PREMIER Bankcard® Mastercard® Credit Card review

Like the PREMIER Bankcard Mastercard Credit Card, the OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card is designed for people trying to rebuild their credit and does not require a credit check. However, it’s a secured credit card, requiring a deposit to gain access to your credit line, which can range from $200 to $3,000. 

As for the costs, the annual fee is lower at $35 and it has a much more appealing APR of just 25.64% (variable). You also have the ability to upgrade your card to an unsecured credit card within six months. So, while it may feel a little more expensive on the front end, in the long-run it can be much more beneficial.

If you prefer the unsecured route, consider the Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card. You can submit a prequalification request to see if you are likely to get approved without hurting your credit score. If approved, credit lines start at $300, and the annual fee is $75 for the first year and then $99 annually ($8.25 per month) with an APR of 29.74 percent. Both the APR and annual fees can be potentially lower than the PREMIER card. 

Though the perks are limited, you can earn 1 percent cash back on everyday purchases, such as eligible gas, grocery purchases and mobile phone service. There’s also an annual review for possible credit line increases. 

It can be difficult to find financial tools that will help you recover from credit mistakes. One of the biggest downsides is that you may have limited banking options, leaving you unbanked or underbanked. The PREMIER Bankcard’s easy application and potential $700 starting credit limit give you a good boost towards improving your credit. There’s also the possibility of a credit increase after 12 months of responsible card usage.

This card doesn’t have the strongest long-term value. However, if you need help building your credit right now and are close to having a Fair credit score (580-669 FICO score), this card can work for you. Not only does this card report your credit activity to the three major credit bureaus, but you will likely have a lower annual fee and program fee depending on your creditworthiness, which means less strain on your wallet.

A student or credit-building card’s cost has a large influence on its overall score. 

Students already face a ton of expenses, so extra card costs are best avoided if possible, and people with limited or damaged credit tend often find the cards they can qualify for are much pricier than traditional credit cards designed for people with a good or better credit score. 

We compare a card’s total cost, including any annual fees, account activation fees, monthly fees and more against the total cost of other cards in this category and assign each card a score based on its affordability. We also factor rewards-earning potential into our assessment of a credit-building card’s total cost, subtracting a card’s expected earnings from the sum of its fees. 

To get a sense of a card’s rewards-earning potential, we estimate its average annual rewards rate and average annual earnings based on the most popular spending categories (as covered in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer spending report). 

However, we use a slightly lower spending assumption ($300 per month or $3,600 per year) to estimate average earnings, assuming students and credit-builders will start out with a lower credit limit, will want to keep credit utilization low and will focus primarily on small purchases they can easily pay off.

Given the many costs students face — from textbooks to laptops — the presence of an introductory APR on purchases or balance transfers also plays a role in a student card’s score.

A card’s APR is also a major factor in its credit-building score. Each card’s average APR is compared against the average APR of other cards in the category, and the cards with lower-than-average APRs receive a higher rating. 

Though high APRs are hard to avoid when you’re just starting out or working on your score, credit-builders should strive for as low an APR as possible since they’re likely to either be new to managing cards or trying to establish better financial habits and avoid falling into debt.

Along with a credit-building card’s cost, our rating system takes into account how easy the card makes it to build credit. To assess this, we evaluate its credit limit potential and minimum deposit requirement.

Unsecured cards with a high starting credit limit and secured cards that let you put down a large deposit and get a matching high credit limit will score the highest according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric and are more likely to appear on our list. 

This is because a high credit limit can make it much easier to keep your credit utilization low, a primary credit-building factor that makes up 30 percent of your FICO credit score. 

Secured cards have a slight advantage in this category since the maximum credit limit on a secured card tends to be much higher than the typical starting credit limit on an unsecured card that’s available with a bad or fair credit score. However, unsecured credit-building cards have the upper hand in another key aspect of building credit: accessibility. 

Cards that carry no or a low deposit requirement can also receive a high score according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric since these cards offer a lower barrier to entry than secured cards that require you to put up hundreds of dollars in an upfront deposit. 

Indeed, some users may prefer to pay a non-refundable $50 annual fee while they work on their credit score than tie up hundreds in a refundable security deposit.

We also evaluate each card’s benefits based on how useful they are for students or someone looking to build a positive credit history and save money on everyday spending. 

We consider the inclusion of a rewards program, student-centric perks and access to your credit score or a credit monitoring service of prime importance, along with the ability to prequalify for the card with only a soft credit pull and a clear path to increase your credit limit or graduate to an unsecured or full-fledged rewards card.

Cards that include these benefits are likely to score higher according to our credit-building card scoring rubric.

The starting credit limit for the PREMIER Bankcard is up to $700, depending on your creditworthiness. After 12 months of responsible card use, you may be eligible for a credit increase.

You need a 500 FICO score or higher to be eligible for the Premier Bankcard Mastercard. If your score is lower, you might have a higher chance of acceptance with a secured card.

Yes, the PREMIER charges an annual fee between $50 and $125 depending on your creditworthiness. There’s also a program fee of $55 to $95 required to open your account but it is not recurring.

* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's website where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.