Cross Country Secured Credit Card Review

Summary - The Cross Country Secured Visa Gold Credit Card will extend a cardholder a credit limit from $200 to $1,000. The credit limit is based on 100% of a deposit with Cross Country Bank, which you will be paid an interest. The Cross Country Bank does not require an individual to summit any employment verification and income statements. Your credit activities will be reported to the 3 major credit agencies. In addition, you will also get free auto rental insurance.

Fees and Rates - The Cross Country Secured Visa Gold charges what they call a monthly maintenance fee of $10 (which is equivalent to an annual fee of $120). In addition, there is a one-time processing (origination fee) of $50.00. Hence, the total first year cost is $170.00. The APR is Prime Rate plus 15.74% but with a minimum rate of 23.99%, which is very high (even for this category of credit cards). The default rate is also high at 29.99% (Prime Rate plus 21.74%, but minimum of 29.99%). There is also no grace period for purchases. Hence you will be charged an interest immediately after any purchase.

Verdict - The Cross Country Secured credit card is card targeted at those who are looking to establish or reestablish their credit. The annual fee of $120 (payable monthly at $10/month) is very high. There is no grace period for purchases. In addition, the credit limit is quite low at $1,000 compared to other secured credit cards.

Update - Cross Country is no longer around and is now Applied Card Bank. For those looking for a secured credit card to build or rebuild their credit, we highly recommend the Orchard Bank Secured MasterCard instead. It has a lower annual fee ($35.00) and non of that one-time application fee that Cross Country and other sub-prime issuers charge.

Positives

• Does not require employment verification or income statement.
• Free auto rental insurance


Negatives

• High annual fees
• One-time origination fee
• No grace period for purchases