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Like many cards for building or rebuilding credit, the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® requires a security deposit. However, unlike many such cards, it comes with high cashback rewards rates of up to 5%.
If you keep your account in good standing, you may also be able to automatically graduate to the unsecured version of this card and get your deposit back. This will be appealing for borrowers who are struggling to qualify for unsecured credit.
Aside from the security deposit requirement, there are a couple of other drawbacks to consider with the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa®.
Quick Review
The U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® is a low-cost card for building or rebuilding your credit. It has no annual fees or account-opening fees, but you’ll still need to pay money upfront for the security deposit, where the deposit amount will determine your credit line.
The good news is that you may eventually be able to get your deposit back. If you keep up with payments and spend within your credit limit, U.S. Bank says that you may be able to graduate from the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® to the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature®, which is unsecured—meaning that it doesn’t require a security deposit.
And in the interim, your security deposit account will be earning interest, which rarely happens with secured credit cards.
Security deposits aside, the most notable feature of the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® is the high cashback rewards. It’s not that common to find cards with cashback rewards in this credit score tier. And it’s even less common to find 1%–5% cashback rates like you get with the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa®.
On the downside, this card has high interest rates for all types of transactions, so it can get expensive if you don’t repay all your debts in full at the end of each month. But if you can avoid leaving a balance on your card, the rewards will make it a very lucrative addition to your wallet.
U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Credit card issuer: U.S. Bank
- Purchase APR: 18.24%–28.24% (variable)
- Annual fee: $0
- Rewards rate: 1%–5%
- Security deposit: $300–$5,000
- Credit limit: $300–$5,000
- Grace period: 24–30 days
Additional Information
- Credit limit from $300–$5,000 and dependent on your deposit.
- Cash advances are available.
- Balance transfers are available.
- Foreign transactions are available.
- Due dates are flexible.
- No authorized users.
- Credit reporting to all three bureaus.
- Access to free VantageScore 3.0 credit scores.
- Zero fraud liability.
- Roadside dispatch as a cardholder benefit (emergency roadside assistance with services like towing, fuel delivery, and more).
U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® Credit Card Feature Breakdown
In this section, we’ll look at some of the most important features of the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card.
Fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Cash advance fee: $5–$10 or 3%–5% (whichever is greater)
- Balance transfer fee: $5 or 3% (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: 3%
- Late/returned payment fee: Up to $41
Interest Rates
- Purchase APR: 18.24%–28.24% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 18.24%–28.24% (variable)
- Balance transfer APR: 18.24%–28.24% (variable)
- Minimum interest charge: $1
- Penalty APR: None
If you don’t pay off your U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card balance in full each month, you’ll be charged interest. The interest you’ll pay each year depends on your credit card APR.
Notably, the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® doesn’t impose a penalty APR, which is an increased APR that often applies if you’re late with payments. However, the regular APR is already high, so it’s not a good idea to use this card for taking money out at cash machines or for carrying a balance (where you keep some debt on your card from previous months).
Grace Period
The U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® has a grace period of 24–30 days (beginning on the first day of the new billing cycle). The credit card grace period is extra time between the end of your billing cycle and the payment due date. During this time you can repay whatever you’ve borrowed in full and avoid paying interest.
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 U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® offers generous rewards. However, to really benefit, you’ll need to choose two Cash+® Categories each quarter. If you don’t choose these, you’ll just earn 1% cash back on most purchases. Here’s how the rewards work:
- 5% cash back on Cash+ Categories
- 5% cash back on air, hotel, and car reservations when you pay for them through the U.S. Bank Rewards Travel Center
- 2% cash back on groceries, dining, gas, or EVM charging stations (select from the 4 options each quarter to earn on that category)
- 1% cash back on everything else
For earnings in the Cash+ Categories, you’ll get this 5% rate on the first $2,000 you spend each quarter from the two categories combined (and 1% on everything you spend over $2,000).
Here are the Cash+ Categories you can choose from (though these may not all be available every quarter):
- Fast food
- Home utilities
- TV, internet, and streaming services
- Department stores
- Cell phone providers
- Electronic stores
- Sporting goods stores
- Movie theaters
- Gyms / fitness centers
- Furniture stores
- Select clothing stores
- Ground transportation (e.g., bus tickets, train tickets, or taxi fares)
Redemption
After you’ve earned cashback rewards on your U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa®, you can redeem them in a number of different ways:
- As a statement credit
- As a deposit into your U.S. Bank deposit account
- As a U.S. Bank Rewards Card (a non-reloadable prepaid card that you can use for purchases and bills)
There’s a minimum cashback redemption amount of $25, and you can only redeem cash back on the U.S. Bank Rewards Cards in $5 increments.
Other Benefits
The U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® Credit Card includes the following benefits:
- Roadside dispatch: This enrolls you in a pay-per-use emergency roadside assistance program (e.g., for fuel delivery or towing).
- Visa Offers + Perks: This gives you savings and discounts on food and wine, shopping, entertainment, sports, and more.
- NortonLifeLock: This gives you access to tools that protect you against identity theft, including Equifax credit monitoring alerts, stolen wallet assistance, and monitoring of the dark web for any fraudulent use of your personal information.
- Shipt: You can sign up for a month of free Shipt membership (a service that you can use to get groceries and other household essentials delivered to your home), followed by 3 months of discounted membership at 50% off and free delivery on orders over $35.
Cash Advances
You can use the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card for various types of cash advances. However, there are also cash advance fees, which are as follows:
- Convenience check cash advance: These are like blank checks that you can use to make purchases or to pay off balances on your other credit cards, for example. If you use this kind of cash advance, the fee is either 3% of the amount of each advance or $5 (whichever is greater).
- Cash advance/cash advance ATM: This type of cash advance lets you use your credit card to take out money at a bank or ATM. 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, such as cryptocurrency, traveler’s checks, or money orders. The fee for cash-like transactions is either 5% of the amount of each advance or $10 (whichever is greater).
It’s also important to note that, when you take out cash advances, you won’t get a grace period like you normally do with credit card purchases. Instead, the money you owe for cash advances begins to accumulate interest immediately, so they’re quite expensive and usually best avoided.
Balance Transfers
A credit card balance transfer is a way of moving debt from one credit card to another and is a common form of debt consolidation.
Although the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® offers balance transfers, it’s not really ideal for this purpose, given that it limits your credit line to the size of your security deposit. There’s also a high balance transfer APR, so balance transfers will accumulate a lot of interest charges.
- Balance transfer APR: 18.24%–28.24% (variable)
- Balance transfer fee: 3% or $5 (whichever is greater)
If you’re looking for a balance transfer credit card, consider other cards with lower balance transfer APR.
Security Deposit
Secured credit cards require a security deposit, and the deposit amount will usually determine your credit limit. With the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa®, the security deposit can be between $300 and $5,000.
When you hand over this money, it’ll go into an account where it’ll earn interest. Not all secured credit cards give you interest on your security deposit, so this is a nice perk.
Credit Limit
The U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card will give you a credit limit of $300–$5,000 according to the amount you pay as a security deposit. $5,000 is a comparatively high maximum credit limit, and a high credit limit can benefit your credit score by making it easier to limit your credit utilization rate (a metric that’s based on the proportion of your total credit that you’re using, where a lower proportion is better for your score).
Credit Limit Increases
It’s also possible to increase your credit limit after you’ve opened your account. You can do this after 6 months as long as you keep your account in good standing and don’t go over the $5,000 limit.
Credit Reporting and Credit Building
Credit reporting is important for credit building. Your credit report consists of the information that your lenders pass on to the credit bureaus.
There are three major credit bureaus that lenders can report to. However, credit reporting isn’t a legal requirement. Some lenders report to only one or two bureaus, or to none at all.
Fortunately, the U.S. Bank reports to all three credit bureaus, so you’ll be able to improve your three most important credit scores.
Approval Odds
In general, secured credit cards are low risk to lenders. With a secured credit card, your approval odds are better than they would be for an unsecured credit card.
According to the website, U.S. Bank’s secured credit cards are generally for borrowers who are “looking to build or rebuild their credit with responsible use with fair credit score ranges.” This suggests that you’ll have a chance of being approved even if your credit score isn’t good or excellent.
Application and Approval
You can apply for a U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card on the U.S. Bank website.
When you apply, you’ll have to provide some personal information, which U.S. Bank will then use to decide whether you qualify for a credit card. This process will probably include a credit check, and the response may take 7–10 business days.
Customer Service
For help with your U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa®, call the customer service phone number on the back of your card. Alternatively, use the general customer service number for U.S. Bank credit cards: (800) 285-8585.
For less urgent general inquiries and correspondence, you can also email [email protected].
Adding Authorized Users
Unfortunately, you can’t add authorized users to your U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa®. Most U.S. Bank credit cards allow you to add authorized users, but secured credit card accounts are one of the exceptions.
Should You Get the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® Credit Card?
FinanceJar Verdict
If you have fair credit and like collecting cashback rewards, you should get the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card. However, to benefit fully, you’ll have to remember to sign up for the bonus points categories quarterly and potentially monitor your spending to work out where you make the most purchases.
If that sounds too much like hard work, consider lower maintenance cards. For example, some cards have a higher flat cashback rate for all spending, whereas others consistently give you a 2%–3% rate for purchases in popular categories like gas and groceries.
Who is this card for?
- Borrowers who struggle to get approved for unsecured cards: Secured cards give you a higher chance of approval if you have a lower credit score, so the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® is a good option to try if you’re having trouble getting approved for unsecured credit cards. But be warned that there will probably be a credit check, which could knock a few points off your credit score. If this is a problem for you, try looking for no-credit-check credit cards instead.
- Students: As this card is suitable for building credit, it’s a good option for students who haven’t yet established much credit history. However, international students won’t usually be eligible, and students who are going abroad should also look for alternatives, since this card has foreign transaction fees.
- Other borrowers with limited credit: As this card is suitable for building credit and reports to the major credit bureaus, it’s a good choice for young people who haven’t had long enough to establish their credit histories.
Comparable Cards
To help you decide whether the U.S. Bank Cash+® Secured Visa® credit card is suitable for you, let’s see how it compares to three other secured credit cards.
