OpenSky® Launch Secured Visa® Credit Card review: Build credit for minimal fees

The OpenSky Launch Secured card works like its counterparts and any other secured credit card. Your security deposit funds your credit limit and as you use the card and pay it off, OpenSky reports your credit activity to the three major bureaus. Here's how to effectively build credit with this card: 

• Deposit a minimum $100 to secure your limit, but depositing more will give you breathing room to spend.

• Charge small purchases and bills to the card, then pay them off immediately.

• Keep up with monthly payments and never miss a due date to establish and maintain a positive payment history, which will help increase your credit score.

• After time, consider requesting a credit limit increase and depositing more into the account. A higher limit will help you keep your credit utilization ratio in check and improve your credit score.

The OpenSky Launch's monthly fees are charged to your credit card account, so they'll reduce your spending power. These fees aren't as high as what other cards charge, but it's important to remember this monthly fee when using your card.

The OpenSky Launch card is ideal if you’re looking for a cheap credit-building option but can’t get approved for a no-annual-fee card.

Rates and fees: Low ongoing fees

While many secured cards or cards for no credit history are typically full of high fees across the board, the OpenSky Launch Secured card's ongoing costs are low compared to most similar cards. The card only costs $24 for the first year, billed in $2 monthly installments, and then only jumps by $1 a month after ($36 annual fee). While there are secured options with no annual fee, if those aren’t available to you, the ability to split the cost into monthly payments while not overcharging on additional fees makes the pill of paying for a card a bit easier to swallow.

The ongoing APR is higher than the current credit card average interest rate, but this is typical for secured cards and lower than many other secured options. If you need to carry a balance, the minimum monthly payment is only $10, although carrying a balance isn’t a recommended use for this card, as it'll hamper your credit-building efforts and you may end up paying significant interest charges.

Application: No credit check to apply

What makes the OpenSky Launch Secured Visa appealing is its low entry barrier. There's no hard credit check to apply and OpenSky doesn't even require a checking account to open the card. While you can use a debit card to pay the security deposit, OpenSky also accepts Western Union® transfers and mailed checks or money orders. These alternative options can help underbanked or unbanked people start to build or rebuild their credit without traditional financial tools.

Some secured options may offer more robust credit-building features or offer better reward opportunities and benefits.

Credit building: Good but not great

You’ll get some solid credit-building benefits with the OpenSky Launch Secured card, which requires no credit check required to open. The card automatically reports your activity to all three credit bureaus and comes with free online access to your FICO score, allowing you to monitor your credit-building efforts every step of the way. 

However, there are some vital credit-building features this card lacks. For instance, while having a low minimum security deposit of $100 can be helpful, it can also make having a good credit utilization ratio difficult. What’s more, the maximum deposit is only $1,000, which is lower than many cards.

Also, many secured cards automatically review your account periodically for credit limit increases or to upgrade to an unsecured credit card, but the OpenSky Launch Secured doesn’t. Secured cards are ideally meant to be a stop-gap towards better unsecured options. Once your credit score improves enough, you’ll need to apply for a better option on your own and cancel this card.  

Rewards: Limited earning opportunities

Although earning rewards consistently isn’t a common feature with secured cards, there are some that offer rewards for spending, like the Discover it® Secured Credit Card. The only opportunity to earn rewards with the OpenSky Launch Secured card are through merchant-linked offers. You’ll need to link the offer to your card and make a qualifying transaction with the merchant before it expires to earn a specified amount of cash back after spending the required amount.

Perks: Nothing extra

While secured cards also generally aren’t known for having perks, the only features you’ll get with this card are zero fraud liability and access to the mobile app, neither of which can be considered a benefit. If you are dealing with secured cards, building credit should be your focus instead.

While the OpenSky Launch can be a low-cost credit-building option, other secured cards might offer more in terms of rewards or a higher deposit limit.

If you need a cheap option to build your credit and don’t have access to any of the no-fee secured options, the OpenSky Launch Secured Visa is worth a look. Consider this card if you: 

• Have poor or no credit and can't get approved for other credit cards

• Can only put down a $100 security deposit

• Want to fund your deposit with alternate methods like a wire transfer or money order

The OpenSky Launch Secured card is an accessible credit-building card, other options are available to help you build credit.

Our proprietary card rating system takes into account a mix of factors when scoring credit cards for students and people building credit, including each card’s cost, APR, credit-building tools and more.

We analyzed over 50 of the most popular cards designed for students and people with no credit history, bad credit or a fair credit score and scored each based on where its key features stood in relation to others in its category. 

Here are some of the key factors that gave this card its score: