VISA® Platinum from Credit One Bank®

I have been a member for over a year. I think a pro/con list would be a better way to show the card's benefits and downfalls. 

Pros:
They will approve you with fair to poor credit

The application process was fairly simple for me

The late fee is not herendous

The interest rate is average/not too expensive 

Their customer service hours are open fairly late

It will help build your credit/My score raised 42 pts since going with them

Cons:

To pay with a credit card there is a charge of $9.95

To pay with bank account/e-check there is a charge of $5.95

To pay with a physical check, you have to send your payment in 10-businss days before the due date**

When you do make a payment, the payment is not available until the next billing cycle. (This may not be true with credit card payment, I think the money is available a few days later)

Customer service is poor if not horrible. Outsourced department, heavy accent, doesn't really try to explain their poilicies well or maybe they do not understand them? 

I have had to call customer service 4 times in the past year to get the hold taken off my credit card due to fraud activity (pretty much whenever I used it physically as a POS--never when I made online purchases, lol, go figure)

**I had set-up my bank account with autopay. My bank sent a check on the first of every month. I got a late fee on my due date, which was the 8th. I called CS and they told me that I have to give checks 10business days to post to my account. I was shocked because...mail from where I live to where they are is 2 to 3 days at most. That means it sits in some department, wanders to next departmentat some point, and then finally makes it to A/R? I have no idea. I ended up paying my bills 20-days early just to make sure. I didn't want to pay the stupid "express payment" fee. 

**I have since paid off my card and canceled it just this month. Too much hassle. My credit score was high enough to get a better credit card. It did help with that. 

I destroyed my credit when I was younger.  Since I have had this card, I have been able to attain credit from more reputable companies.  This card has improved my credit score, as promised.  That being said - Credit One is expensive and they will nickel and dime you until your head spins.  Relying on this card will probably ruin your life so be very careful.  If you use it, go home and pay it off immediately.  Expect random fees constantly - and pay them.  Don't even bother complaining - your complaints will be heard by a guy who probably lives in a mud hut in India (they out source customer service). They simply will not be sympathetic to your first world problems.  

This line of credit has helped me get approved for better lines of credit, thus creating a chain reaction of credit healing.  I use the analogy "playing with fire" because fire is very usefull, but the second you are not careful it will probably burn everything you have down to the ground.  So be very careful and understand who you are dealing with. 

I have had this card for 6 mos, I had like 602 CS and was approved for $500.00. After one month they raised my CL to $600.00 2 month later it went to $ 700.00 and today I got another raise to $900.00 so in 6 months I got 3 raises and didn't asked for one of them they just showed up on my account page. I wasn't charged a fee and my interest is still around 22%.  These low limit high, interest cards are for building your credit history NOT to live on!  If you just use the card a couple of times a month and pay in full every payment... you will get better credit.  If you have a $500.00 line of credit and carry a balance of $350.00 you are using 65% of that card and that doesn't look good to a credit company.  Just pay your bill every month.. carry no more than 10% on the card.. pay your fees for the card and your credit will improve. Mine went from 602 to 649 in 6 months with just this card.

Before I go on to talk about the card itself, allow me to tell you a bit about myself and my credit status at the time of approval.

Age: 21

Oldest Tradeline: 7 months

AAoA: 4 months

Vantage Score: 641

Transrisk Score: 672

Credit Utilization: 39%

Hard Inquiries at time of application: 7

Annual Income: $38,000

Total Number Of accounts: 2 revolving credit accounts.

% on-time payments: 100%

Derogatory Marks: none

Hopefully this helps those who are wanting to apply, but are unsure of their approval odds. Also, I would strongly suggest going to the CreditOne website and filling out their Pre-qualification form. It won't affect your credit score, and it will tell you where you stand with CreditOne.

I don't need a credit expert to tell me that these numbers aren't pretty. For the longest time I was part of the "buy everything with cash" crowd. It wasn't until recently when I attempted to purchase a cell phone through at@t, that I realized just how f****d I really was until I established at least some credit. In order to purchase a plan through them, I was asked to put down a $500 security deposit that would be returned to me when my contract ended, simply because I had no credit, or a "thin" credit file.

After much deliberation, I opened a fingerhut fresh start account and was approved for the CaptialOne secured mastercard. 7 months later, shortly after discovering credit karma; I came across the CreditOne Visa Platinum card. I needed another card to help with my utilization, so I applied and was approved despite a few(actually a lot) of negative reviews on this site and others. 

Now for the card itself...

If you are reading this, chances are pretty good that you are either looking to establish, or to rebuild your credit. That said, this card should be used as a tool, and just like any tool, you're going to have to pay for it. 

Unlike other sub-prime lenders, CreditOne is up front about all of their fees regardless of how outrageous they are, so you know exactly what you're getting yourself into the moment you hit the "Submit" button on the credit application. 

Here is a basic overview of the fees you can expect to pay:

• Annual fee of $75-$99(fee is determined by CL)
• 8% Cash advance fee
• Returned payment fee of $35
• 23.9%-26.9% APR
• $8 Express payment fee(more on that in a second).
• Additional fee required to customize image on card.

Despite it's rediculously high fees, the CreditOne bank Platinum Visa card does have a few benefits worth mentioning. Said benefits include: 

• Monthly access to your Experian FICO score(The only accurate score that CK reports is Transunion)
• Easy to navigate website
• Accurate pre-approval process
• Regular CL increases(you don't see that a lot with these types of cards *caugh* capital one)
• No over-the-limit fee.

My Verdict:

This card is good for one thing, and one thing only;  repairing/establishing credit. At the time of writing, you'll be hard pressed to find a lender that offers an unsecured card with regular cl increases to those with bad or no credit. 

Note to those with NO credit:

If you have no credit history, I would strongly suggest going to CreditOne's website and filling out their pre-qual form to see if you will qualify for their card. If it says "no offers available", try applying for the Capital One secured MasterCard. Almost everyone is approved(the only people who are denied are those with recent bankrupties and negatives on their accounts).

I hope this helped!!

Forrest.

I started this card as one of my first credit cards. 

I still have it after dumping most others. 

Pros

Eaisy Application 

Almost always approved for some line of credit 

Yearly Credit Increases

As your Credit Score Gets better they will actualy Negotiate APR%

Cons: 

Yearly Fee $54 

APR with bad Credit can be as high as 25%

I started my Acount in 2007 With a CL of $300 and a APR of 23.99%

Now 5 Years later as a loyal customer CL is 2500 with a APR of 13.99%

First of all I admit that I have sucky credit and these guys were willing to give me credit when others were not but they do so because they see how to make money.

They charge you every month for your account whether you use it or not.  When you pay your account it takes a week before they credit your payment even if you pay it on their site.

My biggest issue is that my card was being used fraudulently and they won't take any disputes online or one the phone.  They must be mailed in.  And when I asked to either block the company charging my account or to issue a new card they said that they cannot block charges and to cancel and reissue a new card would cost me $25.

I told them to forget it and cancel my account.  Their response is that they will continue to charge my annual fee while I dispute the charges unless I pay them in full.

I will make this review quick and easy as I only had the card for only 1 week. Several months ago I filed for Ch. 7, after the bankruptcy was final and recieved my discharged letter I was in the need of a vehicle as my previous car was seized after the backruptcy. Long story short I got a car loan through Exeter Finance of which I got approved, the interest rate is sky high but I kept the financing low so that I can afford my payments until I can later pay off the loan in a couple of months. During this time my credit score was in the 550 range. I signed up to CreditKarma, I learned about my score and looked at some of the features in the website one of them being the recommendations for cards based on my Transunion Credit Score, I did not want to believe at first that the odds were good for this card but after reading some of the reviews of other users and their situation I thought I had a good chance if their experiences were all that true. Sure enough I applied for the Credit One card and got approved for a $300 credit limit, after recieving the card I went into the score simulator and put in my credit line increase and the simulator predicted that my score would go up by atleast 20+ points. A few days ago my information updated after recieving the card and sure enough my Transunion Credit Score went up to 628. I've started to use the card for petty things and paying them off in the process, there is a $35.00 fee that is assesed by Credit One Bank but 35.00 for a credit line of 300.00 and promise to help you increase your credit score is not that bad, besides although the interest rate is high I reccomend that this card be used ONLY to rebuild credit and if in the process you get a credit line increase then that would all be favorable. I can not give my opinion about the company as I only had the card for several days. Making payments online is easy though the funds take several day for it to post to your account and if you want the fund available right away the charge you somewere around $10.00 do not really care for that again whom ever is desperate for $300 and paying $10.00 for their credit to be available right away needs seriouse help.

I hope this review would help you decide, as I continue to use the card I will update my review to help others in the process. For me it was a shot in the dark and I got approved with a 550 score at the time. Now I am in the low 600 thanks to CreditKarma and Credit One.

I give this card a 5 for application process as it was so easy to apply online.

Overall Rating: I gave it a 3 for now, lets see how they turn out in time.

Overall it has been easy to apply and use the card to make purchases and making payments online.

This is a bank that will start charging interest on the day the transaction is posted so you will need to keep close tabs on it and also there is a $75.00 annual fee.  Also it will take you many mailings to get them to process your things as they seem to lose what is sent to them.  I was denied credit because they clamed I did not send it then they changed the card I was going to be approved for.  Also they say there is no interest during the introductory period if your credit limit is below $399 but after they approve you for a $300 credit limit they will ever so kindly send you a message saying happy holiday or whatever and we are giving you an additional $100 of spending money for the holiday enjoy it and then guess what your limit is above that introductory limit and you pay interest.

I have had this card for 5 years now, it was one of my very first credit cards.  I started with a very low balance and I have never paid late or over the limit.  Which is why I think that the credit limit has increased so much.  It is my highest limit now.  I have had to call customer service for various minor things or questions, and have had great responses.  I gave the card a 4 star rating, because if you want to build your credit, you will pay interest and annual fees.  But I went from apt living and poor credit score to a house and outstanding credit score.

When I joined the military I gave up a big chunk of pay and ultimately ruined my credit by not being able to afford the bills I already had. Little did I know there are laws that protect this from happening but that's neither here no there.

CreditOne and the military were the only two people that would give me an unsecured line of credit. These days you should consider it lucky to even get a $200 line of credit with limited to no credit history. 

Let me make this clear. Credit One will nickel and dime the sh** out of you. They charge outragous interest rates, late fees, card design fees, CREDIT LIMIT INCREASE FEES, and even 'early pay' fees. Yes I said that right. Credit One will charge you money to make what they call an express pay. What kind of misguided company would charge a person to make a payment earlier? Yep... this company will.

The customer care folks are in some third world country (I think) and the fact that they copied their name off a competitor just kind of ****es me off. Nevertheless, I still have this card to this day. When I initially picked this card up, I paid the $75 annual fee on my first bill. They initially gave me a $400 credit limit so available credit to start was $325. 2 weeks after I paid the first bill they gave me a 'courtesy' credit limit increase to $600. 

Oh yeah... at Credit One interest is accrued on a daily basis. So unless you pay the bill immediately after you charge something, you will pay interest. That's right boys and girls.... no grace period. Did you actually expect it?

There are perks believe it or not. Right now I'm getting 1% cash back on gas purchases. So that's what I use this card for. Then I immediately pay off the balance later that day. Express pay costs like $10 I think. That makes the available credit increase a few days quicker. Standard pay takes like 5-6 days to post.

This isn't exactly a great company to do business with but I wouldn't expect them to be. They are high risk lenders and don't offer perks a person with great credit would get. I'd also recommend the Fingerhut Fresh Start program for anyone trying to build credit. The merchandise is ridiculous expensive plus they charge expensive shipping but after a few cycles of $50 purchases, they will increase your buying power and turn the ac**** into an unsecured line of credit

Last thing.... secured cards are a great way to build credit. A lender who pulls your credit is unable to determine if a credit card account is secured or unsecured. So if you've got the cash in savings then do something with it and get yourself an unsecured line of credit.

Good Luck.