So far, I'm not displeased with Green Dot. (This is not the Primor Gold version; just the plain Green Dot platinum.) https://www.greendotcredit.com/ The home page for the Platinum card is here: https://www.greendot.com/platinum/
My FICO scores were in the mid-500s and I was just rejected by Discover & Cap1 Secured and the Walmart card because of very recent baddies. I didn't want to waste any more hard pulls. Someone on the forums linked to Green Dot as an option and I tried it.
No hard pulls. They asked me for my pathetic info and as I pressed submit, I was shocked to find I was accepted. I didn't pay the security deposit right then. They said they were going to mail the card out.
It arrived in about 5 days. I activated it online. I went to Walmart to pay my $200 (with a $3.75 fee—other places can charge up to $5.00) but you can see from the first link that there's a place where you can pay your initial deposit online.
They also encourage you to set up your bank info so you can pay directly that way. It required that I email them a picture of a voided check, as well as fill in info with routing and account number. I realized later that I didn't really need to do that. It's possible to pay online via debit or credit card.
The card worked shortly after I paid my deposit and I charged a few small items.
It didn't take long for the charges to show up on my online account. (Maybe a day or half a day?) The annual $40 fee was also added to the balance.
About a week later the statement came out on my online account—minimum of $25 and a due date of about 24 days (December 27th). I quickly paid with my debit card using the above link. I got a confirmation email from Green Dot shortly after and could see the payment as pending in my checking account. About a day later, the credit appeared on my Green Dot account.
Oh! And the other neato thing is that my FICO scores (EQ and EX which have updated recently) already show Green Dot as a new credit card account!
So far, so good. I haven't tried Opensky yet, but I think it and Green Dot are two great cards for rebuilders who have been rejected everywhere else. They have fees but they don't seem too skeevy as long as you keep up on the payments.
The card will never upgrade, though. It's just for rebuilding.
The reviews I saw for it online had some people complaining because an online checking account payment took FOREVER to clear. Until the payment clears (like 10 days) the amount is not credited. Therefore, I don't see this working as well for people who want to go up close to their limit, especially if they can't pay online with a debit card. Or, if they want to pay at the last minute. But for those of us who are using this strictly for rebuilding and always keep under 10-30% and pay ahead of time, it seems just fine so far.
