Capital One® Secured MasterCard Review

 Card Stats:

Minimum Security Deposit: $49, $99 or $200
Maximum Security Deposit: $3,000

Interest Rate: 22.90%
Introductory Interest Rate: None
Grace Period: 25 days
Foreign Transaction Fees: Not listed
Annual Fees: $29
Application Fees: None
Rewards Program: None
Signing Promotion: None
Interest Earned on Security Deposit: No

Other Features:

Editor’s Review

This review was provided by William Charles, editor of Doctor of Credit. 

This offering by Capital One is far from remarkable, there are plenty of better options in the market. Read the full review to find out why below. This card is the only partially secured credit card on the market (security deposit doesn’t necessarily match the credit limit) but this is only available to people who are approved for the $49 or $99 security deposits. Regardless of the security deposit ($49, $99 or $200) the initial credit limit will be $200.

Annual Fees

This card comes with an annual fee of $29, other cards are available with no annual fee (either waived for the first year or free every year).

[Read: Secured Credit Cards With No Annual Fees]

APRs

This card has an APR of 22.90% which is very high for a secured card (these cards have lower APRs than regular cards as the lender is taking less risk as they have a security deposit for the credit limit of the card).

Rewards Program

This card does not come with a rewards program. View a full list of secured cards that come with a rewards program.

Credit Reporting

This card reports to all three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax & Experian), it doesn’t report as a secured card which is useful for manual reviews of credit reports when applying for other credit.

Adding Funds

It’s possible to add funds to the security deposit which will increase the credit limit on this card. It takes approximately one week from the funds being taken to see the credit limit increase. We’re unsure if adding funds results in a hard or soft pull.

UPGRADING TO AN UNSECURED CARD

Capital one no longer does graduations to an unsecured card, they also do not unsecure the security deposit. This means that if card holders want their original security deposit back they’ll need to cancel the card which hurts their average age of accounts. This is another reason why the CapOne secured card is not a good option for those wanting to build or rebuild their credit.

Approval

Capital One will approve most applicants for their secured card product. We’ve seen reports of people with recent bankruptcies on file still be approved for this product. If you apply and are rejected, it’s worth calling their reconsideration line to state your case (explain that you’re on the road to rebuilding your credit).

Final Verdict

There are very few reasons to apply for this card, it has an annual fee and no rewards program. Unlike some other credit issuers, this card doesn’t graduate to an unsecured product meaning the funds an applicant puts down as their security deposit are not accessible until they cancel this card (and cancelling cards is the last thing you want to do when you’re trying to improve your credit).

Still want to apply? Use the link found below.

Apply for Capital One® Secured MasterCard