Independence Gold Card Review

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Who Is Independence Gold Card?

The Independence Gold Card is one of the many cards issued by Horizon Card Services. Those who get this card (or their other cards) can use it to shop at their online store www.horizonoutlet.com. Though you could only use the card at their online store, your activities and payments will be reported to at least one major bureau and you could actually start to rebuild your credit with this card. It is also very easy to get approved because they do not check your report or employment record. This is a card that you will want to look at if you have been denied for other rebuilding credit cards. Here are the details of this card.

Card Details

Annual Fee : $0

Monthly MembershipFee : $24.95

Interest Rate (Regular APR) : 0%

Minimum Payment : $25 or 10% of balance.

Late Fee : $20

Outlet Store Delivery Signature Verification: $3.50

Outlet Store Residential Delivery : $2.00

As you can see from the details above, you have to pay some fees to join the Independence Gold membership shopping portal. For the fees that you pay, you get benefits like

Free roadside assistance - Benefit coverage begins following a 5-day waiting period from date of enrollment or reinstatement. You are allowed up to 3 service calls or towing requests up to 15 miles not to exceed the operator cost of $50.00. You have to pay for any additional mileage and associated towing costs at the time of service. In addition there is a limit to 1 service call per month.

My Universal RX - You can receive up to 40% discount on prescription drugs.
My Legal Assistance - Free 30 minute consultation with legal professional in your area (it does not include criminal defense).

My Privacy Protection - You can get a free credit report with this program (and you can access it any time).

Competition

Card	Details
Independence Gold Card	Monthly Fee=$24.95 Upfront Fee=N.A. APR=0% No Credit Check Reports to 1 Credit Bureau Starting Limit=$500
Net First Platinum	Monthly Fee=$24.95 Upfront Fee=N.A. APR=0% No Credit Check Reports to 1 Credit Bureau Starting Limit=$500
Horizon Gold Card	Monthly Fee=$24.95 Upfront Fee=N.A. APR=0% No Credit Check Reports to 1 Credit Bureau Starting Limit=$500
Unique Platinum	Monthly Fee=$19.95 Upfront Fee=N.A. APR=0% No Credit Check Reports to 1 Credit Bureau Starting Limit=$1,000
Fingerhut	Monthly Fee=$0 Upfront Fee=N.A. APR=See Website* Credit Checks Reports to 3 Major Bureaus Starting Limit=$200-$1,000

The Independence Gold Card is issued by Horizon Card Services and since Horizon has a few other cards, they are all similar with the same fees and rates. As you can see in this comparison table above, the Indeoendence Gold Card has similar terms as the Net First Platinum and the Freedom Gold CardM (two other cards issued by Horizon Card Services). They face competition from other catalog cards from Unique Card Services. In the table above, we used Unique Platinum Card as an example. The main differences are the monthly fee and the fact that Unique Platinum gives a higher limit ($1,000 vs $500).

Aside from catalog cards, there are also many off line and on-line store cards like Fingerhut that also allow you to rebuild your credit. These store cards do not charge any annual fee or membership fees. However, although it is very easy to get the Fingerhut credit account and others, they will perform a hard pull on your credit reports during the application process.

Pros and Cons

Pros

No Annual Fee
0% APR
No Credit Checks and Employment Checks
$500 Starting Credit Limit
Reports to at least one credit bureau

Cons

Can only be used at thehorizonoutlet.com
Monthly Membership Fee

Our Take

Rebuilding your credit is easier for some than for others. For most, the path is not easy at all. Some are lucky and can get approved for a couple of no annual fee secured credit cards or even perhaps a subprime unsecured credit card. Some of you are not so lucky and I suspect that is why you are reading this review.

When you have been consistently denied and do not want another hard pull to your credit report, you could consider a catalog card like the Boost Platinum. While it is not a Visa or Mastercard and can only be used at thehorizonoutlet.com, it still reports to at least one credit bureau and this help boost your credit score. It is probably a short term solution until you get a proper unsecured credit card (which will happen when your credit score gradually improves).

There are a couple of things going for it. For example, you do get a $500 starting credit line and since there is no credit check or employment check, your approval is guaranteed as long as you fill in the application form correctly. There is also 0% APR on you purchases though you have to pay 25% of your purchases up front. There is a monthly membership fee that you have to pay in return for some benefits which may or may not be helpful to you. But I guess that is the price for rebuilding if your credit is in really bad shape.

To sum up, though this would not be a first choice for rebuilders, it may be something to look at and consider if you have been constantly denied other credit cards.