Secured rewards card?

I am not too familiar with secured rewards cards. In fact, I didn't even know they existed until now. There is an Aeromexico secured card from US Bank with 5000 bonus miles as a signup bonus and no annual fee.

https://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/credit/aero_mexico/usb_aeromexico_sec.cfm



Is this a good deal? If all you can get is a secured card than yes, absolutely. I haven't seen any other card like this that lets the credit challenged get in on our rewards game. In fact, if you want to just burn an inquiry and you are out of things to apply for, go for it. There are a few interesting perks:

A companion pass to Mexico
Double points for gas and groceries (no limit? potential for huge gift card loads)
A strong awards chart with 50k roundtrips from USA to Europe, 20k roundtrips inside Mexico, and 60k USA to Japan
Partnerships with Copa and LAN

If you are ever near San Diego, the 20k RT rewards inside Mexico is kind of cool, as getting to the TJ airport isn't very difficult and can involve some fun hijinks in TJ itself

Their regular card, issued by US Bank, looks interesting as well as it comes with a 20k bonus with no minimum spend, but I think I still prefer the Carlson card if I am trying to choose a US Bank card.