% of the amount of each advance or $10 (whichever is greater).
Balance Transfers
A balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another (which is a common form of credit card debt consolidation). The Horizon Secured credit card offers balance transfers.
The balance transfer APR is the same as the purchase APR at 27.74% (variable). There’s also a balance transfer fee, which is either 3% of the transfer amount or $5 (whichever is greater).
Security Deposit
When you open a Horizon Secured credit card account, you’ll have to pay a security deposit between $300–$5,000. This deposit is refundable, so you will eventually get it back when you close your account.
Credit Limit
The Horizon Secured credit card will give you a credit limit of $300–$5,000 based on your security deposit.
$5,000 is relatively high as a maximum credit limit—good news for credit building, because it makes it easier to maintain a low credit utilization rate (a metric that contributes to your credit score and is based on the proportion of your available credit you’re using).
Credit Reporting
Credit reporting is an important part of building credit, as your credit report is based on the information your lenders send to the credit bureaus.
Lenders aren’t legally required to report your credit history. We contacted the Horizon Bank customer service team and confirmed that they report to the three major bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).
Credit Building
Because the Horizon Secured credit card reports to all three credit bureaus, it’s great for improving your credit score. However, it’s important that you keep up with your monthly payments. Your credit will suffer if Horizon Bank reports late or missed payments on your account.
Credit Score Requirements
The Horizon Secured credit card is marketed as a way to “improve or re-establish your credit history.” We asked a customer service representative about their credit score requirements, and they told us that the card is suitable for people with bad credit. Secured cards are usually also suitable for people with limited credit or no credit history.
FICO scores under 580 are considered to be “bad” or “poor,” so even if your score is lower than this, you may still be eligible for the Horizon Secured credit card. 1
Application and Approval
You can apply for a Horizon Secured credit card on the Horizon Bank Credit Card webpage. You don’t need a Horizon Bank account to apply.
The Horizon Bank customer service team told us they perform a hard inquiry as part of the application for a Horizon Secured credit card. A hard inquiry, also known as a hard pull or hard credit check, is a credit check that leaves a negative mark on your credit report for a limited time.
A hard inquiry will normally knock a few points off your credit score, but it falls off your credit report quickly, so it’s not a major problem.
Managing Your Account
To manage your Horizon Secured credit card online—including making payments—you can sign up for online credit card access. Alternatively, you can download the iOS or Android app.
Note that you’ll have some say in the payment due dates for your Horizon Secured credit card. You’ll be able to choose from several dates, making it easier to organize your finances.
Customer Service
If you need help with your Horizon Secured credit card, you can contact customer service by calling (888) 873-2640.
Alternatively, you can send an email to [email protected] or live chat with Horizon Bank.
Lost or Stolen Cards
If your Horizon Secured credit card is lost or stolen, or if you notice something that looks like unauthorized use of your card, call Visa® on (800) 847-2911.
Authorized Users
Some credit cards allow you to add authorized users to your account, which means that other people such as your partner or children can use your account.
Horizon Bank’s customer service team has confirmed that authorized users are permitted on the Horizon Secured card, but it’s unclear whether or not there are authorized user fees.
Should You Get the Horizon Secured Credit Card?
FinanceJar Verdict
As secured credit cards go, the Horizon Secured credit card is a reasonable choice for credit building, with no annual fees, credit reporting to all three major bureaus, and a comparatively high maximum credit limit (which can benefit your credit score by making it easier to maintain a low credit utilization rate).
However, as there are also no rewards and limited benefits, the Horizon Secured credit card doesn’t offer the best deal on the market. Before you sign up, we’d recommend checking out some of the other options that are available, including:
Who is this card for?
- Bad credit holders: The Horizon Secured credit card is advertised as a way to “improve or re-establish your credit history,” and it’s suitable for people with bad credit. It reports to all three major credit bureaus, which means you’ll build credit across the board. And it also gives you free access to your VantageScore, enabling you to monitor your progress as you work on your credit.
- Anyone struggling to get approved for unsecured credit: Secured credit cards are generally low risk for lenders, so these cards are often more accessible than unsecured alternatives. This means there’s a good chance you’ll be approved for the Horizon Secured credit card even if you’ve been rejected for other cards.
Comparable Cards
To decide whether the Horizon Secured credit card is right for you, take a look at how it measures up against other credit cards on the market.
