First Progress Credit Card Comparison

No Hard Inquiries and Guaranteed Approval

All First Progress secured credit cards do not perform any hard inquiry and you will definitely be approved. All you have to do is to simply fund your account to be able to use the card. First Progress is also one of the rare secured credit cards that will actually mail a card to you before you fund your security deposit. This is more assuring as you actually have the physical card on hand.

Has 2 Versions - Fees and Rates are Inverted

There are two versions of the First Progress secured credit cards, the Select and the Prestige version. The Prestige version has a higher annual fee but lower APR whereas the Select version has a lower annual fee but slightly higher APR.

Cash Back Program

Both the Select and Prestige version had a 1% cash back program. You will earn the 1% cash back when you pay your bills (rather than when you spend on the card). The cash back can be redeemed for statement credits in increments of 500 points (which is worth $5).

Depending on how much you spend on the card (ie the Select and Prestige version), you can earn enough cash back to offset your annual fee.

Breakeven Spending to Cover Annual Fee

The table below shows the breakeven monthly spending required to earn enough cash back to cover the annual fee. We also calculated the amount you need to deposit to maintain a 30% credit utilization ratio.

In the case of the First Progress Elite, the annual fee is $39. If you spend $325 every month, that equals $3,900 annual spending. The cash back you would earn is 1% of $3,900 which is $39. This will exactly offset the $39 annual fee. To achieve a 30% credit utilization ratio, you would need a credit limit of ($325 divided by 30%) $1,083.

The same calculations can be made for the Prestige version with it's $49 annual fee and the results are also shown in the table below.

First Progress Version	Credit Limit	30% Monthly Spending	Cash Back Earned	Annual Fee Offset
Select	$1,083	$325	1% X ($325 X 12) = $39	$0
Prestige	$1,361	$408.33	1% X ($408.33 X 12) = $49	$0

First Progress Can Become a Partially Secured Credit Card

All First Progress credit cards allow you to put between $200 and $2,000 as a security deposit and the amount you put down will be your credit limit. What is not well known is that in the terms and conditions, First Progress can actually increase your credit limit periodically without the need of any security deposit. In fact, the maximum limit that you can get on the card is actually $5,000 though the maximum deposit you can put down is only b$2,000.

This means that the First Progress could potentially be a partially secured credit card if you are offered a credit limit increase that does not require you to put down any additional security deposit.

Will Be Offered An Unsecured Credit Card After 6 Months IF...

First Progress has partnered with First Digital Mastercard and this is how the partnership works. If you pay your first 6 First Progress bills on time, you will be given the offer to apply for the First Digital Mastercard (which is an unsecured credit card targeting those with bad credit).

Those you are not guaranteed to be approved, the offer kind of acts like a pre-approval because of your 6 months track record with First Progress. So while this is not a "real graduation" to an unsecured credit card, it is a "path" to an unsecured card with less chance of a denial.

You May Face Payment Holds of Up to 10 Days Initially....

If you are a new First Progress cardholder, you may face payment holds on your credit limit for up to 10 days. As time goes by and if you have always paid on time, then these payment holds will be reduced to about 5-6 days. To be honest, 5-6 days of payment hold is still longer than many subprime credit cards (which typically have payment holds for 4 days).

No AutoPay, Have to Use Your Bank's Bill Pay and Cannot Pay via Debit Card

There are certain payment limitations that you have to be aware of. Firstly, if you want to pay your bills online, you would have to use your Bank's Bill Pay system. You cannot pay from First Progress website. This should not be a problem for most of you but there are some banks (especially small credit unions) that actually charge a fee for each Bill Pay payment that is made.

You also cannot set up autopay with First Progress either from your online portal or from their app. This is quite a limitation and may be a deal breaker for some of you. You also cannot use your debit card to pay your bills (though most credit card issuers do not allow you to do that).

You can pay via check or money order, your bank's BillPay, over-the-phone and via MoneyGram. Money orders, cashier's check and Moneygram gets process on the same day as your payment. Payment by Moneygram also results in just a 2-day payment hold on your credit limit.

Which is the Best First Progress Credit Card?

In my opinion, the First Progress Platinum Select is probably the best version to get because among the two versions that have the 1% cash back program, it has the lower annual fee ($39 compared to $49 for the Prestige version). That means that you have to spend less on the card to earn enough cash back to offset the $39 annual fee that you have to pay.

If you carry a balance occasionally (which we do not recommend), then the Prestige version would have the lower APR though the annual fee is higher.