Wells Fargo Secured Visa Card Review

 Card Stats:

Minimum Security Deposit: $300
Maximum Security Deposit: $10,000

Interest Rate: 18.99%
Introductory Interest Rate: None
Grace Period: 25 days
Foreign Transaction Fees: 3% of each transaction converted to U.S. dollars
Annual Fees:  $25
Application Fees: None
Rewards Program: None
Signing Promotion: None
Interest Earned on Security Deposit: No

Other Features:

• Free e-mail alert when you approach your credit limit
• Easily track expenses, built in tools to see where card holders are spending their money and the option to create a budget
• Zero Liability program
• Overdraft Protection
• Cellular Telephone Protection
• Rapid Alerts
• Verified by Visa ®
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Emergency card replacement
• Roadside dispatch
• Travel and emergency assistance services

Editor’s Review

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

This card used to be one of the most popular secured cards on the market. Thankfully as more card issuers entered the market this is no longer the case. It’s processed by Visa.

Annual Fees

There is an annual fee of $25, this is on the lower side of annual fees for secured cards but there are a number of cards that have lower annual fees (six of which have no annual fee for the first year, three of these have no annual fee ever).

APRs

This card has an APR of 18.99% which is one of the higher APRs currently available for secured credit cards. These cards usually have lower APRs than traditional cards due to their being less risk for lenders.

Rewards Program

This card unfortunately does not offer a rewards program.

[Read: Secured Credit Cards With Rewards Programs]

Credit Reporting

This card reports to all three nationwide credit bureaus, this card is reported as “secure” to all of these credit bureaus.

Adding Funds

It’s possible to add funds to a Wells Fargo secured card to increase the credit limit on that card (up to a $10,000 maximum). Card holders must call Wells Fargo to add funds, this doesn’t result in a hard pull of the card holders credit report.

Upgrading To An Unsecured Card

Wells Fargo has a weird graduation schedule, they seem to only upgrade cards twice a year (once in April and then again in October). Most people who are graduated to an unsecured card have had their secured card for a minimum of twelve months, with some people having to wait until the 3 year mark before they were finally graduated.

When they do graduate, they are given the Wells Fargo Platinum Visa Card which has no annual fee, but no rewards program. There is no hard credit pull done for graduation and the same credit history shows (e.g the account age stays the same).

Approval

Wells Fargo will approve most applicants for this card as it has a security deposit. The only exception is people who have a bankruptcy on file.

Final Verdict

This card isn’t the worst card on the market, but the fact it has an annual fee, no rewards program and also an unreliable graduation to an unsecured card makes the decision to apply for another card easy. If you’re unsure what card you should apply for instead of this, we suggest reading our best secured card article.

If you still want to apply you can do so below.

Apply for Wells Fargo Secured Visa Card