The only card accounts that require a deposit are secured credit cards and prepaid cards. The deposit works differently for these two card types: Secured cards: The deposit is placed into a collateral account maintained by the card issuer. Normally, the money simply sits in the account — in fact, it probably won’t even earn you any interest. However, the card issuer can tap into your collateral account if you miss a credit card payment or exceed the credit limit. For virtually all secured cards, the deposit amount is equal to the card’s credit limit. However, the Secured Mastercard from Capital One gives you a $200 starting credit limit for as little as $49. The deposit, minus any outstanding balance, is refundable when you close a secured credit card account or graduate to an unsecured version of the card. Prepaid cards: Your deposit goes into the card account. This is the money you spend when you use the prepaid card. When that money is gone, your prepaid card won’t work — you have to add more money to the card account.