First Progress Platinum Prestige Mastercard® Secured Credit Card Review for 2024

First Progress Platinum Prestige Mastercard® Secured Credit Card may be the right choice for you if you need to establish or improve your credit history. The annual fee is comparatively high, but the interest rate is among the lowest.

First Progress Platinum Prestige Mastercard® Secured Credit Card Overview

First Progress is a credit builder card program that offers three cards to cardholders with a low credit score or non-existent credit history. If you have a credit history, a FICO score of 300 or more is one of the requirements needed to obtain these credit cards.

The main requirement is to deposit a minimum sum of $200 that will act as your credit limit. In case your request is denied, the deposit will be returned to you. All the cards in the First Progress program have affordable interest rates. Still, you need to pay off your monthly balance in full each month for your credit score to remain in good standing.

Among these three cards, the First Progress Platinum Prestige Mastercard® Secured Credit Card has the lowest interest rate, so let’s check what you get with it.

Low Ongoing APR

With a variable APR of 14.49%, this credit card has one of the lowest interest rates among secured credit cards. Most have an APR of over 20%. If you pay off your balance in full each month, you’ll avoid additional interest rates.

You can opt to pay off the minimal amount of the full balance and transfer the rest with an ongoing APR. Still, this card is designed to build a credit score, so there is no benefit in accumulating debt and additional interests on your own money.

The downside is there is no 0% introductory APR for new card owners. But with the overall low ongoing APR, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Minimum Deposit

The starting and minimum deposit for the credit card is $200, and it must be maintained. If you pay off your balance before the next billing cycle, this is reflected on the monthly balance reports sent out to credit bureaus, which affects your overall credit score.

You’ll need to open a Synovus bank account where this minimum deposit will be stored. You’ll also need a standard bank account to make your monthly payments.

No Credit Score Loss

First Progress Platinum Prestige Mastercard® Secured Credit Card doesn't affect your credit score, since there are no hard inquiries done to get this card.

Steep Annual Fee

One of the shortcomings of this Prestige Mastercard is the costly annual fee of $49. On the bright side, new users are granted a 25-day grace period. And while there are other credit cards with a lower annual fee, their ongoing APR is usually significantly higher.