Start building better credit habits with the Cleo Card.

A secured credit card is a type of credit card that requires an upfront security deposit. The security deposit acts as the limit and can be used to pay off the balance at the end of the month. 

These types of cards are great for people who want to build credit but don’t qualify for a traditional credit card due to a low credit score or credit history.

The Cleo Card, issued by WebBank, is a secured credit card.

Good credit basically makes your life easier and cheaper.

Lenders, landlords, and even potential employers all care about your credit score. Why? Because they want to do “business” with people that have a proven track record of responsible borrowing and on-time payments. Annoying. 

So a good score means you’re more likely to be approved for loans, rental agreements, and lower interest rates. It also means you can likely qualify for low insurance premiums and access better credit card reward programs. (Hello free flights!)

And when we say cheaper, we literally mean hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Take a car loan, for example. Based on average interest rates for a used car, with a credit score under 600, you’d be looking at around a 20.9% interest rate. But with a credit score over 781, your interest rate could drop to 3.71%.

With traditional credit cards, a bank is loaning you money (aka your credit limit). You typically will pay interest on what you’ve borrowed. And your limit is decided by looking at your credit score, credit history, and sometimes salary. At the end of the month, you’re expected to pay off the balance  to not collect interest. 

With secured credit cards, like Cleo’s, the limit is based on how much you add to your security deposit. And there’s no interest on the amount you use. At the end of the month, you can either pay off the balance or use your security deposit to cover it. 

Both traditional credit cards and secured credit cards report payments to the credit bureaus. But because secured credit cards hold your money as the security deposit, it’s really hard to miss a payment.

Your credit limit is set based on how much you add to your security deposit. If you add $200 to your security deposit, your credit limit will be $200.

Cleo reports to all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) on a monthly basis.

Outstanding balance owed: This is the balance remaining at the end of the month. If you paid off your balance, your outstanding balance owed will be $0.

Payment status: This is whether or not you paid last month’s statement.

Current balance: The amount you have spent during a statement cycle that is owed on the due date for that statement.

The highest credit: The highest statement amount, aka the most credit you’ve ever used.

Utilization: Cleo doesn’t report percent utilization because the Cleo Card has no preset credit limit.

The minimum age needed to apply for the Cleo Card is 18 years old.

While you don’t need to be a US citizen to apply for the Cleo Card, you need a valid SSN or ITIN, birthdate, and address in order to be approved for this secured card.