Net First Platinum

Pros

This card is geared towards those who have really poor scores (probably due to recent delinquent accounts and/or charge offs) and have been declined for many subprime cards (including secured credit cards). You will get a credit limit of $500. The interest rate is 0% so you do not pay any finance charges and they also report to a credit bureau. There are no credit or income checks so approval is guaranteed if there are no errors when you fill out the online application.

Cons

This card can only used at www.thehorizonoutlet.com and is a merchandise card. It is not a Visa or MasterCard. You will also have to pay a $24.95 monthly membership fee, which gives you the unsecured credit line and a host of other benefits like roadside assistance etc.

Bottom Line

The Net First Platinum is a shopping card that is mainly targeted at those with really bad credit who have probably have recent delinquencies and charge offs and has been rejected and denied by other subprime issuers including secured credit card. Because there are no credit or income checks, approval is essentially guaranteed if there are no errors in your application.

 

APR : 0% - Yep, that's right. You will not be charged any interest for your purchase.

Minimum Payment : Varies with purchase. In most cases, it is 10% of outstanding balance.

Monthly Membership Fee - $24.95 a month. Once you are approved for the card, you will be automatically enrolled in a "monthly membership benefit plan". This includes a $500 Unsecured card, access to My Privacy Protection, My Universal RX, My Roadside Protect and My Legal Assistance benefits. The $19.95 benefits plan membership fee will be auto-debited monthly and will show on your bank statement as Horizon Card Services.

Late Fee $20

Credit Bureau Reporting : On the second page, they said they will report to "one major credit bureau".

Initial Credit Lines : $500

No Credit Checks : Applying for this card or account will not result in any credit checks.

But before we do some comparisons, it is worth noting that some of these cards belong to the same company. For example, Net First Platinum is issued by Horizon Gold. So is Freedom Gold. That is why their fees are similar. Next Millennium Card and Vast Platinum are issued by Unique Card Services and as you can see in the table above, they also both have similar fees. And lastly, Fingerhut and Gettington are also part of the Bluestem Brand.

In terms of fees, I find that the most of these cards are similar (with the exception of Fingerhut and Gettington). All of them charge a $19.95 a month membership fees (which comes with a few "perks"). They all do not do any credit checks and the credit line that you will be given ranges from $500 to $1,000. And because they only accept the monthly payments by debit or credit card, I would assume that those who are in the Chex System can still get approved for this card.

However, when we compare this card to Fingerhut and Gettington, the their monthly fees start to look really expensive. You will end up paying $239.40 a year in membership fees whereas you do not pay anything with Fingerhut and Gettington (however, with Fingerhut and Gettington, you will be charged an interest on your purchases whereas with Net First Platinum, you pay 0% in terse).

Another area to highlight is how these cards report to the credit bureaus. There is no indication that Vast Platinum or Next Millennium actually reports to any. Fingerhut and Gettington report to all three bureaus.

Before we give our verdict on this card, we have to look at the big picture of credit rebuilding. If your credit has been damaged due to bankruptcy, medical bills, charge offs, collections and liens, your scores are likely to be in the 400 to 500 area. Your first task is check your credit report and make sure you clean up any inaccurate negative items.

Next, you have to start rebuilding. Ironically, to rebuild your credit, you need a fresh start and new credit lines. Your best bet would be to start with secured that will approve you even if you credit is damaged and not just to folks who are new to credit. One suggestion would be to consider the Primor secured card because they preform no credit checks.

Once you have a secured card for about six months to a year under your belt, do not be surprised if your score improves by 30 to 70 points. At this stage, you could consider an unsecured credit card like Credit One. You could also add a store catalog card like Fingerhut to increase your credit lines.

However, not all plans go smoothly. Some folks (and you may be one of them) have been declined multiple times for both unsecured and even secured cards. If this is you, then perhaps you could consider the Net First Platinum as an alternative to add a credit line, pay your dues and start your rebuilding process. You do have to pay a membership fee, but you pay no interest in your purchases from their online stores. And you get your activities reported to the one or two credit bureaus as well.