People's Trust Secured Mastercard Credit Card

It looks like People's Trust/Horizon Plus is no longer in the prepaid credit card market. (This is incorrect, please see comments below for why this confusion occurred).  Now they only offer the HorizonPlus Mastercard directly through Peoples Trust, whereas previously they were through the HorizonPlus subsidiary (or so I think). If you're looking for a prepaid gift card, it would still be a good idea to take a look at my Canadian Prepaid Visa/Mastercard Gift Cards Review here.

Now, a secured credit card isn't all that much different than a reloadable credit card. Really, when you think of it, they're almost exactly the same.

With a secured credit card, you load up the card with say $500, and then it's like a regular credit card with a $500 limit. If you want to have a higher limit, you need to "secure" it with a bigger deposit. The problem is that you always have $500 or some amount stranded in the card, you can't get back to "even" without cancelling the card (usually). 

With a reloadable prepaid Mastercard/Visa, you load up the card and then draw down that amount. So you can put in $500 and spend that, like a debit card that's accepted anywhere a Visa or Mastercard is. 

Either way, you're not allowed to spend money that you don't have. 

The difference is that a secured credit card reports to credit bureaus (usually), which can help you rebuild your credit if you have none or terrible credit. Prepaid cards generally build your credit rating, though they might check your credit rating to verify your identity. 

The People's Trust Secured Credit Card offers:

• Minimum $500 deposit (and therefore minimum $500 credit limit), which earns interest, but probably not much.
• Deposit money cannot be decreased. You can only cancel the card to get the deposit money back
• You _do_ need to pay off your balance each month. Only if you default or something will they use your $500 deposit to pay off your account. So, they still require much discipline
• Set up fee of $49
• Monthly fee of $5.95 (starting from the first month)

Overall, meh, especially if you have to pay $49 again when the card expired if you want to continue your account, though I'm not sure if it works this way. It seems to me that the prepaid Mastercards/Visas I've discussed in this guide are better options, except they don't contribute to your credit rating.