OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa®: Credit Growth with $0 Annual Fee

In-Depth Review: OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card 

The OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® is a no annual fee secured credit card that can help you build credit with on-time payments each month. Even better, there’s no credit check needed so you can improve your credit without the annual fee.

Who Can Benefit from this Card?

The OpenSky Plus Visa is an ideal credit-building tool from Capital Bank for anyone with a bad or no credit history. Bad credit can have several negative impacts on your life, including tougher odds of receiving new card offers, higher and less favorable loan terms, difficulty in renting apartments, or even the loss of certain job opportunities.

Fortunately, secured credit cards provide a way to break the cycle and Catch-22 of bad credit by providing easier access to credit cards. What makes the Plus version so great is that “plus” is actually “minus” the annual fee. The lack of an annual fee is ideal if you are on a tight budget, as it can save you up to $100+ per year as an account holder versus other secured card options.

How to Get the OpenSky Plus Visa Card

Pre-Qualify with No Credit Impact

Getting a credit card usually requires a credit check. This requirement can sometimes keep those with bad credit from getting a secured credit card. However, Capital Bank (one of the lesser-known financial institutions) realizes this problem and requires no hard pull to approve applicants for the OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa®.

Since the card requires a security deposit, much of the worry of a lender might have been greatly reduced. Capital Bank only needs to verify critical parts of an applicant’s information before approving them – without checking their credit score. So, precisely what information does Capital Bank require from applicants? Here is the basic information you’ll need to pre-qualify for a credit card with OpenSky:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Contact information (phone number, housing address, email)
• Income
• Housing payments
• Social Security Number

Capital Bank has specific requirements as to who can apply for one of its card products. To qualify for the OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card, Applicants must:

• Be at least 18 years old,
• Be a United States citizen or a permanent resident alien,
• Have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
• Have a monthly income that exceeds their monthly bills,
• Not have three (3) or more credit cards with Capital Bank,
• Not have applied for four (4) or more Capital Bank credit cards in the previous 60 days and
• Have a positive payment history with Capital Bank for any existing accounts.

How to Use the OpenSky Plus Visa

Set Your Own Credit Limit

One of the benefits of a secured card is the ability to choose your credit limit. How? Well, secured credit cards require a cash deposit to open, with that deposit also acting as the credit line. With OpenSky Plus, the limit is as low as $300 (the OpenSky Visa starts at $200) and as high as $3,000. Do you feel like you need more available credit to boost your score? Add additional funds through the OpenSky website.

Build or Rebuild Credit with Responsible Use

Cards like the OpenSky Bisa are designed to help users establish a strong, positive credit history with responsible use. Here are some more tips for building credit:

Check and Review Your Credit Reports

1. Check your credit reports from all three of the nationwide consumer reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
2. Check for negative credit information, such as potential fraud or ID theft, accounts in collection, or unpaid balances.

Pay Your Bills on Time

1. Consider setting up automatic payments to avoid accidentally missing a payment.
2. Split monthly payments into two smaller payments to help stretch budgets while ensuring timely payments.

Keep Credit Use Low

1. Keep credit use as low as possible, as credit utilization accounts for roughly 30% of your credit score.
2. Consider a balance transfer credit card if your credit use is increasing and you want to consolidate debt into one new account, typically at 0% Intro APR.

Limit New Applications

Limit any new credit applications to only what is essential, such as applying for a balance transfer credit card.

Keep Old Accounts Open

Don’t close any old, unused accounts, as doing so can lower your average credit utilization.

Regular Reports to the Leading Credit Bureaus

Like other secured cards, Capital Bank reports regularly to the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Making small purchases with the OpenSky credit card and paying them back each month can quickly raise a credit score.

What are the benefits of boosting your credit with OpenSky? How about more funds when you need them most? Your good payment habits can qualify you for a credit line increase every six months, which means faster access to cash when needed. After six on-time payments, you may qualify for an OpenSky Gold Card, an unsecured credit card, meaning you’ll receive your safety deposit back!

Visa Protections and Benefits

Other notable features of the OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa include basic Visa credit card protections and benefits. As the OpenSky Card is a full-fledged Visa, it provides the same perks and protections a cardholder would expect from a Visa product:

• Zero Fraud Liability
• Cardholder Inquiry Services
• Emergency Card Replacement
• Roadside Dispatch and Auto Collision Damage Waiver
• Lost/Stolen Card Reporting
• ID Navigator from Norton

Comparisons

No Annual Fee Secured Card Comparisons

When considering secured credit card options with no annual fees, several notable choices are available, each with its own set of features and requirements. Here’s a comparison of two other popular no annual fee secured cards:

Capital One Platinum Secured

The Capital One Platinum Secured is a popular $0 annual fee secured card from Capital One. The card requires a deposit of either $49, $99 or $200 and can help you improve your credit thanks to regular reporting to the major credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion. Even better, the card provides the opportunity to graduate to unsecured credit in as few as six months.

Citi® Secured Mastercard®

Another popular option is Citi’s Citi® Secured Mastercard®. Like OpenSky and Capital One, the card features regular reporting to the major credit buereaus and the chance at graduating to an unsecured credit card. Unlike the other two, however, that graduation language is fairly vague, meaning you might find more inspiration from either of those options.

OpenSky Comparison

What We Like About OpenSky

OpenSky has been a major player in the secured credit card market for some time – and that longevity means that the card program does many things right.

No Credit Check

The solid features of OpenSky are apparent from the start. When applying, the card requires no credit check, meaning you won’t have to worry about a hard inquiry and quick “ding” on your credit report. Instead, the application process relied on basic information like income, monthly housing costs, and other readily available information.

Security Deposit Flexibility

An underrated feature of the OpenSky Plus Visa is that the security deposit can be paid in installments if needed. OpenSky’s terms and conditions state that the $300 minimum deposit can be made in $25 increments, provided the full amount is paid within 60 days of opening your account. This means that you could theoretically break down your initial security deposit into 12 installments paid every 5 days.

Of course, it is worth noting that if you do not deposit the full $300 minimum within the 60-day window, you must reapply for the OpenSky Visa.

Low APR for Bad Credit

Like other secured credit cards, OpenSky charges a fixed APR on purchases; that rate is significantly lower than an applicant with bad credit can anticipate from an unsecured card. That low-interest rate with OpenSky is useful should you need to carry a balance.

Card Options for Different Budgets

Another great feature of OpenSky is that two secured card options let you determine which is right for you. Those cards are the $35 annual fee  OpenSky® Secured Visa® and the no annual fee OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa®.

The biggest difference between the two cards (beyond the annual fee) is the lower purchase APR with the OpenSky Plus Visa. That APR is about 25% higher than the $35 annual fee version of the card – partly due to the lack of an annual fee.

Things to Consider

No Rewards

The biggest downside of the OpenSky Plus Visa is the lack of rewards. Of course, many will say that establishing a strong credit history is reward enough – as is the chance to upgrade to the OpenSky® Gold Unsecured Card – and that is true. Still, with banks like Discover providing robust reward cards for poor credit (and rewards checking), it is a consideration you need to make.

No Pre-Approval

Online pre-qualification and preapproval are excellent ways to see your suitability for a particular credit card before applying. These tools check basic information to gauge suitability while avoiding a hard credit check. OpenSky does not provide pre-qualification, which is frustrating. Still, with no credit check, when applying, there is no real harm here, so it is more of a nitpick.

OpenSky FAQs

Here are some common questions about the OpenSky and OpenSky Plus Secured Visa Credit Cards, as well as their answers: