Credit Cards Secured Cards

OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card Review

overall rating
1.4

A secured credit card that doesn't require a bank account or credit check

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The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card allows people building or rebuilding their credit to apply for a secured credit card without a credit check. The card has a $35 annual fee and reports to all three major credit bureaus. It allows you to set up to a $3,000 credit limit by making an equal-sized security deposit, subject to approval.

OpenSky® Secured Visa®Credit Card

Overall Rating
1.4
OpenSky® Secured Visa®Credit Card
On Capital Bank'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
Poor - Excellent
Regular APR (%) 18.14% variable
Annual Fee $35
Minimum Deposit to Activate $200
Pay deposit in installments Yes
Allows upgrade to unsecured card No
Rewards Earning Rate This card does not offer a rewards program.
how this card stacks up
When compared among all secured cards in our database:
Secured Features
Security/Customer Experience
Low Interest
Rewards
Benefits
worst best

The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card is not one of Investopedia's top rated secured cards. Please see our list of the best secured credit cards for what we consider to be better options.

Full Review of OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card

Pros
  • Bank account not required

  • No credit check required

  • Reports to all three major credit bureaus

  • You set your credit limit, subject to approval

Cons
  • Can’t upgrade to an unsecured card

  • Charges an annual fee

  • Must meet eligibility requirements

  • No credit card rewards

Pros Explained

  • Bank account not required: Other secured cards may require a bank account before you can open an account. This card doesn’t, although not having a bank account can make it challenging to pay your credit card bill.
  • No credit check required: When you have no credit or damaged credit, it can be difficult to get approved for many credit cards. The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card, however, doesn’t check your credit when you apply. Even so, it is possible to be denied the OpenSky Visa card for other reasons.
  • Reports to all three major credit bureaus: Your payment and utilization information will be reported monthly to Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. This gives you the ability to start building or rebuilding your credit, as long as you practice good credit habits, such as paying your bill by the due date each month. It's extremely important to pay your bills on time and to avoid high credit utilization.
  • You set your credit limit, subject to approval: Your credit limit will be equal to your refundable deposit, subject to approval by the company. The minimum deposit amount (and therefore the credit line) is $200. It is possible to have a limit of up to $3,000.

Cons Explained

  • Can’t upgrade to an unsecured card: Secured credit cards often offer the option to graduate to an unsecured credit card after proving yourself a worthy credit risk. The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card does not have that option. You’re locked into the secured credit card as long as you decide to keep your account open. Having a longstanding credit account is considered a plus in determining your credit score. But if you plan to maintain this card as your oldest credit line, you could be stuck paying the annual fee for years.
  • Charges an annual fee: This card charges a $35 annual fee, which isn’t outrageous for a secured credit card. That said, it is possible to find secured credit cards with no annual fee.
  • Must meet eligibility requirements: In order to be eligible for the OpenSky Secured Visa credit card, you must be at least 18 years old; have a valid Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification number; be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident; not have applied for a Capital Bank credit card four or more times in the previous 60 days; not have two or more credit cards open with Capital Bank; be in good standing with Capital Bank if you have or previously had a relationship with the bank.
  • No credit card rewards: This card doesn’t offer credit card rewards, which is true for most secured credit cards. There are rare exceptions, such as the Discover it Secured Credit Card and the Cash Back Secured Credit Card from Bank of America, that allow you to earn cash back on your purchases.

Who This Card Is Best For

The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card may be a good option for people who want to build or rebuild their credit. In particular, it provides a credit opportunity for those who can’t access credit due to negative information on their credit report. This card doesn’t check your credit as part of the application process. 

The ability to select your credit limit, subject to approval, based on the amount of your refundable deposit can help you keep your credit utilization under control. That, along with making on-time payments, may help you establish a good credit score.

Cardholder Experience

Capital Bank N.A., the bank that issues the OpenSky Secured Visa credit card, was not rated in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study

There is an OpenSky app that you can use to manage your account. However, the OpenSky website doesn’t make it easy to find contact information, which may be a worrisome sign of the quality of customer service. That contact information is limited to mailing addresses. You should be able to contact customer service by calling the phone number on the back of your card.

Security Features

The security features for this card are standard for the industry.

Fees to Watch Out For

The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card charges a $35 annual fee. Since you can’t upgrade to a no-fee unsecured version of this card, take that into account before applying. 

Additionally, you may be charged inactive or dormant account fees of $10 per month if your account is closed and the deposit can’t be returned to your last known address. These fees start at 12 months and 36 months of no activity, respectively, after your deposit is returned to the bank.

Final Verdict

The OpenSky Secured Visa credit card may be a good fit if you’re looking for a secured credit card that doesn’t pull your credit when you apply. Because the card reports to all three major credit bureaus, using this card responsibly may help you establish a positive credit history. Additionally, the ability to select your credit limit, subject to approval, by making a refundable deposit of between $200 and $3,000 gives you the flexibility to use the card while maintaining a reasonable credit utilization ratio.

This card does charge a $35 annual fee, doesn’t provide credit card rewards, and doesn’t offer an unsecured card that you can upgrade to in the future. Even so, the card may be worthwhile until your credit profile allows you to get a more useful credit card.

Next Steps
For OpenSky® Secured Visa®Credit Card
on Capital Bank's Secured Site.
Compare This Card
See how this card compares to similar cards
CURRENT CARD
OpenSky® Secured Visa®Credit Card
overall rating
1.4
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
Poor - Excellent
Regular APR (%) 18.14% variable
Annual Fee $35
Minimum Deposit to Activate $200
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.