Secured Sable ONE Credit Card Review

HOW DOES THE CardName WORK?

The CardName works the way any secured credit card does in that you must put down a refundable security deposit when opening an account, and that deposit will equal your initial line of credit.

Technically there is no minimum deposit amount required, but in order to apply for the CardName you must first have a CardName, which is what you'll use to fund your account. This makes the CardName a little different from other secured credit cards which let you fund your account with any bank you want.

With the CardName, funds can be added to your security deposit by using the "increase credit limit" option in your Sable app. This will automatically deduct the funds from your Sable banking account to your credit account to act as the security deposit for your credit limit.

Once you've funded your account, you can use your card to make purchases up to your credit limit (being mindful though to not use too much of your available credit as this can have a negative impact on your credit score). With on-time payments and responsible use of the card, you could then graduate to an unsecured card in as little as four months with no credit check or negative impact to your credit score.

FEATURED CARD

 

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• Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
• Buy Now, Pay Later: Enjoy $0 intro plan fees when you use Plan It® to split up large purchases into monthly installments. Pay $0 intro plan fees on plans created during the first 12 months from the date of account opening. Plans created after that will have a monthly plan fee up to 1.33% of each eligible purchase amount moved into a plan based on the plan duration, the APR that would otherwise apply to the purchase, and other factors.
• Low Intro APR: 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months from the date of account opening. After that, your APR will be a variable APR of 19.24% - 29.99%. Variable APRs will not exceed 29.99%.
• 6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%).
• 6% Cash Back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions.
• 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations.
• 3% Cash Back on transit (including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more).
• 1% Cash Back on other purchases.
• Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
• Get up to $120 in statement credits annually when you pay for an auto-renewing subscription to Equinox+ at equinoxplus.com with your Blue Cash Preferred® Card. That's $10 in statement credits each month. Enrollment required.
• Thinking about getting the Disney Bundle which can include Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+? Your decision made easy with $7/month back in the form of a statement credit after you spend $9.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription (subject to auto renewal) with your Blue Cash Preferred® Card. Enrollment required.
• Terms Apply.

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Terms and Limitations Apply

Credit Needed:

Good, Excellent

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE CardName?

The CardName has a surprising amount of benefits, considering it's a secured credit card. Secured credit cards don't generally have a great reputation - or they didn't – because they used to have pretty onerous fees and many still have pretty high interest rates. That's been changing a lot in recent years - although you can certainly still unfortunately find secured credit cards with annual fees and high interest rates. The CardName is an example of why secured credit cards have a more favorable reputation than they used to.

The main benefits of the CardName include:

• A generous welcome bonus. You get your bonus at the end of your first year, but it's a doozy. All of the cash back that you have earned after a year, Sable will match that dollar for dollar. So if you earn, say, $500 cash back over the year, you'll be given another $500, making your first-year rewards earing $1,000. Welcome bonuses are very rare for secured credit cards; especially ones this lucrative.
• A robust cash back feature. Another rare secured credit card perk is rewards earned on purchases. With the CardName you can earn 2% cash back on everyday purchases at Amazon, Uber, Uber Eats, Whole Foods, Netflix, Spotify, and more. Plus, earn 1% cash back on all other purchases.
• You can get your security deposit back quickly, if all goes well. Sable may return your deposit and switch you to an unsecured card after four months, which is quicker than most secured credit cards.
• A lot of credit availability. You can get up to a $10,000 credit limit. Of course, you'd have to put down a $10,000 deposit, but still, it's nice to know you have the option if you need it.
• No credit check or U.S. credit history required for application.
• No Social Security number required for non-U.S. citizens.
• Build American credit history quickly. According to Sable, it offers enhanced reporting on more data points than any other card so you can build your credit faster.
• No annual fee.
• No minimum security deposit.
• Premium benefits usually reserved for unsecured cards. Your CardName comes with phone insurance, so you'll be covered for damage, like a cracked screen, or loss, provided you're using your card to pay your monthly wireless bill. You'll also get car rental insurance, new purchase insurance (most items you buy with your card will be covered for theft and damage within 90 days of the purchase date), price protection (you'll be reimbursed the difference if you find a lower price within 90 days on the same item, provided it was bought with your CardName), extended warranty, emergency roadside assistance and more.

WHAT MAKES THE CardName UNIQUE?

There are several features that really make the CardName unique, and in a way, it's that it even has features at all that makes it stand out. For years, secured credit cards existed to help people build credit, and that was it. It was rare to see a secured card offer much in the way of rewards or perks.

The CardName isn't unique in that it's the only secured card to offer perks for cardholders, but it's certainly a strong competitor. Often, a secured card might have a welcome bonus, or maybe offer ongoing rewards on purchases, but that's it. There aren't many cards out there that offer both. The CardName steps it up even further by offering benefits such as cell phone insurance - a perk that's rare even in the unsecured credit card space.

Finally, for better or for worse, the CardName is unique in that it requires you to first have Sable bank account, which leads to the next point…

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL DOWNSIDES OF THE CardName?

In order to apply for the CardName you must first have a CardName. This doesn't mean you can't bank with another bank if you want, but it does mean that you'll need to fund your CardName with your Sable bank account. This may not be ideal if you prefer to keep all of your banking needs under one roof.

With that said, there is no minimum deposit required, no monthly account fees, no overdraft fees, and no insufficient funds fees associated with the Sable bank account, and the Sable app makes managing your finances easy.

To add your security deposit, all you need to do is navigate to the Secured Credit Card in the cards screen of the app and choose to "increase credit limit."" This will automatically deduct the funds from your Sable banking account to a reserve account to act as the security deposit for your credit limit.

To pay off your credit card balance, choose the "pay your secured credit card" option in the "move money" tab in the app. This will deduct the funds from your Sable banking account and pay off your outstanding balance.

One other potential downside to mention is that the CardName charges a foreign_fee, so it's not the best card to take with you when traveling abroad.

HOW TO BUILD CREDIT WITH THE CardName

Every month, Sable will send your information to the three credit bureaus, but that's typically how most secured credit cards work. In fact, if you are looking at a secured credit card and learn that it doesn't send your information to the credit bureaus, you probably shouldn't apply for it.

In four months, you may be able to graduate to an unsecured credit card, but do keep in mind, that isn't guaranteed. You may not be given an unsecured credit card and get your deposit back for six months or eight or longer. It often depends on not just how well you're doing with making timely payments on your secured credit card, but it may hinge on whether you're letting other bills be paid late - and in general, how your credit score looks.

But the bottom-line is - if you use the CardName responsibly, your credit report should soon look better, and your credit score should climb.

HOW DOES THE CardName COMPARE TO OTHER CARDS?

The CardName is definitely different from other secured credit cards, and yet, not so different, because these competing cards are pretty good cards, too. Here's how it stacks up with some of the other worthy secured credit cards out there:

CardName vs. CardName

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Like with the CardName, the CardName offers cash-back rewards, too. You'll get 2% back on the first $1,000 spent each quarter at gas stations and restaurants (and then it goes to 1%), and 1% on all other purchases. Discover will also match all of the cash you've earned at the end of your first year. So there are just some subtle differences between the two cards when it comes to their cash-back rewards. You may like Sable's set up better, though, and you may like that it will possibly move you to an unsecured credit card in as little as four months; the earliest Discover will do it is seven months. Also, Discover has a $200 minimum deposit required to open an account, and Sable has no minimum deposit. With the Discover card though, you can fund your account with any bank account. Remember that with the Sable card, you must fund your account with a Sable bank account.

If you need to carry a balance with either card, you'll want to pay close attention to the APRs. With the CardName, revolving balances will face a RegAPR while the CardName has a RegAPR.

CardName vs. CardName

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The CardName is another rare secured card that offers cash back. It doesn't have the 1% or 2% cash back feature, though, like with the Sable card. It just gives you flat 1.5% cash back on all purchases, with no caps.

That said, the CardName has a cash-back bonus at the end of the year, where it looks at everything you earned over the year - and matches it. So you get a nice windfall at the end of your first year of card membership. The Capital One Quicksilver Secured does not have any sort of welcome bonus for new cardholders.

If you often travel internationally, though, the Quicksilver Secured has the advantage of no foreign transaction fees. This makes it a great companion for international travel.

WHO IS A GOOD FIT FOR THE CardName?

The CardName can be a very good option for someone who doesn't have a bank and would like one, or for someone who doesn't mind opening a bank account with a new bank. It's marketed to people who are new to or working on their credit, or maybe new to the United States, but it can work for anybody looking for a secured credit card. For a secured credit card, as we've noted above, it's a pretty solid card, with some very good cash-back features and cardholder perks.