In addition, the card’s value to building a positive credit history will be reduced, since carrying a balance employs more of your credit limit-and the lower your “credit utilization,” the better, so far as credit bureaus are concerned. With such a rate, the card is less than ideal for those who want to carry a balance, since interest charges will add up especially quickly. Like many such cards aimed at credit-challenged consumers, the Indigo Mastercard has a fixed and fairly high APR. That makes it a poor choice to take along on a trip, even compared to many other cards aimed at those with limited credit history or credit challenges. The Indigo Mastercard also has no travel benefits and charges a fee (albeit of a low 1%) on transactions made in foreign currency. That low limit makes the Indigo Mastercard a card more for people eager to build their credit than those who want to actually use it to make purchases. It’s also for such people who prefer not to (or cannot) come up with the security deposit required for a secured card, the leading alternative for those with no or damaged credit who want to improve their creditworthiness.Ĭompared to the issuers of some competing cards, Indigo has a low and fixed credit limit of $300, with no process disclosed by which to increase it. The Indigo Mastercard is designed for applicants with poor credit (which Experian, one of the three credit bureaus, defines as having a credit score of between 300 and 579) who want to build or rebuild their credit history (the card’s transactions are shared with those agencies). While those omissions are fairly standard for a card designed for people with credit challenges, they’re unusual for a card that charges annual fees, at least to some of its cardholders. No Rewards or One-Time Offer: The Indigo Mastercard provides no rewards on spending, nor does it offer a one-time offer to new card members.If you have a $300 credit limit and a $75 annual fee, then your available credit would actually be just $225. For those who must pay a fee for the card, the credit available for purchases actually isn’t as much as $300, at least not at the start. Your annual fee is charged to the card at the outset, and so reduces your available credit by $75, depending on the fee you’re charged for your first year with the card. Indigo makes no mention of any increases to its limit. Those other cards also specify if and how the limit might be raised over time, provided you make payments on time and don't carry a balance. That’s a notably low and firm number, given that some other unsecured cards aimed at those with credit challenges offer initial limits of between $300 and $1,000. Low Credit Limit: If approved for an Indigo Mastercard, you’ll be awarded a credit line of $300.Unlike traditional cards, then, credit score isn’t necessarily a consideration, since many applicants for the card may not have the credit history necessary to create a score. The fee you pay, along with whether you qualify for the card at all, depends, Indigo says, on a review of your income and debt. Which one you’ll qualify for is dependent on your creditworthiness, as it may cost $75 for the first year and $99 after that.
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