Centennial® Credit Card

The Centennial Credit Card is issued by FIRST PREMIER® Bank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota which also offers the First Premier PREMIER® Bank Credit Card. Both cards are designed for people with no credit or bad credit and work similarly with almost identical fee structures.

Fees and How This Card Works When you are approved for the Centennial Credit Card you will receive a $300 credit limit. As with many sub-prime credit cards however, this is not the amount of available credit you will have when you receive your card. You will have to pay a $75 annual fee and a one time application fee of $95. Since the CARD ACT restricts credit card issuers from issuing cards where upfront fees cannot reduce the initial credit limit by more than 25%, we are unsure as to how First Premier Bank was able to get away with the $95.00 application fee. This security deposit will be returned by you close the card and will be used as a collateral if you still owe money when you close your card. Additionally, the interest rate on this card is quite high at 49.9%.

The subsequent annual fee is technically lower at $48. But they tag on a monthly maintenance fee of $6.50 monthly which is equal to $78 annually. So the fees you will pay from the second year onwards is $126! (even more than an Amex Green Card!).



How does this fare versus it's peers? - Frankly speaking, this card simply sucks. How can you compare this card to any other sub prime card when the rate is 49.9%? Even notorious cards like Imagine Gold MasterCard and Tribute MasterCard (both from CompuCredit Corp) never had such high interest rates. Cards like Total Visa, Continental Finance MasterCard and Rewards 660 Visa all had rates around the 19% or in the 20s.

The fees of this card reflects the passing of the CARD Act. Specifically, the CARD Act requires fees not to be more than 25% of the initial credit. Previously, sub prime cards charged insane fees like one time application fee and processing fee and with an initial credit of $300, you were only left with $50 or so. With the CARD Act, Centennial got around this by charging just the first year annual fee of $75, which reduces the initial credit limit by 25% (so you get $225 in credit limit). But they then introduce a monthly maintenance fee which effectively increases the annual fees you have to pay.

Verdict and Update As with all subprime credit cards, the fees and interest rate on the Centennial credit card are quite high. Frankly speaking, we find it outrageous for anyone to be applying for a card that charges a 49.9% APR or interest rate. That is as good as 50%. If anything, this resembles a payday loan type interest rate! If you have bad credit, a better card to consider is the Orchard Bank MasterCard as it has much lower fees and interest rates and is offered by HSBC, which as far as sub-prime card issuers are concerned, is one of the most reliable. Firstly, their interest rates are nowhere near 49.9%! And their fees are much much lower than the centennial card.

One important point to keep in mind while shopping for cards when you have bad credit is that Orchard Bank did not have to halt card services or close down cards because of obnoxious fees. The fees involved with the Orchard Bank card are never as unrealistic as First Premier Bank's fees were, nor did HSBC ever tack on a bunch of additional fees that could essentially lower the available limit to $50.

Whether Centennial Credit Card is a new card or revamped card or not available like its counterpart, the First Premier Card, it doesn't make much difference when you consider the reputation of a bank and how it treats its customers. Cardholders will likely not forget that First Premier once offered a card that carried an APR of 79.99%, which was lowered to 49.99% but remained as outrageous. Unless First Premier reappears with an entirely new line of credit cards for the sub-prime market, I would think twice about accepting any card that First Premier offers.