Opensky Secured Visa vs Capital One Secured Credit Card

2 Great Rebuilder Secured Credit Cards

Both the Capital One Secured Mastercard and the Opensky Secured Visa are great rebuilder credit cards and share many great features. They are arguably two of the most popular secured credit cards among consumers. In this comparison, we will compare them side by side and see which is the better card.

The Basics

Opensky Basics

The Opensyky Secured Visa is one of the few secured credit card that does not check your credit when you apply. That means that you will definitely be approved and you will get your card as long as you fund your security deposit. The annual fee is $35 and you can deposit between $200 and $3,000 in security deposit (which determines your credit limit). After 6 months, Opensky will consider increasing your credit limit without the need for additional security deposit and will also consider graduating you to their Opensky Gold Unsecured credit card.

Capital One Secured Mastercard

The Capital One Secured Mastercard has no annual fee. The minimum deposit is $200 though depending on their assessment of your credit, Capital One may only require you to deposit $49 or $99 and still have a minimum credit limit of $200. Like Opensky, your account will be reviewed for a possible credit limit increase with no additional security deposit as soon as 6 months. Capital One has been known to graduate cardholders to their unsecured Platinum Mastercard. Aside from having no annual fee, this card (like all Capital One cards) does not have any foreign transaction fee as well.

Similarities

• Credit Limit Increase - Both Opensky and Capital One will consider you for a credit limit increase as soon as you have the card for 6 months. If your credit limit is increased, there will be no need for additional security deposit, making both these cards partially secured credit cards.


• Graduate to Unsecured - Both Opensky and Capital One may graduate you to their unsecured credit cards.

Differences

• Partially Secured from the start - Though both cards may increase your credit limit without needing any additional security deposit, Capital One may start off as a partially secured credit card from the get go. The reason is that you may only be required to put up $49 or $99 in security deposit for a $200 credit line.


• No credit check vs pre-approval - The Opensky Secured Visa does not perform any credit checks and you will definitely be approved. The Capital One Secured credit card on the other hand allows you to go through a pre-approval process with just a soft pull with no impact on your credit score. But you may not be pre-approved.


• Annual Fee and Foreign Transaction Fee - The Capital One Secured Mastercard has no annual fee or foreign transaction fee. In contrast, Opensky has a $35 annual fee and charges a 3% foreign transaction fee.


• Free Credit Score - All Capital One credit cards (including the secured card) provide cardholders with a free Vantage 3.0 score from TransUnion through the program Credit Wise. Opensky does not provide free credit scores for their card members.

Which is better?

Both the Opensky and Capital One secured credit cards have very attractive features like being able to get a credit limit increase with additional secrity deposits and being able to graduate to an unsecured credit card. These features alone make both these cards standout among the many other secured credit cards.

However, the Capital One Secured credit card edges out the Opensky ever so slightly because of the following. Firstly, they have no annual fee or foreign transaction fee. Secondly, you could potentially get a partially secured credit card from the start and only have to put up either a $49 or $99 security deposit but getting a $200 limit. Between the two, I would go for Capital One first. You could go through a pre-approval process and see if you can proceed to get the card.

However, if you have previously "burnt" Capital One, you might not be approved even for their secured card. If you are denied in their pre-approval process, then the Opensky Secured Visa is a fanastic alternative and you will definitely be approved because there are no credit checks. In fact, if you manage to graduate to Opensky's unsecured credit card, you would have saved two hard inquiries.