A Home Trust Secured Visa review comes down to one choice the card puts directly in front of you: pay $0 a year at 19.99% interest, or pay $59 a year for a lower 14.90% rate. Everything else about this card, the $500 minimum deposit that sets your credit limit, the CDIC protection on that deposit, the Quebec exclusion, exists to help you decide whether that choice, and this card, fits your situation.
What the Home Trust Secured Visa Is
The Home Trust Secured Visa is a credit card issued by Home Trust Company, running for over a decade, built for Canadians with no credit history, damaged credit, or a recent bankruptcy or consumer proposal behind them. You put down a refundable security deposit, and Home Trust sets your credit limit at that exact amount.
From there it works like any other Visa. You shop with it, pay bills, or set up a recurring charge, and every payment gets reported to the credit bureaus. There are no rewards and no signup bonus. Building payment history is the whole point of the card.
Fees, Deposit, and the $0-or-$59 Decision
Home Trust offers two versions of the card, laid out directly on Home Trust‘s own product page: a no-fee version that carries a 19.99% purchase interest rate, and a $59-a-year version that drops the purchase rate to 14.90%. Both are the standing terms of the card for as long as you hold it.
| Version | Annual Fee | Purchase APR |
|---|---|---|
| No-fee | $0 | 19.99% |
| Low-rate | $59 | 14.90% |
Run the math on when that $59 fee actually pays off. The low-rate version buys you a 5.09 percentage-point rate cut (19.99% down to 14.90%). Divide the fee by the rate cut: $59 ÷ 5.09% works out to roughly $1,159. Carry an average balance above that across the year and the low-rate version saves you money. Carry less, or pay your statement in full most months, and the extra $59 a year costs more than the lower rate saves.
Your security deposit sets your credit limit dollar for dollar, with a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $10,000. The deposit sits with Home Trust for as long as you hold the card and is returned when you close the account in good standing. Home Trust is a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, so the deposit itself is protected the same way a savings account or GIC would be.
Home Trust reports your payment activity to both Equifax and TransUnion every month, a feature stated directly on Home Trust’s own site. Whichever bureau a landlord, lender, or employer happens to pull, your payment history from this card shows up on it.
The $500 Minimum: What It Means If You’re Rebuilding
The $500 minimum is the real barrier on this card. Once your deposit clears, approval is close to universal by Home Trust’s own account, so the qualifying test is less about your score and more about whether you have $500 in cash to lock up for a year or more.
For someone rebuilding after a bankruptcy, a consumer proposal, or a stretch of missed payments, $500 is real money to set aside before the card even arrives. Lower entry points exist elsewhere: Neo Secured Mastercard starts at a $50 minimum deposit, a tenth of Home Trust’s floor. Our roundup of the best secured credit cards in Canada compares the full field, including Neo, on deposit size, fees, and reporting. Capital One’s guaranteed-approval secured card takes a different approach again: it sets the deposit amount after approval rather than publishing a fixed minimum, worth a look if a fixed $500 upfront doesn’t fit your timeline.
If $500 is doable, the deposit converts directly into your credit limit and is returned when you close the account in good standing. And at a $500 limit, you can’t carry the roughly $1,159 average balance the $59 low-rate version needs to break even, so the no-fee, 19.99% version is the better default for anyone opening at or near the minimum deposit.
Eligibility and the Quebec Exclusion
Eligibility comes down to three conditions: you’re a Canadian resident, you’ve reached the age of majority in your province or territory, and you’re not currently in an active bankruptcy. There’s no minimum credit score, no income requirement, and no employment check.
Home Trust does not offer this card to residents of Quebec, a restriction set by the issuer that applies regardless of your credit history or income. Quebec residents rebuilding credit need to look at a different secured card or credit-building product.
Home Trust says almost everyone who applies and puts down a deposit is approved once these conditions are met, a claim echoed by independent reviewers of the card. Approval still depends on Home Trust’s review of each application.
Getting From Secured to Unsecured
Some secured cards build in a graduation path: a run of clean payments and the issuer automatically converts you to an unsecured card, refunding the deposit. Home Trust doesn’t advertise that mechanism for the Secured Visa. Cardholders who want to move to an unsecured product generally need to apply for one separately once their score has recovered enough to qualify.
That’s a real limitation. The deposit still comes back when you close the account, and the payment history it built stays on your file regardless of which card comes next. If your score is already sitting in the 580-649 range, it’s worth checking whether an unsecured card built for that tier would approve you first, skipping the deposit step while keeping the same reporting benefit.
Who Should Apply, and Who Shouldn’t
This card fits a reader with no credit file or a damaged one, who has $500 or more to lock up for a year or longer and wants broad bureau coverage while rebuilding. It’s a poor fit for Quebec residents, for anyone who needs that $500 for something more urgent, or for anyone whose credit already qualifies for a no-deposit card.
Before committing $500 anywhere, compare your full range of credit card options side by side, secured and unsecured, rather than applying to the first name that shows up in a search.
Bottom Line: Is the Home Trust Secured Visa Worth It?
If $500 is available and you can leave it in place for a year or more, the Home Trust Secured Visa gives you a straightforward credit-building tool: a CDIC-protected deposit, monthly reporting to both Equifax and TransUnion, and a genuine no-fee option with no ongoing cost beyond whatever balance you choose to carry. The $59, 14.90% version only pays off once your deposit is large enough to carry a real balance consistently; for most cardholders opening at or near the $500 minimum, the no-fee 19.99% version is the simpler, cheaper default.
If $500 isn’t available right now, a lower-deposit secured card like Neo’s gets you the same core mechanism, on-time payments reported to the bureaus, at a smaller upfront cost. The right secured card is the one you can actually afford to open today.
Rebuilding credit and covering a cash shortfall are two different problems. If you need funds now rather than a credit-building tool, you may qualify for an installment loan matched to a Canadian lender, and applying doesn’t affect your credit score. Get matched with a Canadian lender today →
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a refundable deposit between $500 and $10,000 that sets your credit limit dollar for dollar. Home Trust holds it at a CDIC member institution for as long as you keep the account open, and returns it once you close the card with your balance paid in full.
The card reports to both Equifax and TransUnion every month, so on-time payments build history on whichever bureau a lender pulls. Your deposit sits at a CDIC member institution, protected the same way a savings account would be. You can also choose no annual fee, or pay $59 for a lower rate.
It’s a solid pick if you can set aside $500 or more for a year and want dual-bureau reporting on a CDIC-protected deposit. The no-fee, 19.99% version suits most cardholders starting at the minimum deposit. It’s a weaker fit for Quebec residents or anyone who needs that cash sooner.
Home Trust restricts this card to Canadian residents outside Quebec, a limit set by the issuer itself rather than by federal law. Quebec residents rebuilding credit need to look at a different secured card or credit-building product that actually operates in the province.
Only by applying separately. Home Trust doesn’t build a formal graduation path into the Secured Visa, so cardholders typically apply for a separate unsecured card once their score has recovered. Your deposit is still refunded when you close the secured account, regardless of which card you move to next.
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