Capital One Platinum Secured

The Platinum Secured is a credit building card rather than a rewards card, and it should be judged on that job alone. Capital One asks for a refundable security deposit of $49, $99 or $200 and charges no annual fee. The deposit structure is the unusual part: most secured cards require a deposit equal to the credit line, while this one can open an account for less than the line it grants. That matters a great deal to someone rebuilding credit precisely because cash is tight. It is a Mastercard, and it is aimed at applicants with no credit history or damaged credit rather than at anyone shopping on rewards. There are no rewards and no welcome bonus, and pretending otherwise would misread the product. The return here is the credit file itself. Used the way a credit builder should be used, with one small recurring charge, autopay set to the full statement balance and utilization kept low, the account reports payment history month after month and rebuilds the two things a thin or damaged file lacks: age and demonstrated repayment. The deposit is refundable, so that money is parked rather than spent, and it comes back when the account is closed in good standing or upgraded. Because the annual fee is $0, there is nothing to earn back, and that is the strongest argument for this card over the secured and subprime cards that stack monthly maintenance fees, program fees or annual fees on top of a deposit. Our verified data does not include a regular APR range or an intro APR offer for this card, so read the issuer's current terms before you consider carrying anything at all. In practice the APR should be beside the point: a card taken to rebuild credit is a card you pay in full every month, and interest on a small line will swamp any benefit long before a score moves. Do not take this card if you already qualify for an unsecured card, because you would be locking up cash for nothing in return. Do not take it if you cannot reliably pay in full, since the entire exercise is proving that you can. And do not expect a rewards card experience: there is no cash back, no bonus and no earning of any kind. Its whole value is the door it opens to better cards eighteen months from now.