Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Gold Preferred® Credit Card Review and Details

In this Applied Bank^® Secured Visa^® Gold Preferred^® review, we’ll highlight who this secured card is for, its credit score requirements, fees, and more.

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Who is the Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card for?
Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card Credit Score Requirements
Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card Fees
Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card APR
Pros and Cons of the Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card
Alternatives to Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card

Let’s begin.

Who is the Applied Bank Secured Credit Card for?

If you’re new to owning a bank account or trying to establish a positive credit history, the Applied Bank Secured Visa Gold Preferred Credit Card could be what you’ve been looking for.

This secured card is among the best for any new and inexperienced cardholder or any person with bad credit. This Visa card also has a rare “no credit line” policy, meaning the credit card issuer won’t consider your credit score when looking at your application.

Additionally, this secured Visa card doesn’t need you to link your bank account.

One of the most exciting features of this secured credit card is that the initial deposit into this card will be used as a credit line.

With a credit line, money can be taken out from your bank account under the name of the bank and be repaid to the financial institution at a minimal interest rate.

Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Score Requirements

Since this applied bank credit card is meant to help you improve your credit score, the bank (card issuer) doesn’t have a minimum credit score requirement. That makes this secured Visa card ideal for anyone with a bad credit to fair credit score, of anywhere between 300 to 670.

Tip: If you need more information regarding your credit history and scores, and want to learn how to improve it, check out Credmo.

Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card Fees

The Applied Bank Secured Credit Card charges no application fee to become a cardholder. There’s also no monthly fee or penalty rates.

The main fee you need to consider is the annual fee which is $48.

Apart from the annual fee, the Visa card charges a 3% foreign transaction fee but no balance transfer fee.

This Applied Bank credit card also comes with a cash advance fee of either $5 or 5% of the withdrawn cash advance (whichever is greater).

And lastly, you need to make a refundable security deposit to start using this secured credit card. The credit card company will hold the amount in case you can’t repay them. This security deposit is also used as your line of credit.

You can make the security deposit using a debit card, another credit card, or a prepaid card.

Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card APR

This Visa card has an extremely low APR. The Applied Bank Secured Visa credit card has a fixed interest rate of only 9.99%.

A secured credit card will usually have a lower APR than an unsecured credit card, however this is still on the lower side of most secured cards.

Pros and Cons of the Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card

Let’s check out both the advantages and disadvantages of this Applied Bank credit card.

Pros

Here are some benefits for an Applied Bank Secured credit card cardholder:

Increase Your Credit Limit - Your initial security deposit for the card can be anything from $200 to $1000. This makes up your credit limit (the deposit minus the annual fee). However, after that, you can make additional deposits upto $5,000 to increase credit limit figures.

This, in turn, not only gives you more credit to work with, but will also improve your credit utilization rate, helping you improve your credit score.
No Credit Check and Easy Approval - As this Visa card issuer doesn’t conduct a credit check, there’s no credit pull performed that can affect your credit score. Additionally, without having to worry about bad credit or a non-existing credit history, getting approval for this Visa card is relatively easy.
You Can Improve Your Credit Score - This secured credit card gives you the ability to build credit.

How?
Your monthly credit report is sent to three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian). This way, your positive credit history becomes more well-known to the major credit bureaus, and the poor credit you have slowly becomes good credit.

Cons

Here are some disadvantages that an Applied Bank Secured Visa cardholder will face:

No Welcome Bonus or Rewards - Since this is a secured credit card focused on helping you build credit, there are no reward points on offer. There’s also no welcome bonus.
Fees - This secured credit card has a somewhat high annual fee of $48. Moreover, there are other fees charged to this Visa credit card.

The fee for additional users, replacement cards, and stopping payment are each $30. Additionally, the fee for copying and optional payments are $10 and $12.95, respectively.
No Grace Period: Unfortunately, the Applied Bank Secured credit card doesn’t offer any grace period. So you have to be careful about your billing cycle and make payments on time. If you don’t, you’ll be charged interest immediately after your cycle closes.

Alternatives to Applied Bank Secured Visa Credit Card

Here are some alternative cards to consider:

Conclusion

If you already have established credit history or near perfect credit, this secured card probably isn’t for you.

However, if you want a flexible credit limit and want to improve your credit score, this Applied Bank credit card could be a good fit.

You can apply for this Visa card here.