How to use the Self Visa Credit Card to build your credit

There are many situations that can make it difficult to get approved for a credit card, and some may even be out of your control. Maybe you’re just beginning your credit history and have a thin credit profile, or maybe you’ve made a few credit mistakes in the past, and your credit history isn’t all that great.

In any of those situations, the Self – Credit Builder Account with Secured Visa® Credit Card is available to help. By offering access to a secured credit card without having to go through the process of a traditional credit application, those with no credit history or poor credit can give themselves the opportunity to build their credit – no matter what their credit score looks like right now.

How the Self Visa Credit Card works

The Self Visa Credit Card is designed to help you build credit without a standard credit application process. Instead of having to get approved based on your credit score, you prove your creditworthiness by opening a Credit Builder Account with Self. This account, which reports to all three major credit bureaus, helps you build your credit while saving money for as little as $25 a month. Your monthly payments go toward unlocking a CD that you’ll receive (with some interest) once your Credit Builder Account is paid off.

Your Credit Builder Account also helps you unlock the Self Visa Credit Card. Once you’ve made three consecutive monthly payments in full, have at least $100 in your Credit Builder Account and no outstanding fees, you’ll be eligible for the Self Visa card. It’s a secured credit card, which means you’ll need to use some of the money in your Credit Builder Account as collateral for the credit line on your card. Deposit a minimum of $100, and you’ll receive a line of credit in the amount of your deposit. This means you won’t have to come up with extra cash to cover your deposit – you can use the same money to cover two credit-building strategies.

How to use the Self secured card to build your credit

The Self Visa offers a user-friendly way to build your credit, and that’s true whether you’re new to credit or trying to bounce back from a bad credit score. In fact, you begin the process of building your credit as soon as you open and start making on-time payments with the Credit Builder Account (which, in turn, helps you become eligible for the Self secured card). As noted above, every monthly payment you make on your Credit Builder Account gets reported to the three major credit bureaus, so you can start building a history of on-time payments before you even receive your Self credit card.

Once you have your Self Visa card, start using it to make regular purchases. Since your credit limit will be relatively small – as little as $100 depending on your deposit – you’ll want to make sure that your Self credit card transactions don’t exceed your available credit. Use the card for everyday expenses that fit within your credit limit, and remember to make on-time payments every month so that you can continue to establish a positive credit history.

Another good way to build your credit with the Self Visa is to pay off your card in full as often as possible. If you have a $75 balance on your card, for example, don’t just make the minimum payment. Instead, pay off the entire $75 if you can. Why? Because 30% of your credit score comes from what’s called a credit utilization ratio. That’s the amount of credit you’re using versus the amount of credit you have available. The lower your credit utilization ratio is, the higher your credit score can grow.

How the Self Visa compares to other credit-building strategies

The Self Visa Credit Card is one of CreditCards.com’s best secured credit cards of 2023, and this is mostly due to its low barrier to entry and competitive benefits.

The biggest difference between the Self Visa and other secured credit cards is the method by which you receive the credit card. With a standard secured card, you fill out an application and have to come up with funds for a high security deposit to qualify. But with the Self Visa, you simply open a Credit Builder Account with Self and begin making regular payments. Once you’ve made three consecutive monthly payments in full, have $100 or more in your account and no outstanding fees, you’ll be eligible for the Self secured card. Plus, the deposit for the card comes right from the funds in your Credit Builder Account.

The Self Visa card also helps you build good credit habits starting from the day you open your Credit Builder Account. By requiring you to make regular, on-time payments into your Credit Builder Account for at least three months before receiving your Self secured card, Self is helping you practice the kind of responsible credit behavior you’ll want to use on your new Self card, as well as any credit accounts you might receive in the future.

The one drawback to the Self Visa secured card, though, is that you won’t earn any rewards. This is a disadvantage when you compare it to other secured credit cards that do offer cash back rewards, for example, such as the Discover it® Secured Credit Card and Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Credit Card.

That said, the Self Visa Credit Card lets you put down as little as $100 as collateral, whereas many other secured credit cards require cash deposits of $200 or $300 to get started. That makes the Self Visa considerably more accessible for those who are short on cash but need to start building credit right away.

Bottom line

Is the Self Visa Credit Card right for you? If you’re at the beginning of your credit journey or are hoping to recover from past credit mistakes, the Self Visa Credit Card can certainly help you build your credit. This secured credit card is designed to be accessible to anyone who successfully maintains a Self Credit Builder Account, making it a smart choice for people who might otherwise be turned down for other types of credit.

Once you have your Self secured card, make regular, on-time payments and pay off your balance in full as often as possible. With responsible use of your new credit card, your credit score should start to grow in no time.