Mr Credit Card
If you are reading this, chances are that you have gotten an email offer from this credit card. It is relatively new and in this review, we will explore it.
Card Details 
Card Details On their website, Blaze has six different terms and conditions sheets. But if we look carefully at all of them, there are essentially three different fees and rates offers that you may be offered. The strange thing is that on some of the terms and conditions sheets, they list foreign transaction fees as 2% whilst on other, there is no foreign transaction fees listed at all? Does that mean that for those versions you cannot use them if you travel abroad? I do not know. But I think it is safe to assume that the foreign transaction fee is 2% regardless of what card you are offered
Annual Fee : $19, $50 or $75
Authorize User Fee : $20
APR : 22.15% or 29.9%
Reward Program Reward Program The Blaze MasterCard is one of two sub prime card which actually has a reward program (the other one being Credit One). Below are the key features:
- Earn $1 for every $100 that you spend (ie 1% cash back)
- Earn Unlimited Rewards
- Rewards expire in 5 Years
- Rewards can be redeemed in $25 increments
- Rewards can be redeemed as statement credit
- If you have a positive credit after redeeming rewards, you can request a "refund check"
[labelFinePrints
Competition Competition | Cards | Card Details And APR |
| Blaze |
Annual Fee: $19, %50 or $99 APR :22.15% or 29% |
| Credit One |
Annual Fee: $0 to $99 APR :15.65% to 24.15% |
| Surge |
Annual Fee : Y1 = $125, then $96 Monnthly Fee : Y1 = $0, then $10/m APR : 29.99% |
| Verve |
Annual Fee : Y1 = $125, then $96 Monthly Fee : Y1 = $0, then $10/m APR : 29.99% |
| First Access |
Annual Fee : Y1 = $75, then $48 Monthly Fee : Y1 = $0, then $6.25/m App Fee: $89 APR : 29.9% |
| Total Visa |
Annual Fee : Y1 = $75, then $84 Monthly Fee : Y1 = $0, then $6.25/m One-time Fee: $89 APR : 29.9% |
| First Premier |
Annual Fee : Y1 = $75, then $45 Monthly Fee : Y1 = $0,then $6.25/m One-time Fee : $95 APR : 36% |
There are quite a few subprime credit cards in the market that target folks with bad credit. As you can see from the table above, many charge lots of fee. For example, it is not uncommon to see cards charge a one time processing fee or a monthly maintenance fee. One of the recent trends has been to charge a higher annual fee the first year. Then in the second year, reduce the annual fee but add a monthly maintenance fee.
Hence, it was quite a relief when I saw that the Blaze MasterCard neither a one-time application fee nor any monthly maintenance fee. In fact, their annual fee is quite reasonable. They join other cards like Credit One, Genesis and Indigo, who offer different annual fees and rates depending on your credit profile.
Their annual fee of $19, $50 and $75 are quite similar to Credit Ones, Milestone and Indigo's fees ($0 to $99). Blaze's APR is within the bounds of their peers as well.
The one area that this card shines is their reward program. The only other sub prime card with a reward program is Credit One. I think Blaze's reward is slightly better because you earn an equivalent of 1% cash back on all spending whereas for Credit One, you only earn 1X on gas and groceries.
Our Take Our Take If you have bad credit, then this should be one of the cards that you should consider if you are looking for an unsecured card. The only problem might be that you can only apply for this card if you have received an email offer. And if you have, and you have bad credit and are looking to rebuild, then this would appear to be a decent card to get.