Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® Review: Is It a Good Card?

While the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® can help you build credit, it’s not the best secured credit card. On the plus side, there’s a $0 annual fee, and like most issuers, Citi reports to all three major credit bureaus. Also, it comes with free FICO^® Score access so you can keep tabs on your credit-building progress.

However, it offers no rewards program or a timeline to graduate to an unsecured card. It also has a penalty APR and is light on perks.

You may be better off with a secured card that offers the chance to upgrade to an unsecured card. The Discover it^® Secured Credit Card is one of the best secured cards around, with a $0 annual fee, a rewards program and automatic account reviews starting at seven months.

• Annual fee: $0
• Sign-up bonus: N/A
• Rewards: N/A
• Regular purchase APR: 26.74% (Variable)
• Security deposit: $200 to $2,500
• Foreign transaction fee: 3%
• Other benefits: Choose your payment due date, free FICO^® Score access
• Recommended credit: Limited

• Choose your own payment due date

  As a Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® cardholder, you get to choose your own payment due date. This means you can choose a date that works well with your finances. For example, choosing a payment due date the week after payday could help you make sure you always have the money to pay your bill in full on the due date. You can choose any available payment due date at the beginning, middle or end of the month.

• Qualify with a low credit score

  The Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® is designed for people who are trying to establish credit, so those with a low score or a limited credit history will have an easier time qualifying. Citi doesn’t publish a minimum credit score needed for the card, and they consider a variety of factors, including your credit score, income and outstanding debt.

  Note that applicants with bad credit due to past financial issues may be less likely to get approved than those with no credit or thin credit files. Anyone who has had a bankruptcy in the past two years is not eligible for this card. If you fit into those categories, a credit card for bad credit might fit your needs better.
  → Learn how to get a credit card with bad credit

• No annual fee

  A $0 annual fee is one of the best benefits of the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^®. Many credit-builder cards charge high annual fees along with hefty monthly maintenance charges, which can add up to more than $100 per year.

  You do have to pay an initial security deposit of at least $200 with the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^®, which will tie up some of your cash. But you’ll save money in the long run by having a card with low fees.

• Secure a credit limit of up to $2,500

  You get a credit line of between $200 and $2,500 on the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^®, based on the amount of your security deposit. Many other secured credit cards have a max limit of $1,000 or less.

  A larger credit line may appeal to those who can afford a higher deposit and want to avoid bumping up against a low limit. This could be helpful for people who use their card for business travel or want to make a big ticket purchase with the protection of a credit card. It can also help you raise your credit quicker by keeping your credit utilization ratio low, which is an important credit score factor.

  You can adjust your credit line for the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® by $100 increments. You’ll pay the deposit by bank transfer within 14 days of getting approved for the card, and Citi will return it if you graduate to an unsecured card or you close the account.

  → Learn how secured credit cards work

• Free FICO® Score access

  The Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® offers a helpful perk for credit builders: free FICO^® Score access. The card reports to the three major credit bureaus monthly, and you can use the free FICO^® Score feature to check your score regularly and watch it improve with responsible use of your credit card. That means you use your card regularly, then pay at least the minimum payment due by the due date every time.

  Check your FICO^® for free at any time at LendingTree Spring.

• Requires at least a $200 deposit

  The Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® requires you to put down a security deposit of at least $200 when you get approved.

  The high deposit may be a stretch for some who are new to credit. Those who don’t have an extra $200 in the bank may want to consider other cards, as some secured credit cards accept less than a $50 initial deposit for applicants who qualify.

• No rewards

  A major downside of the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® is that it doesn’t offer rewards. That means you can’t earn cash back, points or miles for spending on the card.

  There are many secured cards with rewards, including the Discover it^® Secured Credit Card. It offers cash back on all your purchases and a generous match of all the cash back earned in your first year.

• High APR

  The APR on the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® is high at 26.74% (Variable), but that is a drawback common to almost all secured credit cards.

  The card also has a sky-high penalty APR, which can be triggered by making a late payment or having a payment returned, as well as a late payment fee. Before you apply for this card, make sure you’ll be able to pay your bill in full each month, since you could accumulate a lot of interest if you don’t.

  → See the average APR for a secured credit card

• No timeline to graduate to an unsecured card

  The Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® doesn’t offer the chance to upgrade to an unsecured card with responsible credit usage. Some issuers, like Discover, may automatically upgrade you to an unsecured card over time.

  By getting automatically upgraded to an unsecured card, you won’t have to apply for one and ding your credit with another hard inquiry. Plus, your new card may come with a higher credit limit and more perks.

  Many users on online forums report that Citi is extremely reluctant to graduate cardholders from the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® to an unsecured card. Some Reddit users claim that they have had the card for years with no upgrade, despite using it responsibly. You may be able to graduate your Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® in time, but be aware that you might run into roadblocks.

Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® vs. Discover it^® Secured Credit Card

The Discover it^® Secured Credit Card is an excellent choice for consumers who want to earn rewards while building or rebuilding credit. Like the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^®, it has a $0 annual fee. But it’s designed for those with limited / poor credit, so it may be a better choice for rebuilding credit.

The Discover it^® Secured Credit Card is the overall better choice if you can qualify for it. Discover offers automatic monthly reviews (starting at seven months) of your account to see if you qualify to get your deposit back and has the option to graduate to an unsecured card. It also offers rewards — another perk the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® lacks.

Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® vs. Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card

The Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card is a good alternative for credit rebuilders with limited / poor credit. If you want to save money on a deposit, it’s worth checking out. You can put down a refundable security deposit starting at just $49 to get a $200 initial credit line.

Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® vs. OpenSky^® Secured Visa^® Credit Card

The OpenSky^® Secured Visa^® Credit Card is a good option if you have poor credit, since it doesn’t require a credit check to apply. You may also qualify for credit line increases after six months and potentially graduate to an unsecured card.

The card requires a minimum security deposit of $200 with a maximum limit of $3,000. The major downside of this card is that it has an annual fee of $35, along with a foreign transaction fee.

The Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® is an OK choice for consumers who want to build credit history and have $200 available for the minimum security deposit.

If you’re not quite sure the Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® is what you’re looking for, the Discover it^® Secured Credit Card is an alternative secured card with a great cash back rewards program.

We devote a large part of the score for credit-building cards to features that help build credit — we want to help you locate cards that don’t cost a lot to own and get help you upgrade to better card offers.

• Annual savings (50% of rating): We calculate how much the average cardholder can save with the card on a yearly basis. If it is a rewards card, we use U.S. Bureau of Labor data and $300 in monthly spend (the typical starting credit limit for an introductory card) to calculate how much the average cardholder can earn in rewards. We then subtract fees — including annual fees and maintenance fees — from this amount.
• Credit building features (50% of rating): We give points for features that help build credit, including reports to all three credit bureaus, regular account reviews for card upgrades and free credit score access. We detract points for features that can be costly to cardholders trying to build credit, such as security deposits, penalty APRs and late payment fees.

Note, that our ratings are a starting point for comparing and choosing the best credit card for building credit. However, your needs may be different from the average cardholder. You should consider the amount you’re likely to spend in a card’s bonus categories and which benefits you value to choose the best card for you.