Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes, despite our best efforts, life circumstances and financial hardships prevent us from meeting our financial obligations. Unfortunately, financial missteps can follow you for years, particularly if you don’t make a consistent and coordinated effort to improve your credit.
One of the best ways to repair your credit is by acquiring a line of credit and using it responsibly. This means maintaining a low credit utilization rate and paying all bills on time, among other things.
But how can you use a credit card responsibly to improve your poor credit if nobody will give you a credit card due to your poor credit?
Thankfully, there are a number of credit cards that specialize in serving customers with low credit scores to help improve your credit profile. Milestone Gold Credit Card is one such option.
Let’s delve into the details of this card, so you can decide if the Milestone Gold Credit Card is the right choice for you.
What is the Milestone Gold Credit Card?
The Milestone Gold Credit Card is an unsecured card offered by Mastercard. There’s no deposit required to open the card. Instead, an annual fee varies based on the applicant’s credit history. The card is accepted everywhere that Mastercard is accepted.
This card will work best for people with bad to fair credit. Basically, if you need to improve your credit score and have trouble getting approved by other cards, then the Milestone Gold Credit Card may be worth considering. Even people with a bankruptcy on their record can apply for this card.
The Milestone Gold Credit Card may also be a good choice if you don’t have the money to put down a deposit on a secured credit card.
Milestone Gold reports to all three credit bureaus, so you can improve your credit score by not carrying a balance (or carrying a very low balance) and making all payments on time.
Pros of the Milestone Gold Credit Card
- The card is accepted everywhere that takes Mastercard and works exactly as any other Mastercard does.
- Since it is an unsecured credit card, there is no down payment required.
- Security safeguards. Won’t be responsible for fraudulent charges.
- They report to all three credit bureaus, making it easy to improve your credit score if you use the card responsibly.
- Milestone Gold was created specifically for people with poor to fair credit. This means even if your credit is in rough shape, you have a decent chance of being approved.
- Even people who have been through bankruptcy may be approved.
- Pre-qualifying will not affect your credit score. Customers can apply to be pre-qualified rather than jumping right into an official application. Only a soft credit check is done with Milestone Gold’s pre-qualification process. This way, you won’t get a ding on your credit report if you’re not approved or if the pre-qualification comes back with an annual fee that you aren’t happy with. Customers are not required to sign up for the card after being pre-qualified, so it’s a risk-free no-strings-attached process that allows you to suss out your options (A hard pull will be done once your commit to the card).
- Milestone Gold Credit Card has an online portal where customers can make payments, set up autopay, and access information about their account.
- They are Better Business Bureau accredited and have a B rating. While they do have a number of poor reviews from customers, it’s important to remember that people are always more likely to leave a review if they are unhappy, and the vast majority of complaints submitted received a response and were resolved by the company.
Cons of the Milestone Gold Credit Card
- There is a set credit limit of only $300 and no credit increases. Even if you have the card for a while and make all of your payments on time, Milestone Gold has no option to extend that $300 credit line. This means that keeping your credit utilization rate low can be difficult. Financial experts usually advise keeping your credit utilization rate at around 30%, and 30% of $300 is only $90. Not to mention a good chunk of that 30% can be eaten up by high fees.
- The annual fee can be fairly steep, depending on your credit history and the specific offer. The fee ranges from $35 to $99 per year. When you pair that with the high-interest rate, you could end up spending a decent amount of money each year for this card. While the high annual fee may deter some people, if you need a credit card, your options may be limited with other credit card companies.
- the card come with a High APR. Although not unreasonably so for a card built for customers with poor credit. Milestone Gold has a 24.90% variable APR.
- There is no welcome offer or any incentives for new users to sign up.
- There are no perks or benefits, such as cashback, miles, or other rewards for using the card. This tends to be fairly standard for cards designed for customers with poor credit. But this is something to consider if you’re right on the line between poor and fair credit. Then you may opt to go with a more standard credit card that does offer benefits and perks, even if it means putting in a few more applications and being patient.
- There is no mobile app. Customers don’t have the convenience of checking their accounts on the go. Although, there is a website with an online account where customers can make payments and check account activity.
- Milestone Gold Credit Card does not offer balance transfers. This means it won’t be possible to close out any existing cards and consolidate the balance with the Milestone Gold Card.
Milestone Gold Credit Card Rates and Fees
The good news is that there are no hidden fees, and the fees the card does have are not numerous. The bad news is that these rates and fees trend towards the higher side. They aren’t unreasonably high, but are slightly above some of the other credit cards designed for people with bad credit.
- The card has a variable APR of 24.90 %.
- The annual fee varies from $35 to $99.
- There is a cash advance fee of 5% or $5 (whichever is higher). APR on cash advances is 29.9%.
- There is a foreign transaction fee of 1% of the total transaction (in U.S dollars).
- Late payment will result in a $40 fee, as will overdrafts and returned payments.
Is the Milestone Card Right For You?
Whether or not Milestone Mastercard is a good option for you will depend on a variety of factors. These include what your other options for credit cards are and whether or not you have the money to put down a security deposit for a credit card.
If you can manage to come up with a deposit, a secured credit card may be a better choice for many individuals with poor credit who are looking to improve their scores. In addition, with a secured credit, there’s far less chance of going further into debt with fees or interest charges since your starting credit limit is determined by the amount of money you put down.
It also may be worthwhile to compare the Milestone Gold Mastercard with other subprime credit cards if you have less than perfect credit. While some have even higher rates and fees, there are also a number of options with lower rates and fees. It’s always wise to look at all available options and consider which makes the best sense for your financial goals.
With all that being said, the Milestone Gold Mastercard may be a better option if you have poor credit and are having trouble getting approved for a credit card, if you don’t have a deposit to open a secured credit card, and if the low credit limit will work for your purposes.
For many customers, the price of the annual fee and interest rates may be worth it, to repair their credit in a reasonable timeframe. If you don’t plan to make large purchases with the card, you can easily keep your credit utilization low. If you make your monthly payments in full each month, this will be reported to all three credit bureaus, and you should see some improvement in your credit score within a few months.
Wrapping It Up
The Milestone Gold Credit Card offered by Mastercard is one option available to people with a bad credit score who are looking to improve their credit standing or for building credit. While the rates and fees trend towards the higher side, and they only offer a credit limit of $300, there are also plenty of reasons why this card might be a good option, including the fact that no deposit is required and they report to all three major credit bureaus.
Anytime you choose a credit card, it’s important to weigh all of the pros and cons and consider all of the information and your own financial goals.
If you don’t make large purchases with this card and you pay your bill on time, the Milestone Gold Card can be a solid way to raise your credit score.
