Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured Review: 1.5% Back While Building Credit

Quick Review

We highly recommend the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured to borrowers who are just starting their credit journey or looking to rebuild their scores after some credit woes. Here’s why we like the card:

• It’s available to loan defaulters: Capital One advertises the card as available to fair-credit borrowers, and specifies that those who have defaulted on a loan in the past 5 years can qualify for the card. This makes it a great second-chance credit card for those who have had recent difficulty with debt.
• It’s inexpensive: The card doesn’t charge an annual fee or foreign transaction fees. Even the balance transfer and cash advance fees are lower than the norm on similar credit cards. Plus, the minimum security deposit is only $200, making it accessible to borrowers with limited funds.
• You get 1.5% cash back: You’ll earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase you put on the card. Rewards are rare for cards in this credit range to begin with, but 1.5% is a decent flat cashback rate even among cards for good credit. What’s more, you can earn 5% back on rental cars and hotels purchased through Capital One Travel.

Pros & Cons

Who Is the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured Best For?

We most highly recommend the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured for the following types of borrowers:

• Credit builders: This card is available to borrowers who have 3 years or less of credit history under their belts. That means that new adults, new immigrants (who have an ITIN), and those just starting their credit journeys can qualify and enjoy the credit-building potential of the card. Plus, Capital One offers credit-building resources, like free credit scores.
• International travelers: Capital One doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, meaning a Capital One credit card makes a great resource abroad (where you’ll normally be charged 3% of the transaction amount to make purchases with a credit card).

What the Crowd Says

Credit card experts, actual cardholders, and online reviewers have a range of takes about the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured. However, most categorize it as a mid-to-high tier card for credit building, netting it an aggregate online rating of 3.74. Here’s the breakdown:

What Major Publications Say

For the most part, major publications agree that the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured is a decent option for establishing or rebuilding credit. However, there’s still a wide gap between the highest rating experts give (5 out of 5 stars) and the lowest on our list (2.4 out of 5 stars).

The bulk of the rating disparity seems to be in how heavily the reviewer weights the high APR. While it doesn’t factor much into some reviews, others consider it a major downside of the card.

What Cardholders Say

Cardholder sentiment is overall neutral regarding this card. While many agree that it’s a good solution for building credit when your history is less-than-desirable, and that 1.5% cash back is a nice perk, others were disappointed by the low credit limit increases and difficulty graduating the card.

Here’s the good and bad that borrowers claim to have experienced with the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured:

Negative Customer Service Experience

Some cardholders claim that they were met with poor customer service and difficulty attaining certain requests, such as:

• Raising their credit limit at all
• Raising their credit limit more than $100 at a time
• Graduating the card to an unsecured Quicksilver product

While customer service complaints seem to focus on what Capital One wouldn’t approve regarding the cardholder’s account, there was no indication that cardholders had trouble contacting the customer service team or managing their Capital One account through the app.

Better Experience with Discover

Many reviewers and commenters note that they had better experiences with the Discover it® Secured, especially when it came to credit limit increases and card graduation. A few Quicksilver cardholders who were unable to get their card graduated to an unsecured option after a year say they were offered Discover it® card graduation after 6 months of borrowing.

Credit Score Drop

A recurrent complaint about this card is that borrowers noticed a drop in their credit score upon applying for the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured. This happens when a lender performs a hard inquiry, or hard pull, to check your credit during an application process.

While hard inquiries are common during the credit card application process, there are a handful of credit cards for poor credit that won’t check your credit when you apply. However, all the major credit card issuers—including Capital One—will perform a hard inquiry when you submit a formal credit card application.

Hard inquiries are nearly universal when applying for credit cards, and only leave an impression on your credit report for up to a year, so we would advise against putting much weight on this particular complaint.

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Rates & Fees

Fees

• Annual fee: $0
• Cash advance fee: $10 or 3% (whichever is greater)
• Balance transfer fee: 3% at the promotional balance transfer APR; none at the regular balance transfer APR
• Late payment fee: Up to $40

Interest Rates

• Purchase APR: 28.49% (variable)
• Cash advance APR: 28.49% (variable)
• Balance transfer APR: 28.49% (variable)

If you don’t pay your credit card balance in full by the due date, you’ll begin collecting interest. The annual rate of interest is your APR, so your monthly interest rate can be estimated by dividing your APR by 12.

To avoid interest charges entirely, only borrow what you can pay off each month.

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Rewards

The rewards are simple:

• 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make

Here’s an idea of what you could earn at the 1.5% rate by making everyday purchases:

While that’s not a ton of money, getting any money back on your credit card spending is a perk.

Rewards Redemption

You can redeem the rewards you earn on your Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured card in the following ways:

• As a check
• As a statement credit to your account
• As gift cards
• As reimbursement on a recent purchase

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Credit Limit

The Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured offers credit limits between $200–$1,000 or $200–$3,000. Whether your maximum limit is $1,000 or $3,000 will depend on your creditworthiness.

Your security deposit will determine your credit limit, so you’ll need to put down the amount you want to have access to as your credit line.

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Benefits

Capital One offers a good range of basic benefits for its cardholders, including services and protections.

Services

You’ll especially want to take advantage of CreditWise if you’re establishing or improving your credit score, as this tool can help you track progress and understand which areas of your credit report need work.

Protections

Card Graduation

One major benefit of the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured is the ability to upgrade to an unsecured Quicksilver card and have your security deposit refunded. While the rewards system is the same on the unsecured card, it enjoys better benefits and perks.

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How to Get a Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured

Credit Score Required

The Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured is advertised as for borrowers with fair credit. While fair credit usually means a FICO score between 580–639, Capital One doesn’t clarify whether they consider your actual score when determining your credit level. Instead, they qualify fair credit as having:

• Defaulted on a loan in the past 5 years
• A limited credit history (having your own line of credit for less than 3 years)

To confirm you’re eligible for the card before submitting a formal application (which will knock a few points off your credit score due to a hard inquiry), go through the pre-approval process on the Capital One website.

How to Apply

You can apply online for the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured. We recommend you first go through the pre-approval process to determine whether you’re likely to qualify and what borrowing terms you may get offered.

If you’re pre-approved, submit a formal application. The application will ask for certain information, like your:

• Personal information
• Contact information
• Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
• Citizenship status
• Employment status
• Annual income
• Monthly rent/mortgage cost

If your application is approved, you’ll be required to put down your security deposit before receiving your new card.

Building Credit

Security Deposit

The security deposit is the amount you pay as collateral to open a Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured credit card account. What you pay will also determine your credit limit. Having a higher credit limit can be better for your credit score, as it helps keep your percentage of credit spending low (which is an important factor in your credit score).

Security Deposit Refund

One of our favorite features of this card is that the security deposit is fully refundable. Capital One offers three routes to getting your deposit refunded:

1. Earn back your deposit as statement credits by using your card responsibly.
2. Pay your balance in full and close your account entirely.
3. Upgrade to an unsecured Quicksilver card.

Credit Reporting

Capital One reports to the credit bureaus every month within 3 days of your card’s statement closing date. The information they volunteer to the bureaus will be used to update your credit reports, and subsequently, your credit scores.

Tips for Building Credit

To build or rebuild your credit effectively with the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured, follow these tips:

1. Pay on time: Always pay your minimum monthly payment on time, even if you can’t afford to pay any more. Failing to make this payment can lead to fees, raised APR, and bad marks on your credit report.
2. Borrow less: How much of your total credit you’re using is an important factor in your credit score. So only borrow a small portion of your total credit at a given time.
3. Track your score: Take advantage of CreditWise to keep up on your credit score. The tool will help you assess which features of your score are improving, and which can still use work.

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FAQs

What’s the difference between the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured and Capital One® Quicksilver® credit cards?

The Capital One® Quicksilver® and its secured counterpart are nearly indistinguishable by name, but very different in reality. The biggest difference is that the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured requires a security deposit as collateral, and this deposit determines the credit limit. This is to make the card available to borrowers with lower credit scores or limited credit histories.

The Capital One® Quicksilver® (unsecured), on the other hand, is only available to borrowers with excellent credit, so it doesn’t require any collateral and offers much higher credit limits. Additionally, the unsecured Quicksilver card comes with a host of added benefits, like a welcome bonus, 0% APR intro offer, and multiple perks and protections not offered by the secured card.

Where can I use the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured?

You can use your Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured card anywhere Mastercard is accepted, which is most places that accept credit cards. This includes using it abroad, where you’ll enjoy the benefit of no foreign transaction fees.

Does the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured have a grace period?

Yes, the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured has a grace period of 25 days. A grace period is the stretch of time between your statement closing date and statement due date. Purchases you make during this time won’t accrue interest if your previous balance was paid in full.

Can I use a Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured for a cash advance?

Yes, you can use a Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured to take out a cash advance (e.g., withdrawing funds from an ATM). But cash advances cost a fee of $3 or 3% of the transaction amount (whichever is greater) and are subject to 28.49% (variable) APR.

There are no grace periods for cash advances, so the amount you withdraw will begin collecting interest right away.

Can I make a balance transfer on a Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured?

Yes, you can make a balance transfer on a Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured credit card. If you transfer at the regular APR of 28.49% (variable), you won’t be charged a balance transfer fee. If you’re offered a promotional balance transfer APR, you’ll be charged 3% of the transfer amount as a fee.

Because the APR is so high on this card, we strongly recommend against using it to consolidate debt through a balance transfer.

Can I add an authorized user to the Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured?

Yes, you can add an authorized user to your Capital One® Quicksilver® Secured account. While there’s no additional cost for adding an authorized user, we recommend you do this with caution. Only the primary cardholder is responsible for paying the credit cards bills, so only add a user you can trust to spend responsibly.