Is the Applied Bank Secured Visa Gold Card
A Credit Card or a Debit Card?

Q:  Is the Applied Bank Secured Visa Gold card a credit card or a debit card?

A:  The Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Gold card is a secured credit card. It looks and operates just like a regular credit card, but is secured by funds you deposit.  These funds help guarantee payment on any balances on the card. There is no credit check; once you are approved for the card you'll just need to deposit funds into a FDIC insured account. There is a minimum deposit requirement of $200 and the maximum is $5,000. The way secured cards usually work is that if you deposit $200 you'll have $200 in credit available. There is a small caveat with the Applied Bank card though – the $50 annual fee is deducted from your balance as soon as you deposit it, so if you put in $200 you'll have $150 in credit.

The Applied Bank Secured Visa Gold card is a good choice for anyone who can't qualify for a regular credit card – those with past or current credit issues or a limited credit history. In addition to a low 9.99% APR, this card reports your payment history to all Experian and TransUnion. By paying your balances on time you can help improve your card history. However, we'd prefer that it reported to all 3 credit bureaus, like some of the other Bad Credit Credit cards we review. We also prefer it if this card offered a grace period on purchases, instead of immediately beginning to charge interest as soon as you purchase something.

#1 Rated Bad Credit Card

Instead you might want to consider our #1 rated Bad Credit card; the Capital One® Secured Mastercard®. It reports to all 3 credit bureaus (instead of just 2) and offers a grace period, during which they won't change interest. Per their Terms and Conditions "Your due date is at least 25 days after the close of each billing cycle. We will not charge you interest on new purchases, provided you have paid your previous balance in full by the due date each month." Even though their interest rate is higher than the Applied Bank card, the grace period may be worth it for those who plan to pay their balances in full and on  time each month. In addition, this secured card's annual fee is lower than the Applied Bank card at $29 per year, and the minimum deposit required is $49 instead of Applied Bank's $200.

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