U.S. Bank Secured Visa® Card Review

This is a review of US Bank Secured Visa Card click any of the following for a review of U.S. Bank’s other secured credit cards: Harley-Davidson® Visa® Secured Card, LifeMiles Visa® Secured Card, LANPASS Visa® Secured Card or AeroMexico Visa® Secured Card. 

 US BankCard Stats:

Minimum Security Deposit: $300
Maximum Security Deposit: $5,000

Interest Rate: 20.99%*
Introductory Interest Rate: None
Grace Period: 24 days
Foreign Transaction Fees: 2% in US dollars or 3% in foreign currency
Annual Fees: $35 per year
Application Fees: None
Rewards Program: None
Signing Promotion: None
Interest Earned on Security Deposit: Yes, money is put into FDIC-insured interest earnings account. Click here to view rates. 0.05% at time of publishing.

*APR’s vary based on the prime rate.

Other Features:

  • Free internet banking
  • Automatic bill pay
  • Fraud protection
  • Zero fraud liability
  • Travel accident insurance
  • Travel & emergency assistance
  • Auto rental collision damage waiver

Editor’s Review

This review was provided by William Charles, editor of Doctor of Credit. 

The U.S bank secured Visa Card is the worst of the secured cards offered by U.S bank. There is no reason to apply for this card as the other options on the market are much better.

Annual Fees

It’s high annual fee of $35 is higher than 11 other cards on the market, six of which have no annual fee. For those looking for a card with no annual fee: Harley-Davidson® Visa® Secured Card, Navy Federal nRewards Secured Card and DCU Visa Platinum Secured Credit Card are all better options.

APRs

For consumers who are planning on carrying a balance (which is not advisable with secured cards as the whole point is to build positive credit history – so purchases shouldn’t be made unless the card holder has the funds to pay for them) it’s APR of 20.99% is worse than the majority of secured cards on the market. USAA’s secured Platinum MasterCard & American Express both have a rate of 9.99%, the same annual fee and require a minimum deposit of $250 instead of $300.

Rewards Program

Consumers looking for a secured card with a rewards program will also be unhappy as this is the only secured card offered by U.S bank that doesn’t have a rewards/loyalty program.

[Read: Secured Cards With A Rewards Program]

Credit Reporting

Like all secured cards, the U.S bank card reports to all three of the major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian & Equifax). This card reports as a secured card.

Adding Funds

It’s possible to add funds to this card to increase the credit limit of this card, the minimum limit increase they’ll accept is $100. This is not counted as a hard pull. Some card holders report being able to add funds monthly, whilst other card holders state they were only able to add funds after 6 months and every 3 months after that.

Upgrading To An Unsecured Card

Upgrading from a secured card to an unsecured card cannot be done with U.S bank until the card has been active for a minimum of one year (meaning this annual fee will need to be paid twice, unless they refund the second year which they’ll often do), a FICO score of 680+ is usually required as well. If approved they’ll upgrade to U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card which has no annual fee. This will keep the account age of the card and it will no longer report as a secured card.

[Read: How To Upgrade A Secured U.S Bank Credit Card To An Unsecured Card]

Approval

Being approved for the U.S bank secured card is generally fairly easy as they have the deposit in case payments are not made. The main exception is if an applicant has a bankruptcy on their credit report, in which case U.S. bank generally denies the application (although some users are reporting approvals with older 7+ year bankruptcies). Having a number of charged off accounts can also be an issue.

All of U.S. banks approvals are manual, after application a message of “We are unable to make a decision about your application at the moment, we will send you a letter via USPS regarding our decision in 7-10 business days” will be displayedIf an applicant notices their deposit being withdrawn from their account this means they’ve been approved for the card. Official approval will usually follow 2-5 business days later. Applicants can also be informed by e-mail by adding their e-mail address when the original message appears.

Final Verdict

We recommend against applying for this card. It has a high annual fee, no rewards program and graduating to an unsecured card isn’t automatic. There are much better programs out there for consumers with bad or no credit history.

Best Secured Credit Cards:

  • DCU Visa Platinum Secured Credit Card
  • Navy Federal nRewards Secured Card
  • Harley-Davidson® Visa® Secured Card

Still want to apply? Use the link found below.

Apply for U.S. Bank Secured Visa® Card

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michael Fisher
michael Fisher (@guest_269504)
June 21, 2016 18:47

I read the bad reviews and thought they were just one or two people. I thought it wouldn’t happen to me. But it did.

I got their secured card and just like the other people whose reviews I read, I couldn’t get my $1000.00 security deposit back when I asked for it.
They keep slapping on bogus charges for a Netflix bill of $7.99. I originally had US Bank pay $7.99 to Netflix because I read it is good to have some charges on the card. I transferred the payment to my Chase card before I tried to cancel the US Bank card. US Bank never paid that lst $7.99 but they kept billing me. When I called up and complained they removed the charge and then gotcharged a late fee . Then they charged me for membership. The representative promised me I wouldn’t be charged for membership because I requested cancellation before the payment was due in 2014.
But here it is 2016 and they keep finding new penalties to slap on my statement.
They told me to be patient. They said I would get me deposit back but it just takes a lot of time. Then a year later they told me that the representative was wrong and the cancellation had to be in writing. Who does that!!??!
Then even though I sent the cancellation letter to the address the last representative had given me, nothing happened. Then they told me I sent it to the wrong address. It had to be sent to Fargo, North Dakota instead.
They are crooks.
Mike F

Robert
Robert (@guest_123481)
May 21, 2015 19:17

I’ve had the US BANK secured card for two years, just applied for upgrade to platinum card and was approved. My second yearly fee of $35 was refunded. Also have capital one secured card, started out with $200, and after two years now has limit of $750. But this card will never upgrade.

Parker
Parker (@guest_122708)
May 19, 2015 19:09

My experience with this card is that it’s not all that easy to get. Also a resident of Wisconsin, it’s almost impossible to find secured cards (other than Capital One) that will work with us. It might be helpful to consider that when recommending against cards. Also, I don’t believe that the Capital One is an automatic switch to unsecured, either.