Secured Credit Cards in Canada: 3 Cards Compared by Fee, Rate and Deposit (2026)

A secured credit card in Canada is a credit card you back with your own money: you hand the issuer a security deposit, and that deposit sets how much you can borrow. This page explains how the deposit, the limit and the credit reporting work, then compares three secured cards on the numbers each issuer publishes. Definitions come from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the federal consumer regulator; card facts come from each issuer’s own product page, checked October 11, 2026. This page is general education, not financial advice, and each issuer’s cardholder agreement decides the actual terms.

Secured credit cards in Canada at a glance

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Sources: capitalone.ca, hometrust.ca and neofinancial.com card pages, read October 11, 2026. A blank or “not named” entry means the issuer’s page does not state the fact; it does not mean the answer is no.

In plain sentences: Capital One charges $0 a year and 29.9% outside Quebec, and tells you the security funds amount only after approval. Home Trust is the only one of the three that publishes both a minimum and a maximum deposit, $500 to $10,000, and it has the lowest published interest rate of the three, 14.90%, on the version that costs $59 a year. Neo has the lowest published entry point, $50, and is the only one whose card page names the two bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion, but a secured limit needs a paid membership.

How does a secured credit card work?

A secured credit card works like any credit card, except that you give the issuer a security deposit first and the issuer normally sets your limit equal to or higher than that deposit. FCAC’s description, row by row:

How to read this table: Paraphrased closely from FCAC's Choosing a credit card page. FCAC describes secured cards in general and does not name or rank any issuer.

Topic	What FCAC says
Who it may suit	Someone with no credit history or with bad credit
Security deposit	Required; you give it to the financial institution that issues the card
Credit limit	Normally equal to or higher than the deposit
Size of the deposit	May range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars
Missed payments	The financial institution may use the deposit to pay what you owe
Fees	A one-time application or set-up fee may apply, is not part of the deposit and may not be returned if you are declined; the card may also have an annual fee
Where the deposit is held	Usually by your financial institution, which may arrange for another institution to hold it; FCAC says to check that the deposit is insured
Getting the deposit back	Pay off the entire balance to cancel; the deposit comes back when the account is closed

Source: Choosing a credit card — who a secured card may suit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — the security deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — credit limit and size of the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — missed payments and the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — newcomers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — past bankruptcy (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — rebuilding (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — unknown and foreign issuers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cards without a recognized brand (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — application fee and annual fee (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — who holds the deposit and whether it is insured (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cancelling and getting the deposit back (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — errors on a credit report (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — legal age (FCAC); Improving your credit score — payment history (FCAC); Improving your credit score — minimum payment (FCAC); Improving your credit score — credit utilization (FCAC); Improving your credit score — length of history (FCAC); Credit report and score basics — lenders report to the bureaus (FCAC). In effect from October 15, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.

Three points in that table are easy to miss. First, the deposit is collateral, not a prepayment. You still get a statement every month and still have to pay it; the deposit sits untouched unless you stop paying, at which point FCAC says the financial institution may use it to cover what you owe. Second, the deposit and any fees are separate: FCAC notes a one-time application or set-up fee, where one exists, is not part of the deposit and may not come back if you are declined. None of the three card pages checked here lists an application fee. Third, FCAC says to check that the deposit is insured. Home Trust addresses this directly: Home Trust says it is a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation and that the security deposit is protected. KOHO, for its secured line of credit, states the opposite: its security funds are not insured by CDIC.

Deposit equals limit, in practice

At Home Trust the limit is the amount of your deposit. At Neo it is set by the security funds you put aside, so you choose the limit. A low limit changes how the card is used day to day. FCAC suggests using less than 30% of your total credit limit. On a secured card with a $500 limit, that guideline works out to keeping the balance under $150; on a $50 limit it is under $15, about one small purchase a month. A larger deposit buys a more usable limit, but it also ties up more cash until the account is closed.

Who is a secured credit card for?

A secured credit card is aimed at people who cannot get an unsecured card yet: FCAC says it may be an option if you don’t have a credit history or if you have bad credit.

How to read this table: FCAC's three examples. They are examples, not eligibility rules; each issuer sets its own conditions.

Situation	Source
Newcomer to Canada with no credit history	FCAC, Choosing a credit card
Someone who has filed for bankruptcy in the past	FCAC, Choosing a credit card
Someone who wants to rebuild a credit score after past credit problems	FCAC, Choosing a credit card

Source: Choosing a credit card — who a secured card may suit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — the security deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — credit limit and size of the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — missed payments and the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — newcomers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — past bankruptcy (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — rebuilding (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — unknown and foreign issuers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cards without a recognized brand (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — application fee and annual fee (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — who holds the deposit and whether it is insured (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cancelling and getting the deposit back (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — errors on a credit report (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — legal age (FCAC); Improving your credit score — payment history (FCAC); Improving your credit score — minimum payment (FCAC); Improving your credit score — credit utilization (FCAC); Improving your credit score — length of history (FCAC); Credit report and score basics — lenders report to the bureaus (FCAC). In effect from October 15, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.

Before applying, FCAC also suggests checking your credit report with Equifax and TransUnion, because errors in a report may be the reason an unsecured card was refused. The free routes are covered in the guide to free ways to check a credit score in Canada. And a secured card is not the only starting point. Students and newcomers can often get an unsecured card with no deposit: see the best student credit cards in Canada and the guide to credit cards for people with no credit history, which covers the big banks’ newcomer programs.

The three secured cards, issuer by issuer

The cards appear in alphabetical order by issuer. The order is not a ranking.

Capital One Guaranteed Secured Mastercard

Capital One charges $0 a year and a standard rate of 29.9% outside Quebec, 21.9% for Quebec residents. Its page offers a pre-approval check with no risk to your credit score. “Guaranteed” has a specific meaning: approval is guaranteed if you are the age of majority and meet three further conditions, namely no frozen credit profile and no legal or regulatory bar on having credit; no existing Capital One account and no pending application for one; and no more than one Capital One application in the last 30 days, no Capital One account that was not in good standing in the last year, and not in legal recoveries with Capital One. Even then, Capital One says it may not open the account if it cannot verify your identity, or you don't provide the required security funds.

The deposit is the unknown. Capital One asks for an amount Capital One tells you after approval (its card page publishes no minimum), sent through your bank's online banking site. The funds are fully returned if you close your account with the balance paid off. The card page lists Purchase Assurance, Extended Warranty, Car Rental Collision/Loss Damage Waiver, Baggage Delay and Common Carrier Travel Accident insurance, plus a Price Protection Service, coverage of a kind the other two card pages do not list. On reporting, Capital One says it reports to the credit reporting agencies regularly (its page does not name them). New purchases get an interest-free grace period of at least 25 days when the balance is paid in full by the due date.

Home Trust Secured Visa

Home Trust publishes its deposit range, both fee options and both interest rates on its card page. The deposit can be $500 to $10,000, the limit is the amount of your deposit, and the deposit stays with Home Trust for as long as you hold the card. There are two versions: $0 a year at 19.99%, or $59 a year at 14.90%. Home Trust says almost everyone who applies and puts down a deposit is approved, with the condition that applicants cannot currently be in bankruptcy. The card can be added to Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

The limits: it is not available in Quebec, its minimum deposit is well above Neo’s, and its page says it reports your file to the credit bureau every month (its page does not name the bureau).

Which Home Trust version costs less? The fee version only pays for itself if you carry a balance. The rate gap between the two versions is 5.09 percentage points, so the yearly fee equals the interest saved at an average carried balance of about $1,159. Below that average balance, or if you pay in full each month and pay no interest at all, the no-fee version costs less.

Secured Neo Mastercard

Neo does not sell a separate secured card. There is one Neo Mastercard, and Neo offers a traditional card or a card with a secured credit limit, depending on your credit history. Its page offers a pre-approval check with no hard credit check. The minimum security funds are $50, the limit is set by the security funds you put aside, so you choose the limit, and Neo says cardholders can be eligible for higher limits in as little as 3 months. The purchase rate is 19.99% to 29.99%, depending on Neo's assessment of your application. Secured cardholders get the same rewards and benefits as the regular Neo Mastercard, including cashback offers at Neo partners and cashback on gas and groceries.

The cost to weigh is the membership. A secured limit requires the Build membership, listed at $9.99 a month with ways to get it for free. At the listed price that is $119.88 a year if none of Neo’s free routes apply, which is more than Home Trust’s fee version costs. The Neo Financial review covers the memberships and how the fee can be waived.

Is KOHO Credit Building a secured credit card?

No. KOHO Credit Building is a dedicated tradeline (a line of credit) with no interest, on which you make monthly payments on time, not a card you can pay with. It is often listed beside secured cards because it serves the same goal, an account that reports on-time payments to Equifax and TransUnion, but the mechanics differ:

• Secured credit card: a deposit, a card that works at merchants, a monthly statement, and interest if you carry a balance.
• KOHO Credit Building: a tradeline with no interest that KOHO describes as a line of credit, not a credit card.
• KOHO Secured Credit Building: a line of credit, again not a card, backed by security funds of $50 to $500, with a limit equal to your security deposit. Its fee is shown in the KOHO app when you sign up (KOHO doesn't publish it on its website), and the security funds are not insured by CDIC.

The details are in the explainer on how KOHO Credit Building works. A prepaid card is different again: it involves no credit at all, so it adds nothing to a credit report. The prepaid credit cards comparison covers those.

What about secured cards from the big banks?

None are listed here, because no big-bank secured card page with a published fee, rate and deposit could be verified for this page on October 11, 2026. FCAC describes secured cards as something financial institutions in general can issue, so your own bank or credit union may be willing to secure one of its regular cards with a deposit. If it offers that, the terms come from that institution in writing, and the same questions apply: the deposit amount, where it is held, whether it is insured, the annual fee, the interest rate and when the deposit comes back.

How do you move from a secured card to an unsecured one?

You move up by building a record of on-time payments until a lender will approve you without a deposit; none of the three issuers publishes a fixed timeline for it. FCAC’s habits for a stronger credit score apply directly:

How to read this table: From FCAC's Improving your credit score page.

Habit	What FCAC says
Pay on time	Payment history is the most important part of a credit score
Pay at least the minimum	Make at least the minimum payment if you can't pay the full amount
Keep the balance low against the limit	Try to use less than 30% of your total credit limit
Keep accounts open and active	Lenders want to see a long and stable credit history

Source: Choosing a credit card — who a secured card may suit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — the security deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — credit limit and size of the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — missed payments and the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — newcomers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — past bankruptcy (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — rebuilding (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — unknown and foreign issuers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cards without a recognized brand (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — application fee and annual fee (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — who holds the deposit and whether it is insured (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cancelling and getting the deposit back (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — errors on a credit report (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — legal age (FCAC); Improving your credit score — payment history (FCAC); Improving your credit score — minimum payment (FCAC); Improving your credit score — credit utilization (FCAC); Improving your credit score — length of history (FCAC); Credit report and score basics — lenders report to the bureaus (FCAC). In effect from October 15, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.

There are two ways the deposit comes back. One is closing the secured account with the balance paid, which every issuer here describes. The other is being approved for an unsecured card elsewhere and then closing the secured one. FCAC notes that lenders like a long and stable credit history and that keeping accounts open and active may help a score, so closing your only credit account has a cost of its own to weigh. Neo’s structure is the one exception worth noting: because the secured and traditional versions are the same card, Neo says cardholders can be eligible for higher limits in as little as 3 months.

Interest is the main way a secured card becomes expensive. Carrying a $500 balance for a month costs roughly $12.46 at Capital One’s standard rate and $8.33 at Home Trust’s no-fee rate. The credit card payment calculator shows how long a balance takes to clear at a given payment.

What to watch for before applying

FCAC lists specific cautions for secured cards:

How to read this table: From FCAC's Choosing a credit card page.

Caution	Detail
Unknown financial institutions	FCAC says to be careful when applying for a secured card from an unknown financial institution
Issuers outside Canada	FCAC says to be particularly careful; problems with the company's services may be more difficult to resolve
No recognized brand name	Secured cards without a brand such as Visa, Mastercard or American Express may have limited uses, and only a small number of stores accept them
Set-up fees	A one-time application or set-up fee may not be returned if the application is declined
Uninsured deposits	FCAC says to check with the financial institution that the deposit is insured
Credit report errors	Errors on a credit report may be the reason an unsecured card was refused, so FCAC says to check the report first

Source: Choosing a credit card — who a secured card may suit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — the security deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — credit limit and size of the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — missed payments and the deposit (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — newcomers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — past bankruptcy (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — rebuilding (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — unknown and foreign issuers (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cards without a recognized brand (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — application fee and annual fee (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — who holds the deposit and whether it is insured (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — cancelling and getting the deposit back (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — errors on a credit report (FCAC); Choosing a credit card — legal age (FCAC); Improving your credit score — payment history (FCAC); Improving your credit score — minimum payment (FCAC); Improving your credit score — credit utilization (FCAC); Improving your credit score — length of history (FCAC); Credit report and score basics — lenders report to the bureaus (FCAC). In effect from October 15, 2025; checked October 11, 2026.

The points those cautions and the issuer pages raise, as a list of things to compare:

1. Whether the card carries a Visa, Mastercard or American Express logo. All three cards here carry a Visa or Mastercard logo.
2. Whether the issuer says it reports to a credit bureau, and which one. Only Neo names both on its card page.
3. The total yearly cost: annual fee, any membership, and interest if a balance is carried.
4. Where the deposit is held and whether it is insured.
5. When the deposit comes back, and how long that cash stays tied up.
6. Whether the issuer has a pre-approval check. Capital One and Neo both publish one on their card pages.

Which secured card fits which situation?

Based only on the published facts, not on a ranking:

• Smallest amount of cash to set aside: Neo, at $50, provided the membership cost is acceptable or waived.
• A balance may be carried from month to month: Home Trust’s 14.90% version has the lowest published rate of the three.
• Living in Quebec: Capital One and Neo publish Quebec rates; Home Trust is not available in Quebec.
• Wanting both bureaus named in writing: Neo states Equifax and TransUnion.
• Wanting insurance on purchases: Capital One lists it on its card page.
• Currently in bankruptcy: Home Trust’s page rules this out; the other two issuers’ conditions are in the sections above.

Rates, fees and conditions change, so confirm every figure on the issuer’s own page before applying.