Aspiring to Rip-Off the Credit-Challenged
I've heard of offers too good to be true; however, I just finished reading an offer so bad it's tough to believe it is true, but it is.
Aspire Visa has a credit offer it mails to those who are "credit-challenged" which is a polite way of saying they have some negative data on their credit report and they have recently applied and been refused credit. No problem folks, Aspire Visa is there to meet your credit needs. No security deposit required. You are pre-approved. No application fee. Sounds great, considering that there are many sub-prime credit card offers out there involving security deposits and/or high application fees. At least it sounds great until you read the fine print.
Because buried in the fine print you discover that there is an annual fee of $150.00 for this wonderful credit card and if that isn't bad enough, another $6.50 per month ($78.00 annually) in account maintenance fees to get this credit card and on top of that, an account opening fee of $29.00. Assuming you get a $300 line of credit, you'll pay $257.00 the first year for that credit line and $228.00 per year thereafter.
This isn't just a lender charging high fees in order to lend money to risky borrowers. This is a lender profiteering from the stupidity of anyone silly enough to accept the offer. There are secured cards with lower annual fees out there and if all you're going to get is a $300 line of credit unsecured at a cost of almost $300 in the first year, there's no point in opening the account anyway.
If you are ever among the credit-challenged, or even if you aren't, if you find an offer from Aspire Visa in your mailbox, you better read every word of the fine print before accepting the offer. Otherwise you might be surprised at how much that offer is going to cost you.
Aspire Visa has a credit offer it mails to those who are "credit-challenged" which is a polite way of saying they have some negative data on their credit report and they have recently applied and been refused credit. No problem folks, Aspire Visa is there to meet your credit needs. No security deposit required. You are pre-approved. No application fee. Sounds great, considering that there are many sub-prime credit card offers out there involving security deposits and/or high application fees. At least it sounds great until you read the fine print.
Because buried in the fine print you discover that there is an annual fee of $150.00 for this wonderful credit card and if that isn't bad enough, another $6.50 per month ($78.00 annually) in account maintenance fees to get this credit card and on top of that, an account opening fee of $29.00. Assuming you get a $300 line of credit, you'll pay $257.00 the first year for that credit line and $228.00 per year thereafter.
This isn't just a lender charging high fees in order to lend money to risky borrowers. This is a lender profiteering from the stupidity of anyone silly enough to accept the offer. There are secured cards with lower annual fees out there and if all you're going to get is a $300 line of credit unsecured at a cost of almost $300 in the first year, there's no point in opening the account anyway.
If you are ever among the credit-challenged, or even if you aren't, if you find an offer from Aspire Visa in your mailbox, you better read every word of the fine print before accepting the offer. Otherwise you might be surprised at how much that offer is going to cost you.
posted by me at 1:11 PM
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