First Access VISA^® Credit Card Review: An Expensive Option for Building Credit

The First Access VISA^® Credit Card just isn’t worth the high interest rates and fees. The card does have some benefits: It offers rewards, doesn’t require a deposit and can help you build your credit because it reports to all three credit bureaus.

That said, you’re better off paying the deposit for a secured credit card, most of which come with lower fees and interest rates. With a secured credit card your money is tied up while you have the card, but it’s fully refundable upon closing your account or graduating to an unsecured card.

*Based on LendingTree’s value methodology

• Annual fee: See Terms*
• Program fee: $95 (one-time fee)
• Servicing fee: $0 first year, $99/year after
• Sign-up bonus: None
• Rewards: 1% Cash Back
• APR on purchases: 35.99%*
• Credit needed: Poor / Fair

• Accepts applicants with lower credit scores

  The First Access VISA^® Credit Card is available to applicants with poor / fair credit, which is a major plus if you’ve had a hard time qualifying for a credit card in the past. The application and approval process is quick — you’ll know whether you’re approved within 60 seconds of submitting your application.

• No security deposit

  The First Access VISA^® Credit Card is technically an unsecured card, meaning that it doesn’t require a security deposit. However, you will have to cough up a one-time $95 program fee to open an account, and unlike a security deposit, this fee is not refundable.

• Cash back rewards

  The First Access VISA^® Credit Card offers 1% cash back, which is a rare feature for a credit card for poor / fair credit. You’ll earn rewards when you’ve paid your credit card bill. You can only redeem your points after your account has been active and in good standing for six months. Note that such limitations are rare for cash back credit cards, and you can generally redeem cash back at any time for statement credit.

• Free credit-building tools

  Like any good credit-building card, the First Access VISA^® Credit Card offers free access to your credit score via their mobile app. Plus, First Access reports payments to the three major credit bureaus. That means making your monthly payments on time with your First Access VISA^® Credit Card will improve your credit score.

  → Check your credit score for free with LendingTree Spring

• Long list of ongoing fees

  The First Access VISA^® Credit Card is a really expensive option for building credit, with a lot of fees hidden in the fine print, including:

  • Annual fee: See Terms*
  • Program fee: $95 (one-time fee)
  • Servicing fee: $0 first year, $99/year after
  • Additional card fee: $29 per additional authorized user per year
  • Premium plastic card fee: $10
  • Credit limit increase fee: 25% of the amount of credit limit increase
  • Express delivery fee: up to $35
  Important reminder: Most card issuers don’t charge fees for credit limit increases, premium plastic cards or card delivery, and many allow you to add authorized users for free.

  To illustrate how expensive the First Access VISA^® Credit Card is, we’ve compared the card’s mandatory first-year fees and rewards to those of similar cards below:
  

  	First-year fees	Estimated first-year rewards*
  First Access VISA® Credit Card	$170	$36
  Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa®	$67 (estimated interest payments)	$254
  Capital One Platinum Credit Card	$0 (see rates & fees)	$0
  Discover it® Secured Credit Card	$0 (requires a minimum $200 refundable security deposit)	$90

  *Based on LendingTree’s value methodology

• Extremely high interest rates

  The First Access VISA^® Credit Card has a 35.99%* variable APR, which is one of the highest interest rates on the market. The typical APR for cards for poor / fair credit is currently around 30%, and you can find even better rates if you’re willing to submit a refundable security deposit for a secured credit card.

  → Learn how your credit card interest is calculated

• You have to pay to increase your credit limit

  If you need access to more credit than the initial $300 limit, you’ll have to pony up 25% of the amount of the increase. For instance, if you want a $500 credit limit, you’ll pay a $50 fee. The fees get worse the higher your limit — you’ll be charged $1,175 to increase your credit line to $5,000.

  Most credit card issuers allow you to increase your credit limit for free. You’d be better off starting with a secured card, to build your credit with a credit card and get your security deposit back once you’ve upgraded to an unsecured card.

Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa^® vs. First Access VISA^® Credit Card

If you have fair credit, we recommend the Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa^®. It offers a better rewards rate — 1.5% unlimited cash back on card purchases every time you make a payment — and a lower APR than the First Access VISA^® Credit Card. Compared to the First Access VISA^® Credit Card, the fees are minimal.

There are no annual or account servicing fees. Additionally, the Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa^® may be beneficial to your credit score since it’s reported as an installment loan. However, a downside is that there is no grace period — meaning, you immediately accrue interest when you make charges on the card. Also, since each month’s purchases are bundled and put on their own payment plan, it could be easy to get deep in debt if you are not following a budget.

Capital One Platinum Credit Card vs. First Access VISA^® Credit Card

While you won’t earn rewards with the Capital One Platinum Credit Card, you won’t be stuck paying a slew of fees, either. Unlike the First Access VISA^® Credit Card, the Capital One Platinum Credit Card doesn’t charge annual fees, account servicing fees or authorized user fees (see rates & fees).

Plus, Capital One will automatically consider you for a credit limit increase after six months. The APR is also significantly lower, meaning it’ll cost less to carry a balance with the Capital One Platinum Credit Card if you need to (see rates & fees). Additionally, you may be able to upgrade your Capital One card as your credit score increases.

Discover it^® Secured Credit Card vs. First Access VISA^® Credit Card

Even with the $200 minimum security deposit, the Discover it^® Secured Credit Card is less expensive to carry than the First Access VISA^® Credit Card. The security deposit is refundable, and Discover offers a clear path to graduate to an unsecured Discover credit card with better terms and benefits.

You won’t have to pay annual, account servicing or authorized user fees to carry the Discover it^® Secured Credit Card, and the interest rate is much lower at 27.24% Variable APR. You also earn cash back rewards on all purchases.

The First Access VISA^® Credit Card may be a viable option if your score is so low that you can’t get approved for better offers. Since it reports to the three major credit bureaus, it can help you build credit as long as you keep your account in good standing.

However, we don’t recommend the First Access VISA^® Credit Card unless you’ve tried and failed to be approved for better secured credit cards and credit-building cards. The extremely high interest rates and ongoing fees make it a poor choice for most consumers.

We devote a large part of the score for credit-building cards to features that help build credit — we want to help you locate cards that don’t cost a lot to own and get help you upgrade to better card offers.

• Annual savings (50% of rating): We calculate how much the average cardholder can save with the card on a yearly basis. If it is a rewards card, we use U.S. Bureau of Labor data and $300 in monthly spend (the typical starting credit limit for an introductory card) to calculate how much the average cardholder can earn in rewards. We then subtract fees — including annual fees and maintenance fees — from this amount.
• Credit building features (50% of rating): We give points for features that help build credit, including reports to all three credit bureaus, regular account reviews for card upgrades and free credit score access. We detract points for features that can be costly to cardholders trying to build credit, such as security deposits, penalty APRs and late payment fees.