

Some secured cards offer cash-back rewards, even with a rewards match at the end of your first year. No bonus offers or rewards program: This is strictly a card for receiving credit and building your credit score, not one for earning rewards or introductory perks. Many other secured cards similarly lean on extras, but there are exceptions.Capital One says they will review your credit limit after six months. That said, this card has an unusually rapid process for increasing the credit limit. You do, however, need to pony up a deposit that’s equal to those sums to secure the high credit limit. When you first get the card, you can boost the initial $200 limit by up to $800, provided you deposit an amount equal to the additional credit you want. But an initial credit limit of even $1,000 still falls short of the $2,500 or even $5,000 allowed by some other secured credit cards. Relatively low initial credit limit: While the requirements to receive the Capital One Platinum Secured are relatively low, so is the credit limit you can receive from the card, at least initially.Capital One Platinum Secured is not among those cards payments must be made from a bank account.


In other words, the kind of people who may turn to a secured credit card to build that very financial track record. Acknowledging that some people are unbanked, select secured cards allow you to leave a security deposit or pay bills through such options as money orders and cash payments made at major retail chains. Requires a bank account: Opening a bank account can be challenging for those who are still building credit, perhaps because they are new to living in the United States.Still, it's welcome nonetheless, since it allows you to apply all available funds when getting the card to your security deposit, which in turn maximizes your credit limit. More unusual is this card's absence of a fee on foreign transactions, which many cards-both unsecured and secured-levy a charge of 2.7% or 3% on purchases you make when abroad or from foreign online sellers. No annual or foreign-transaction fees: You pay nothing to get this card, other than a refundable security deposit.Each payment must be at least $20, in a whole dollar denomination, and you need to have reached the entire deposit amount no more than 35 days after being approved for the card. The Capital One Platinum Secured allows you to pay that deposit in installments. Security deposit can be paid in installments: For those on limited incomes-which describes many, if not most, people who receive secured credit cards-it can be a financial stretch to amass the deposit required to get a secured credit card.Other applicants with better qualifications, though, may only need to put down $49 or $99 to receive the same credit line. That might be the case for some people who receive the Capital One Platinum Secured, too they’ll need a $200 deposit to be granted the card's $200 initial credit limit. Credit limit can be larger than your security deposit: As a rule, secured cards offer an initial credit line that’s only as big as the security deposit you put down before you get the card.
