CARDHOLDER REVIEWS

Recent Credit Card Reviews by Consumers Like You

Following is a sampling of the latest consumer reviews that can be found by clicking the "Cardholder Reviews" link above. We take pride in the quantity (our site offers approximately 17,250 reviews of 928 different credit cards) and quality of the consumer reviews that can be find on our site. New reviews are added on a daily basis. The cards are rated on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest recommended. Credit Card: Action Visa®/MasterCard® Provided by: BANKFIRST Total Posts: 140 Average Rating: 1.80 Category: Poor Credit Date posted: 10/11/2005 Review: Payment added to balance: In trying to help my 88 year old disabled aunt take care of her business, I found that she had two "Action Cards" with high interest rates, overlimit and late fees. While I was at her house and she was in the hospital being operated on for colon cancer, there were numerous phone calls to collect what she owed. On one account, I paid the amount they said they needed to bring the account current ($63.00). When she got out of the hospital I sat down with her to figure out what was going on. She was being billed monthly for "ActionGuard protection", and when I called customer service I was advised that it was to make minimum payments when a person is disabled--so we wrote and advised of her circumstances. We were told there was nothing they could do, couldn't close account, would continue to get an $8.95 MONTHLY "membership" charge until it was closed. Her most recent bill was forwarded to my house, and I see that instead of reducing the balance by $63.00 they showed the "previous" balance as being $63.00 higher, then showed the $63.00 payment applied. More overlimit fees, bill for "protection" and interest at 26.90%, so her balance is now $50 more than it was before I made the payment, $140 more than it was a month before that. Something is rotten here, and I intend to research her entire account history and document every transaction, then see where it goes. I think every card holder should do the same-- Best Feature: none Worst Feature:total ripoff Overall Rating: 1 Benefit Rating: 1 Service Rating: 1 Recommend: No Credit Card: First Financial Bank Student Card Provided by: First Financial Bank Total Posts: 26 Average Rating: 3.00 Category: Student Date posted: 10/7/2005 Review: Enticing Offer, but Beware: Very pleased I received this card offer about 6 months ago. I figured it would be a good way to establish some credit history and assist me in making necessary purchases. I have not had an issue with receiving statements, I receive them and pay them off in full every month. Every time I've had to call customer service, they have been very friendly and helpful. A lot of the negative reviews seem to be coming from people who may not be managing their credit card account(s) responsibly. I do not see how you can complain about 0% interest for the life of the card on balances under $250. Nor can I see why people would complain about the fees. Late fee? It is your responsibility to make sure the payment is made on time, if it isn't no one else to blame but yourself. Online/Telephone payment fee? Don't like it? Pay through the mail. The negative reviews seem to be about the individuals irresponsiblity, not the card itself. I just got my credit line increased to $1,000 because I have used my card responsibly. Very good card, I would recommend it. Best Feature: 0% Interest on balances below $250 for the life of the card Worst Feature: None Overall Rating: 5 Benefit Rating: 4 Service Rating: 4 Recommend: Yes Credit Card: First National Bank Platinum Edition Visa® Card Provided by: First National Bank of Omaha Total Posts: 7 Average Rating: 2.29 Category: Regular Date posted: 10/5/2005 Review: Hypocrisy: I've had this card for over 11 years, carried a large balance in the past, made ALL my payments on time, and have an excellent credit score (820). But I discovered a co-worker of mine who sits 10 feet away from me has the exact same card, same length of time, and similar payment history had a lower interest rate by 2 points!! She is very diligent about her money and I have absolutely no reason to doubt the rate she quoted me. But when I called to ask this credit card company to lower my interest rate to the same as my co-workers, they refused and said they never give an interest rate that low - even after I told them about my co-worker. If I remember correctly they reluctantly came down one-half a point! I wasn't carrying a large balance at the time so I don't see what incentive they'd have to keep my interest rate high. It made me angry to know that there were people out there exactly like me who got better interest rates for no apparent reason, especially after I've done business with them for 11 years!! I'm shopping for another card. Best Feature: No junk mail Worst Feature: Interest rate Overall Rating: 2.5 Benefit Rating: 2 Service Rating: 2 Recommend: No Credit Card: Marriott Rewards Platinum Visa® Card Provided by: Juniper Bank Total Posts: Bank One Average Rating: 3.17 Category: Reward - Hotel Date posted: 10/4/2005 Review: VERY POOR Usability/Service: This card is continually placed on hold by security for reasons that are unacceptable. I took a trip to Canada and the card worked fine the first two days then the first hold was put on the card so I called in and they assured me there would be no more problems with purchases and they even annotated my account that I was in Canada. Two days later, a simple lunch charge was rejected because the card was once again put on hold. I had to call back in, paying more roaming charges, to talk to security again to have the purchase accepted. As if two times was not enough, my wife attempted a business charge and it too was rejected due to the amount. So this doesn't sound like I am a poor credit risk, I have had the card for years and always pay it off monthly. The company that runs this card has taken security measures to such an extreme that they are alienating their best clients under the guise of "protecting me." Their SELF protection/preservation has gone WAY too far. Best Feature: Reward Points Worst Feature: Continually put on hold for no reason Overall Rating: 1 Benefit Rating: 3 Service Rating: 1 Recommend: No Credit Card: Centennial Visa®/MasterCard® Provided by: First PREMIER Bank Total Posts: 35 Average Rating: 2.56 Category: Poor Credit Date posted: 10/10/2005 Review: Well, even though it has high fee's it's what you must do in order to get your credit back inline. If you didn't pay before you have to pay later. My dad always says that credit is your best friend. So I guess I am trying to find that best friend! Because of not paying before this was only 1 of 3 cards I could get. I have had NO Problems so far. I found that the web site was very good as well as receiving monthly statements. I hope things will keep going well. I do suggest that you pay with a 99 cent money order that way they dont have to wait for your check to clear. If you are trying to decide between an Aspire and this card definetly take this one. Aspire will put you in the poor house again! Best Feature: web info-statements ontime Worst Feature: high price Overall Rating: 4.5 Benefit Rating: 3 Service Rating: 4 Recommend: Yes Credit Card: Discover® Platinum Card Provided by: Morgan Stanley Total Posts: 264 Average Rating: 3.54 Category: Reward - Cash Date posted: 10/8/2005 Review: Watch out for Discover. I have had five credit cards during my 15 years card-swiping experience since age 18 and I am sad to say that Discover is the worst! It has become way too aggressive in its way to put on late fees and finance charge on the monthly statement and it is always your fault no matter what circumstances you are in. One instance, I moved to a new address and called them to update the address one month ahead but for the next two months I did not receive my statement. So when finally the bill came in, they put on $150 late fee + finance charge, I called to explain. Instead of admitting some incompetent reps failed to update my address correctly in the system, they accused me of not contacting them early enough to request another copy of statement. This was my first or second time of being late and they refused to take the fees off my statement...So all of your credit card users out there, please be extremetly careful with Discover, they ripped you off when they can. Best Feature: cash back policy but this benefit dwarfed by the fee they charge you Worst Feature: Rude service reps and high late fee and finance charge Overall Rating: 1.5 Benefit Rating: 2 Service Rating: 1.5 Recommend: No Credit Card: First National Bank of Marin Visa® Platinum Card Provided by: First National Bank of Marin Total Posts: 51 Average Rating: 3.08 Category: Regular Date posted: 10/11/2005 Review: I just rescieved this card about 2 1/2 months ago. As it was a new card when the first payment was due I had forgotten about it so they called me the same day the payment was due. I did a payment over the phone thru my debit card in which they promptley charged me a $6 fee for handling the payment over the phone, which they didnt notify me of. Then posted my payment to my account the next so that they could charge me a late payment fee of $29. The following month I sent in a payment, they said that they did not recieve the payment on the due date so they post a late payment fee by midnight of the same day that it is due. The payment due date fell on a Saturday. They posted it to my account on Sunday. We all know that the regular mail does not run on Sundays, so therefore they had recieved the payment they just had not processed it. After speaking with Customer Service...Very bad attitude, they reversed the charge as a courtesy. I have also found out through the Better Business Bureau that they are unable to obtain a licence for the first national bank of marin. So having a credit limit of $250 with fees totaliing $75 before you even use the card, leaving an available credit limit of $175 and an interest rate of 23.9% I would highly advise against using this card unless you are desperate and able to pay the balance in full a week before the payment is due. BUYER BEWARE!!! Best Feature: None Worst Feature: Customer Service and Fees Overall Rating: 1 Benefit Rating: 1.5 Service Rating: 1 Recommend: No Credit Card: Harley Davidson® Visa® Card Provided by: U.S. Bank Total Posts: 10 Average Rating: 4.15 Category: Reward - Retail Date posted: 9/29/2005 Review: Pro & Cons: Pros: Chrome Bucks if you shop at an H-D dealership. Cons: No collision coverage if you rent a Harley. What gives? Rental car (except SUV or exotic), but not for a Harley - from a dealer????? Best Feature: Chrome Bucks Rewards Worst Feature: No collision coverage for Harley rental Overall Rating: 4 Benefit Rating: 2 Service Rating: 4.5 Recommend: Yes Credit Card: L.L. Bean Platinum Plus Visa® Card Provided by: MBNA Total Posts: 25 Average Rating: 3.20 Category: Reward - Retail Date posted: 9/29/2005 Review: I have had this card for eight years and am about to cancel it because of MBNA's bait and switch tactics. They advertised the card with a 1% rebate at LL Bean and then cut it to 0.5%, which I put up with. Now they have cut my grace period (I always pay the balance) from 25 to 20 days (originally it was 30). If you go to the website where they advertise the card, however, it says 25 days. When I questioned customer service about this discrepancy, they basically said that the people who signed up for the card would start at 25 days but probably would get hit with the shorter grace period soon after they signed up. Reading the other comments here, it's clear to me MBNA is just doing everything they can to generate more late fees. It typically takes 10 days or more from the closing date just for the bill to arrive in my mailbox. LL Bean has a well-deserved reputation for outstanding customer service. They should be ashamed to be promoting this product to their customers. Best Feature: free shipping at LL Bean Worst Feature: MBNA's sleazy tactics Overall Rating: 2 Benefit Rating: 3 Service Rating: 1 Recommend: No Credit Card: Chase Platinum Visa®/MasterCard® Provided by: Chase Total Posts: 199 Average Rating: 2.67 Category: Regular Date posted: 10/7/05 Review: I have been a customer for over 16 years. During a recent move, I was late on my payment by 15 days. I have had a previous APR of 7.9 for those years (seldom carrying a balance) till my last statement. They Jacked the APR to 27.9% I called to have them remove the late charge, and they did. When I asked about the interest rate hike, they said it was now Standard procedure. Account is Paid in full, and used once a month for a gallon of milk, to generate a statement for them. My suggestion is to use my Favorite card of All Time, The American Expess Rewards Plus Gold Card. The Best Service You can find in a Company. If you need a M/C or Visa, I would suggest Capital One or Citi. Best Feature: They have an 800# to contact customer service. Worst Feature: ALL Overall Rating: 1 Benefit Rating: 1 Service Rating: 1.5 Recommend: No The Cardholder Review section is a unique feature of our site and, to the best of our knowledge, there is no other organization or company that offers more consumer reviews of credit cards. It's all about consumers helping other consumers. As your might expect, this section of our site has been one of the most popular sections of our site since it was introduced in the summer of 2000. New reviews are posted on a daily basis. We hope that you will find this section of our site useful and that you will visit it on a regular basis.

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