Secured credit cards have proven to be an excellent tool for helping people with bruised credit to build their score back to a health level.
With a spending limit tied to a refundable deposit connected to the account, these cards help incentive users to use their card responsibly, in order to build credit and have that deposit returned once graduating to an unsecured card. Some cards will allow you to open an account with an initial balance of your choice but others require a minimum balance. Depending on the card, this initial deposit/balance can be quite high. While this gives you a higher spending limit, it also can prove to be burdensome to someone in a challenging financial situation.
A sub-category of secured credit cards are those which require a small initial deposit. This can be as low as $200, $99 or even $49. Now, this might seem like a very low spending limit. However, when the card companies reports your monthly payments (side note: you’ll want to make sure the card reports to all three major credit bureaus) it won’t matter what your spending limit is, just that you made a timely payment. These initial deposits are refundable and you can continue to make deposits into your account to raise your spending limit.
There are several other factors that will go into choosing the right secured credit card. Fortunately, our editors have done all the research for you and have compiled this list of the best secured credit cards with low deposit requirements to help you decide.
