{"buyer_scenarios":[{"fit":"best_suited","scenario":"Consumers who can manage a $100 deposit and want three-bureau reporting"},{"fit":"best_suited","scenario":"Credit rebuilders who want to avoid hard credit inquiries during application"},{"fit":"best_suited","scenario":"Existing Self Credit Builder Account customers who want to add a revolving credit card to their credit mix"},{"fit":"best_suited","scenario":"Consumers who prefer to build their deposit incrementally through monthly payments rather than paying a lump sum upfront"},{"fit":"not_best_suited","scenario":"Consumers with only $49–$99 available for a security deposit, since Capital One and Discover offer lower entry points"},{"fit":"not_best_suited","scenario":"Buyers who want a standalone secured card with no linked Credit Builder Account or subscription requirement"},{"fit":"not_best_suited","scenario":"Consumers seeking no annual fee beyond the first year, since the $25 annual fee applies from year two"},{"fit":"not_best_suited","scenario":"Buyers who want automatic graduation to an unsecured card with deposit refund, which competitors like Discover and Capital One explicitly advertise"}],"citations":{"source_mix":{"company_owned":13,"independent":8,"unclear":0},"sources_referenced_by_questions":0,"support_mix":{"direct":16,"partial":5},"total_sources":21,"unique_domain_count":13},"claims":[{"claim_id":"claim-001","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["anthropic","deepseek","google","grok","kimi","openai","perplexity"],"predicate":"platforms_analyzed","qualifier":"valid included platform responses","subject":"Best Secured Credit Cards With Low Security Deposits","unit":"platforms","value":7},{"claim_id":"claim-002","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["anthropic","google","grok","kimi","openai","perplexity"],"predicate":"final_consensus_rank","qualifier":"Low-Deposit Secured Credit Cards","subject":"Self Financial","unit":"rank","value":5},{"claim_id":"claim-003","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["anthropic","google","grok","kimi","openai","perplexity"],"predicate":"platform_mentions","qualifier":"out of 7","subject":"Self Financial","unit":"platforms","value":6},{"claim_id":"claim-004","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["grok"],"predicate":"fit_rating_count","qualifier":"strong","subject":"Self Financial","unit":"platforms","value":1},{"claim_id":"claim-005","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["anthropic","perplexity","google"],"predicate":"fit_rating_count","qualifier":"good","subject":"Self Financial","unit":"platforms","value":3},{"claim_id":"claim-006","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["openai","kimi"],"predicate":"fit_rating_count","qualifier":"mixed","subject":"Self Financial","unit":"platforms","value":2},{"claim_id":"claim-007","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-04","platform_support":["deepseek"],"predicate":"fit_rating_count","qualifier":"weak","subject":"Self Financial","unit":"platforms","value":1}],"consensus_findings":["Minimum Security Deposit Is Low Relative to Industry Norms","Three-Bureau Reporting Is a Consistent Advantage","No Hard Credit Inquiry Improves Accessibility","The Card Is Structurally Linked to the Credit Builder Account","Annual Fee Structure: $0 First Year, Then $25","High Variable APR Is a Shared Concern"],"content_scope":"aggregated facts, computed metrics, and retrieval summaries","disagreements":["Minimum Deposit Amount: $25 vs. $100","Whether the Credit Builder Account Is Mandatory","Graduation Path to an Unsecured Card","Credit Limit Maximum","Credit Builder Account Fees","Deposit Accessibility and Refund Terms"],"entities":[{"average_rank":4.5,"best_rank":3,"entity_id":"entity-001","entity_type":"company","final_rank":5,"name":"Self Financial","platform_mentions":6,"platform_share":0.8571428571428571}],"identity":{"dataset_url":"https://creditconsensusindex.com/datasets/credit-building-rebuilding/low-deposit-secured-credit-cards/self-financial.json","page_url":"https://creditconsensusindex.com/credit-building-rebuilding/low-deposit-secured-credit-cards/self-financial","report_type":"fit_review","study_id":"CCI-STUDY-2783F2DECD30","title":"Self Financial for Secured Credit Cards With Low Security Deposits Review"},"limitations":["Use the run researchdate as the study date. Platform-reported dates are provenance metadata and do not independently prove freshness.","All included platforms evaluated fit, but platformmentions counts only platforms that named the entity during ranking discovery.","Do not resolve conflicting product names, pricing, or capabilities by guessing; describe the conflict and tell buyers what to verify.","The supplied URLs were collected from platform responses and were not independently validated by the writer stage.","Company-owned citations materially outnumber independent citations; do not describe company claims as independently verified.","Platform-reported research dates differ from the authoritative run date; disclose this as a methodology limitation."],"methodology":{"fit_rating_contract":["strong","good","mixed","weak","uncertain"],"included_valid_platform_count":7,"maximum_finalists":10,"minimum_mentions":2,"name":"Credit Consensus Index cross-platform AI consensus analysis","platforms_included":["anthropic","deepseek","google","grok","kimi","openai","perplexity"],"platforms_queried":["openai","anthropic","deepseek","grok","perplexity","kimi","google"],"stages":["ranking_discovery","fit_assessment","normalization","editorial_synthesis"],"version":"alias-table-1"},"provenance":{"generated_at":"2026-09-04 07:47:27.00676+00","research_date":"2026-09-04","source_snapshot_sha256":"d03ae855f638dac9daf8d37e431407cd56e6c6a30017e04ffebefee6833c842b","verification_scope":"public_verification"},"ranking":{"candidates_evaluated":22,"qualified_finalists":7,"ranking_unit":"Secured credit card"},"schema_version":4,"summary":"Self Financial is a mixed-to-good fit for consumers seeking a low-deposit secured credit card, depending on which trade-offs matter most. Six of seven AI platforms named Self Financial during the ranking stage, and the company's Secured Self Visa® Credit Card earned an average listed rank of 4.5 with a best rank of 3. The strongest reason to consider Self is its commonly published $100 minimum security deposit—well below the $200–$300 industry standard—combined with three-bureau reporting and no hard credit inquiry. The main limitation is structural: the card is closely linked to Self's…","target_buyer":"Consumers rebuilding credit who have limited cash available for a security deposit and want a lower-entry-cost secured card","topic":{"base_category":"Credit building & rebuilding","category_criteria":["Minimum security deposit","three-bureau reporting","annual and other fees","approval accessibility","APR","graduation potential","credit-limit policy"],"geography":"United States","slug":"best-secured-credit-cards-with-low-security-deposits","title":"Best Secured Credit Cards With Low Security Deposits","use_case":"Low-Deposit Secured Credit Cards"}}