Pros
- Qualify with bad credit
- Does not require security deposit
Cons
- High membership fees
- High regular APR
- Foreign fee
First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card
Additional Info
- Based on your creditworthiness, this card requires a one-time up front Processing Fee of $55 - $95, to be paid in full before the Credit Account is opened. If the Processing Fee is not paid in full within 85 days, the application will be withdrawn.
- Fees reduce your available credit. For example, if your initial credit limit is $300, your initial available credit will be only about $225, given the $75 Annual Fee that is charged on the card.
- Based on your creditworthiness and credit limit assigned, this card’s annual fee could be $50 - $125 in the first year, $45 – $49 after.
- Based on your creditworthiness and credit limit assigned, this card’s monthly fee could be $0 - $8 in the first year, $6.25 - $10.40 after.
- Your account history reports to the major Consumer Reporting Agencies
- Use your card everywhere Mastercard® cards are accepted.
- Each time your Credit Account is eligible for and approved for an unsecured credit limit increase, a Credit Limit Increase Fee in the amount of 25% of the amount of the credit limit increase will be assessed to your Credit Account.
- *We are not affiliated with or authorized by First PREMIER Bank. The information herein has not been reviewed or approved by First PREMIER Bank.
- More Details & Reviews About First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card
Note: Our editorial staff maintains strict independence and integrity, so it is important to note that WalletHub’s legal history with First Premier had absolutely no bearing on our review.
Is the First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card Worth It?
The First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card is not worth it, even if you have bad credit, because it is extremely expensive. The card charges a $55 - $95 “processing” fee when you apply, which is rare, and the annual fee for the first year is $50 - $125, depending on your starting credit limit. If you keep your account open for longer than a year, you will have to pay $120 to $174 in fees each year, thanks to the combination of an annual fee and a monthly “maintenance” charge.
The low credit limit and high fees you’re likely to confront with this card won’t do you much good when it comes to affording emergency expenses. Neither will the card’s 36% regular APR — one of the highest interest rates on the market. Plus, if you want a credit limit increase, you have to pay a fee equal to 25% of the amount of the increase.
In other words, you can basically think of First Premier as your wallet’s worst fear.
What You Need to Do to Make the First PREMIER Bank Mastercard Worthwhile
Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do to make the First PREMIER Bank Mastercard worthwhile. You could make the most of having the card by paying the bill on time every month, improving your score and upgrading to a cheaper option as quickly as possible. But you won’t get any rewards or valuable benefits to make up for the extremely expensive fees, so you’re better off simply looking for a solid credit card for bad credit with a $0 annual fee instead.
First PREMIER Bank Mastercard Highlights
As Much as $566 in Starting Spending Power
People with bad credit resort to unsecured cards in order to pay for something they can’t afford in cash. And that is where the First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card provides a bit of assistance. You just have to fit a very specific profile.
More specifically, you must:
- Have $55 - $95 in cash
- Be willing to wait for a new credit card to arrive
- Need an emergency loan of $566 or less
- Be unable to obtain the funds at a lower cost
This assumes you will have to pay a $55 processing fee and a $79 first-year fee in return for a $700 credit line, which would give you a total of $566 in spending power that you do not currently have ($566=$700-$55-$79).
Such an amount will ultimately prove insufficient for many people. Others could also say that it’s better than nothing, but I am not one of them because the starting spending power may be further diminished by monthly fees. If you obtain a $700 credit limit, you will have to pay $8 per month the first year and $10.40 per month after that. With a $600 limit, there’s a fee of $5.85 per month the first year and $8.25 per month in subsequent years. There is no monthly fee if you get a limit of $300, $400, or $500.
First PREMIER Bank Mastercard Lowlights
$55-$95 Processing Fee
If you’re approved for the First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card, one thing will stand between you and account opening: a processing fee between $55 and $95. This can have a significant impact on your initial spending limit, and if you don’t pay this fee within 85 days of being told you’re approved for an account, your account will be terminated.
In case you’re wondering, this type of fee is not common among credit card offers these days. I recommend steering clear of cards that charge such a fee because you will almost always have cheaper alternatives.
$50 - $125 First-Year Annual Fee
Upon opening your account, you will be greeted by another treat: a first-year annual fee as high as $125, which alone would accrue about $26 in interest over a year’s time.
More specifically, you’ll have to pay $125 the first year if you’re approved for a $500 credit limit. If you’re approved for a $400 limit, the first-year fee is $100, and it’s $79 for a $600 or $700 limit, $75 for a $300 limit, and $50 for a $200 limit.
Up to $173.80 in Membership Fees Starting Year Two
The card’s annual fee will drop to $45 in the second year if you have a credit line of $200 - $400 and to $49 if your limit is $500 - $700. But this is deceiving. If you get a $200 - $500 credit limit, monthly fees of $6.25 - $10.40 will also come into play (higher limits have them from the start). As a result, cumulative membership fees after the first year can total $120 to $173.80.
If you happen to decide to apply for a First Premier credit card, I definitely recommend making it a goal to improve your credit enough to graduate to a better offer within a year. That way, you can avoid the pricey second-year membership fees. To that end, I suggest signing up for a free WalletHub account to get personalized credit improvement advice.
36% Regular APR
The whole point of an unsecured credit card for bad credit is to finance emergency expenses. In other words, you’re probably going to carry a balance from month to month.
Unfortunately, doing so will be awfully expensive with the First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card, thanks to a 36% APR that is considerably higher than the average rate for secured credit cards (21.87%) and cards for people with fair credit (27.36%), according to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report. If I were you, I’d use a credit card payoff calculator to make a plan for getting rid of my balance while paying as little in interest as possible.
25% Credit-Limit Increase Fee
If you ever ask for and receive a credit-limit increase after at least 13 months of having an active account, you will be charged a fee equal to 25% of the difference between your old and new limits. For example, if you get approved for an additional $200, you will be charged a fee of $50.
I hope you won’t need to pay such a fee. Ideally, you’ll be able to improve your credit enough to qualify for a cheaper card with a higher limit within 13 months or so.
Other Things to Consider About the First PREMIER Bank Mastercard
5% Cash Advance Fee
If your emergency expense can only be paid in cash, you will have to pay a fee equal to 5% of the amount withdrawn (minimum of $8) to tap into your card’s credit line at an ATM. Interest will immediately begin accruing at a market-worst 36% rate as well.
As a result, I caution against doing a cash advance with this card for anything other than an absolute emergency. If you wind up doing one, pay it off as soon as possible to minimize interest charges.
3% Foreign Transaction Fee
If your financial emergency for some reason involves international travel or spending, it’s important for you to note this card’s 3% fee for transactions processed outside the U.S. Such a charge bucks the market-wide trend away from geographic nickel-and-diming, as the average foreign transaction fee has fallen by roughly 40% since 2010, according to WalletHub data.
Premier Credit Protection
You can pay $0.89 per $100 in end-of-month balances for a service that First Premier calls “Premier Credit Protection,” which promises to make payments for you during certain covered events, such as disability, unemployment and unpaid family leave. However, such deals typically aren’t worthwhile, in my opinion, given the myriad exclusions that apply. But you can peruse the contract to make up your own mind.
Watch Out For Aliases
First Premier typically offers just one or two credit cards. However, they regularly change the names of these cards – sometimes, but not always, in accordance with tweaks to their terms. The same basic offer has been called the Possibilities Card, the Forward Card, the Gold Card, the Classic Card, the Platinum Card and the Centennial Card. So make sure to be on the lookout for this marketing gimmick, and always analyze a card’s terms to see if it’s really a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
First PREMIER Bank Mastercard vs. The Competition
minimum depositNo Deposit Needed | minimum depositNo Deposit Needed | minimum deposit$49, $99 or $200 | minimum depositNo Deposit Needed |
one time fees $55 - $95 | one time fees $0 | one time fees $0 | one time fees $0 |
annual fee $50 - $125 1st yr, $45 - $49 after | annual fee $75 intro 1st yr, $99 after | annual fee $0 | annual fee $175 1st yr; $49 after |
monthly fee $0 - $8 1st yr, $6.25 - $10.4 after | monthly fee $0 | monthly fee $0 | monthly fee $0 1st yr, $12.50 after |
Regular APR36% | Regular APR29.99% (V) | Regular APR28.99% (V) | Regular APR35.9% |
rewards rate N/A | rewards rate
| rewards rate N/A | rewards rate N/A |
SponsoredApply Now | SponsoredApply Now SponsoredApply Now | SponsoredApply Now SponsoredApply Now | SponsoredApply Now |
First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card Review Methodology
This First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card review is based on WalletHub’s proprietary 100-point credit card rating system. By using a consistent methodology to evaluate the First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card and all other cards, WalletHub’s credit card experts make it easy for people to compare their options and find the best credit cards for their needs.
The WalletHub rating system uses 16 key metrics grouped into seven categories: Fees, Rewards, Two-year Cost, Interest Rates, Approval Requirements, Special Features, and Reviews. Each metric has a maximum number of points allocated to it, based on the metric’s importance as determined by our editors. The points are added up to create an overall rating for the First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard Credit Card out of a maximum of 100 points, which is then converted to a 5-point scale.
Ratings for each category reflect how close First PREMIER Bank Mastercard is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star credit card, which is based on market conditions and what we believe are reasonable terms. We compare First PREMIER Bank Mastercard to that standard to give a numerical approximation of how reasonable and competitive its terms are compared to other cards.
To learn more about how WalletHub rates credit card offers, check out our full credit card review methodology.
WalletHub experts are widely quoted. Contact our media team to schedule an interview.