What is the Now Platinum?
Card Details
Monthly Fee : $19.95
Interest Rate : 0%
Minimum Payment : $25 or 15% of balance.
Late Fee : $10
As you can see from the details above, you have to pay some fees to join the Now Platinum (Unique Card Services) membership shopping portal. You have to pay an upfront fee of $29.95. After that, you have to pay a monthly fee of $19.95. The monthly fee gets you benefits like free roadside assistance and opportunities to get discounts from various merchants and services. The interest rate is 0% so you do not actually have to pay interest if you pay over time on your purchases.
You have to pay a minimum of $25 or 15% of your balance for your minimum payment. For example, if your balance is $50, then you have to pay $25 twice and you will end up paying down the balance in two cycles. If your balance is $200, then you will pay $30 as your minimum payment until the balance is paid off.
Competition
| Card | Details |
|---|---|
| Now Platinum |
Monthly Fee=$19.95 Upfront Fee=$29.95 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 |
| Freedom Gold Card |
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 |
As you can see from the table above, most of Now Platinum's peers are issued by either Unique Card Services or Horizon Card Services and they share very similar characteristics. The Now Platinum for example is similar to say the Unique Platinum because they are both issued by Unique Card Services. They have a monthly fee of $19.95 and will give you an initial credit limit of $1,000.
In contrast, catalog cards issued by Horizon Card Services like Freedom Gold and Net First Platinum have an initial credit limit of $500. And their monthly fee is $24.95.
All these cards from Unique Card Services and Horizon do not perform any credit check and will approve you as long as you fill in your information correctly and you have a debit card.
I have listed another online store card called the Fingerhut Credit Account. This card unlike Now Platinum and others actually performs credit check and approval is not guaranteed. However there is no annual fee or monthly fees (which makes it cheaper to carry and rebuild in the long run) and your activity gets reported to the three major credit bureaus rather than one.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- 0% APR - If you make a purchase from their online store, the interest rate and APR is 0%. This is in contrast with other regular credit cards that has a regular APR.
- Guaranteed Approval Because There Is No Credit Checks - This card does not do any credit checks so approval is guaranteed as long as you fill in the information correctly and you have a debit card (to be able to pay your monthly membership fees).
- Reports to One Major Credit Bureau - This card reports to at least one major credit bureau.
- $1,000 Starting Credit Limit - The $1,000 starting limit for this card is pretty generous for the a subprime card. Most will only start you with a $300-$500 limit.
Consa
- Can only be used at www.myuniqueoutlet.com - As explained earlier, this card is an online catalog store card and can only be used at their online store.
- Monthly Membership Fee - You do have to pay a monthly membership fee of $19.95 (though for that, you will receive various benefits as explained earlier).
Our Take
The key feature of this card is that there is no credit checks and so approval is guaranteed as long as you have a debit card. You actually also get a generous credit line of $1,000 and interest on products you buy is actually 0%. You do have to pay a monthly membership fee so this card is best used as a stepping stone to get a better lower fee credit card to continue to rebuild your credit.
Since it reports to at least one credit bureau, you should be able to start rebuilding pretty quickly with this card.
