Credit Cards Balance Transfer Cards

Secured Visa Credit Card Review

overall rating
2.7

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Verified by Katrina Munichiello
Updated May 03, 2022

The Secured Visa Credit Card from First National Bank of Omaha provides a low ongoing APR, but it is available only to residents of select states.

Secured Visa® Credit Card

Overall Rating
2.7
Secured Visa® Credit Card
Next Steps
On FNBO's Secured Site.
Recommended Credit
Score Our recommended ranges are based off of the FICO® Score 8 credit-scoring model. Credit score is one of the many factors lenders review in considering your application.
350 579
580 669
670 739
740 799
800 850
Excellent
Regular APR (%) 20.49% variable
Annual Fee $0
Balance Transfer Fee Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Rewards Earning Rate This card does not offer a rewards program.
how this card stacks up
When compared among all balance transfer cards in our database:
Low Introductory Interest
Low Fees
Low Long Term Interest
Security/Customer Experience
Benefits
worst best
Read our full methodology.

The Secured Visa Credit Card is not one of our top-rated balance transfer credit cards. You can review our list of the best balance transfer credit cards for what we think are better options.

Full Review of Secured Visa Credit Card

table of contents
Pros

  • Low ongoing APR

Cons

  • No interest-free period for purchases

  • Limited availability

Pros Explained

  • Low Ongoing APR: The ongoing APR on this card is low compared to other balance transfer cards. Once the 0% introductory period expires, you'll be charged up to 20.49%, depending on creditworthiness. If your credit is solid enough to qualify for the low end of that range, you'll have one of the lowest APRs on purchases available.

Cons Explained

  • No Interest-Free Period for Purchases: Even though the Secured Visa Credit Card has a low ongoing APR for balance transfers, its lack of an interest-free period for purchases puts this card at a disadvantage. Several balance transfer cards on the market offer a 0% introductory period for purchases in addition to balance transfers.
  • Limited Availability: You don’t have to be a First National Bank of Omaha customer to apply for this card, but it's only available in select states—Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

This Card is Best For

  • Avatar for Annual Fee Averse Persona
    Resists or refuses an annual fee on principle or due to cost
    Annual Fee Averse
  • Avatar for Balance Carrier Persona
    Tends to pay less than balance in full and so accumulates debt on card
    Balance Carrier

The Secured Visa Credit Card card is most appealing for those who live in one of the states where it's available. This card also is suited to those who aren't concerned with earning cash back or points, since it doesn’t offer rewards.

Secured Visa Credit Card One-Time Offer

The Secured Visa Credit Card does not offer a welcome bonus at this time.

Several cards on the market have more lucrative bonus offers, albeit with higher spending requirements. For example, the Bank of America Cash Rewards credit card comes with a 15-month, 0% introductory period for balance transfers and offers a $200 bonus after making at least $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of opening an account.

Standard Benefits

  • Fraud protection
  • Free FICO score
  • Zero liability for fraudulent charges
  • Chip-enabled technology

Cardholder Experience

First National Bank of Omaha ranked among the best banks in the Lower Midwest in J.D. Power's 2021 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. Its score of 826 was fourth overall in the region and 11 points better than the Region average.

Cardholders can get in touch with the customer service department by calling 888-530-3626, visiting a local branch, or sending a secure email through their account. Customers can also Tweet questions and comments to @FNBO on Twitter.

Security Features

This card has several built-in security features standard in the industry. Cardholders get 24/7 fraud protection, fraud alerts, chip-enhanced technology, and zero-fraud liability. It also provides a free FICO score each month.

Fees to Watch out For

This card has a balance transfer fee of $10 or 5% of the amount of each transfer. Balance transfer fees are typical, but this card’s fee is higher than others. All other fees on this card are in line with industry standards.

Our Verdict

The Secured Visa Credit Card's limited availability puts it at a disadvantage to competing cards.

If you won't qualify for this card because of where you live, you may want to consider a card with broader availability. The Citi Simplicity card, for example, has an 18-month 0% introductory period and is available to applicants throughout the United States.

You also may consider a balance transfer card that allows you to earn rewards. The Citi Double Cash card, for example, offers an 18-month 0% APR introductory period and a compelling cash back offer—1% cash back when you make the purchase and another 1% cash back when you pay it off.

Next Steps
For Secured Visa® Credit Card
on FNBO's Secured Site.
Compare This Card
See how this card compares to similar cards
CURRENT CARD
Secured Visa® Credit Card
overall rating
2.7
Secured Visa® Credit Card
Next Steps Full Review
Recommended Credit
Score Our recommended ranges are based off of the FICO® Score 8 credit-scoring model. Credit score is one of the many factors lenders review in considering your application.
350 579
580 669
670 739
740 799
800 850
Excellent
Regular APR (%) 20.49% variable
Annual Fee $0
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Investopedia Credit Card Rating Methodology
Investopedia is committed to delivering the best credit card recommendations in the industry. We’ll tell you when a card is good, we’ll tell you when a card is bad, and we’ll only call a card the best if we would recommend it to our friends or family members.
Overall Star Rating Explained
To rate credit cards we objectively assess, score and weight nearly 100 individual card features which roll up into five major feature sets: fees, interest, rewards, benefits and security/customer service. Here’s how we weighted those feature sets for the overall star rating of a card:
We have applied our proprietary rating methodology to every generally-accepted credit card in the U.S. domestic market to allow consumers to make fully informed choices. It’s important to note that for our overall score that we make a number of assumptions about how you would be using your credit card:
  1. While we make no assumption as to whether balances are carried on a given card we do assign varying weights to all credit cards’ introductory APR (if present) in addition to the regular, long term purchase and balance transfer interest rates.
  2. We utilize BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) income and average category spending data to calculate annual earnings rates for rewards cards that offer cash back, points or miles rewards at a set rate on all spending or in consideration of bonus rewards for certain spending categories, like gasoline, groceries, restaurants or travel.
  3. We determine the maximum points value of rewards cards by dividing the points, cash back or miles required to exchange for the retail price of the most valuable redemption option (for example, in the case of a card that offers a domestic roundtrip airline ticket as a redemption option vs. another redemption option of lesser value that requires the same amount of points or miles to acquire, we would base the rewards value on the airline ticket).
  • Cards that are selected best overall in their respective categories generally feature most if not all of the following attributes:
  • Low or Reasonable Fees Credit card fees come in many forms but the primary ones involve those for annual card membership and balance transfer. There are a myriad of reward and non-reward card options that charge no annual fee but for the many that do assess an annual fee the cost is often justified by their lucrative ongoing rewards and initial signup bonuses. Balance transfer fees are occasionally waived during introductory periods with certain cards, a factor which is heavily and positively weighted in our scoring model for cards offering this benefit. When charged, balance transfer fees range between 3% - 5%, which we grade accordingly. Other standard fees can generally be avoided, such as those for paying late or taking cash advances but we rate those relative to other cards in the market for reference, though with less weight assigned
  • Competitive Interest Many cards offer 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for varying lengths and then revert to a permanent or regular APR (based on a variable rate tied to the prime rate) that applies to any balances not paid in full. We rate both introductory APR percentage and length (in months) along with the midpoint of the variable regular APR interest rate range.
  • Valuable Rewards Credit card reward programs can be based on cash back, points or travel rewards (which can be generic or travel partner-specific, as with airline and hotel co-brand card programs). For cards that offer rewards we determine the value per dollar spent along with average redemption values and assign more favorable ratings to cards that offer superior consumer value. We also assign value to sign-up bonus offers and their initial spending requirements, when present.
  • Excellent Benefits Credit card benefits cover a range of offerings like concierge service, TSA Pre-check, auto rental coverage, travel accident insurance, lost luggage assistance and free credit scores. We rate cards on the number and level of over a dozen standard and upscale benefits and provide extra weighting emphasis for those travel-related perks that apply to premium travel cards when present.
  • Solid Security/Customer Service Security and customer service features like lost or stolen card replacement, being able to lock one’s card from an issuer app and 24 hour customer support are becoming more standard across the card market and we provide a significant amount of weighting to features in this area.
  • You can also read the full version of our methodology for a more in-depth look at how we assess cards and award them the best in various categories.