The secured credit card
for first-time builders.
If you're building credit from scratch — no score, thin file, or a recent setback — the Zodiac secured credit card is built for this. $200 to $2,500 deposit, 13% APR on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex, monthly bureau reporting to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and an automatic review loop that graduates the deposit at 6–8 months. No hard credit pull to open.
Deposit in. Line out. Deposit back at graduation.
A secured credit card is the simplest form of revolving credit: a cash deposit backs the line, the line equals the deposit, and the deposit returns when the line graduates. No hard credit pull to open. History reports to all three bureaus the same way an unsecured card does — on every billing cycle.
$200 to $2,500 deposit. $200 is the default. Same 13% APR on every network.
13% APR — same on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex.
There is no teaser promo. The 13% APR on the marketing page is the rate on the statement in month one and month sixty. Same rate on every network, for the life of the account.
- Visa. Accepted at over 200M merchants in 200+ countries — the default wherever a card is taken.
- Mastercard. Same reach as Visa, with Zero Liability protection built in. Useful online and for international travel.
- American Express. Where Amex is accepted, the limit and the 13% APR are identical to Visa and Mastercard, and the network serves you for higher-ticket purchases.
Reports to all three bureaus — every cycle.
All three — Experian, TransUnion, Equifax — every cycle.
On-time payments, balances, and graduation all flow to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax on the same cadence. The file grows whether you swipe, tap, or pay online — and the bureau report is governed by the same Reg Z / CARD Act disclosures the partner bank uses.
First automatic review at 6–8 months.
At the 6–8 months mark the account goes through an automatic review. Inputs: on-time payment history, no past-due balance, and a minimum account age. Same inputs every month — the underwriting model runs on what the statement already shows.
What graduates get: deposit returns, line becomes unsecured, the 13% APR continues. Cadence afterwards: automatic, ongoing at graduation. If graduation isn't automatic, we tell you why and what would change it — in plain English, on the statement, next to the rate.
Three cards you're probably comparing us to.
Most first-time builders compare us to three cards. Side-by-side numbers for all four are on /compare; the short version:
- Capital One Platinum Secured. $200 refundable deposit, a flat APR near the top of the bankcard range, no rewards. Often the first stop for a thin file.
- OpenSky. No credit check to open, a $200 to $2,500 deposit band, and a longer graduation curve than the on-ramp cards.
- Discover it Secured. $200 minimum deposit, cash back on gas and restaurants, with a graduation track that runs on Discover's review cycle.
Same six columns on the full radar at /compare — APR, deposit, starting limit, graduation, bureau reporting, rewards.
Four questions first-time builders ask first.
Plain English. Same answers as the rest of the public funnel — a single edit to the positioning constants updates every page.
- What is a secured credit card and how is it different from a regular one?
- A secured credit card uses a refundable cash deposit as its credit limit. Same networks, same monthly reporting to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax as an unsecured card — the difference is purely collateral: deposit in, line out, deposit back at graduation.
- What is the minimum deposit on the Zodiac secured credit card, and is it refundable?
- The default is $200, with a total range of $200 to $2,500. The deposit is fully refundable — you get it back when your line graduates to an unsecured one, in full, full stop.
- What APR does the Zodiac secured credit card charge, and does it change by network?
- The 13% APR is the same on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. Same rate on every network — there is no teaser promo that resets in month thirteen.
- When does a secured credit card graduate, and what changes at graduation?
- First automatic review at 6–8 months. When on-time payment history, no past-due balance, and the minimum account age line up, the deposit returns and the line becomes unsecured. Reporting to all three — Experian, TransUnion, Equifax — continues every billing cycle.
Same deposit. Same 13% APR. Same graduation loop.
$200 to $2,500 deposit on Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. Reports to all three bureaus every cycle. Deposit returns at graduation, full stop. Still curious? See the longer FAQ.