Review of the Indigo® Platinum Mastercard®

The Deserve Classic Mastercard (Review) is designed for people with limited or no credit history, who need a way to start establishing credit. If you have bad credit, with a record of late payments and other negative activity, you may not be approved for this card.

This is an unsecured card, like the Indigo Platinum.

Deserve, the card issuer, will check more than the typical factors when making its decision. In addition to the normal criteria like credit history and income, Deserve will also consider your education, future employability, and future earning potential. This gives people without an established credit history a better shot at approval.

The Deserve provides a strong benefits package, including some specific rebates that might prove useful to the right person. Unlike the Indigo, the Deserve has no annual fee. And whereas the Indigo’s credit limit caps at just $300, the maximum limit for the Deserve is $1,500, which will prove more useful and can be better for your credit.

• Lemonade Insurance rebate: Get a one-time $10 statement credit after making three consecutive payments for Lemonade Renters and Home Insurance.
• Feather Furniture Rental rebate: Receive a $100 discount on your first month’s rental from Feather by using promo code “DESERVE100”.
• Refer friends for statement credits: Earn a $30 statement credit for every friend who’s approved. Refer ten friends to get a $200 bonus, for a total of $500.
• Cell Phone Insurance: Pay your cell phone bill with the Deserve Classic to get up to $600 in coverage against damage and theft.
• Price Protection: If you buy an eligible item and find it being advertised for less, you can be reimbursed for the price difference.
• Purchase and Balance Transfer APR: 24.49% Variable
• No foreign transaction fee
• Annual fee: $0

The Discover it® Secured (Review) is our top pick when it comes to secured credit cards, because it includes a decent rewards program and has generally favorable terms.

It requires a refundable security deposit of $200-$2,500 once approved, and your credit limit will be equal to your deposit. Discover will review your account activity every eight months. If it finds that you’ve been managing your credit responsibly, not just with this card but in general, it may refund your security deposit while letting you continue to use the account. There is no program to graduate to an unsecured card.

You’ll earn 2% cash back at restaurants and gas stations, an excellent rate for a secured credit card. Discover will also double the rewards you earn for the first year, making it especially rewarding for a card built for poor credit.

However, you’ll only receive a very basic benefits package, even compared to the Indigo Platinum. So you’ll have to decide: Do you want to earn some cash back as you build your credit, or do you want a few extra bells and whistles?

• FICO Credit Scorecard: Check your FICO Score 8 for free whenever you’d like, based on your TransUnion credit report.
• Cash at Checkout: Get cash back when checking out at participating merchants, which will be counted as part of your purchase rather than as a cash advance.
• Social Security number alerts: Discover monitors thousands of risky websites, and will alert you if your SSN is found being used on any of them.
• Balance Transfer APR: 10.99% for 6 months, then 24.49% Variable
• No foreign transaction fee
• Annual fee: $0

The Capital One® Secured Mastercard® (Review) is a simple secured card without many flashy features. Its main purpose is to help you build up your credit scores.

Like all secured cards, you’ll need to pay a refundable deposit. However, what’s different with the Capital One Secured Mastercard is, depending on your creditworthiness, you’ll be asked to pay either $49, $99, or $200. But no matter what you’re asked to pay, your starting credit limit will be $200.

You can also choose to deposit more if you want a higher credit limit. Up to $1,000 can be deposited, to get a $1,000 credit line. Deposit payments can be made in partial installments, but the full deposit must be made within 80 days of approval.

You’ll get a similar benefits package along with some nice extras, including an easier way to a higher credit line, a price matching perk, and a credit monitoring service. So the Capital One Secured card might provide a simpler way to build credit with some added perks to boot.

• Access a higher credit line: Make your first five monthly payments on time to be given access to a higher credit line, without needing to make another deposit.
• Capital One CreditWise: Cardholders can log in to CreditWise to monitor their VantageScore 3.0 credit scores, based on their TransUnion credit reports.
• Price Protection: Find an eligible item you bought being sold for less, and you can be reimbursed for the difference in price.
• 24-Hour Travel Assistance Services: Includes help finding emergency road services, travel information and advice, and medical or legal referrals.
• Other benefits: Such as Extended Warranties, $100,000 Travel Accident Insurance, and MasterRental Coverage (which provides auto rental collision damage waivers).
• Purchase and Balance Transfer APR: 26.74% Variable
• No foreign transaction fee
• Annual fee: $0

The Citi^® Secured Mastercard^® (Review) is a basic secured card, similar to the Capital One Secured card above.

It has a fairly high potential credit limit, and requires a refundable security deposit of $200 to $2,500 when approved. Your credit limit will be equal to the amount you deposit.

Keep in mind the Citi Secured does not allow you to deposit more later on in order to increase your credit limit. So be sure what you put down initially (in increments of $100) will be enough to cover your needs. Citi may offer you an upgrade to an unsecured card, potentially the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card (Review), if you show responsible behavior with this card and credit in general.

This card offers more protections than the Indigo Platinum, and also lets you track your progress as you work to build up your credit.

• Free FICO Credit Score: Check your FICO Score 8 for free, based on your Equifax credit report.
• Purchase Protection: If an eligible item you buy is damaged or stolen, you can be reimbursed up to $1,000 per item, up to $50,000 per year.
• Extended Warranty: Eligible warranties of up to one year can be doubled, up to 24 additional months.
• Citi Identity Theft Solutions: Citi will help if you become a victim of identity theft, with assistance contacting credit bureaus and filing police reports.
• Purchase and Balance Transfer APR: 23.99% (Variable)
• Annual fee: $0