If you have limited or poor credit, you may feel that building your credit score is a monumental undertaking. After all, there seems to be few options when it comes to even getting a credit card. But, in fact, there are a number of credit card options for individuals with less than stellar credit. If you get one of these cards and use it wisely, you may be able to slowly build your credit score.
The Surge Mastercard® Credit Card was created for people who have less than perfect credit. Cardholders who make their payments on time and keep their balance under their designated credit limit could start to see their credit score rise over time. That is because the Surge Mastercard reports to all three major credit bureaus on a monthly basis, so any positive steps taken to build your credit will be noted by these agencies.
What Bank Issues The Surge Mastercard?
The Surge Mastercard® Credit Card is issued by Celtic Bank. While you may have never heard of this institution, Celtic Bank is a privately-owned industrial bank headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 2001 and specializes in small business finance. The bank has ranked as one of the top ten SBA lenders nationally since 2013.
The Surge Mastercard Credit Card
Consumers should note that the Surge Mastercard® Credit Card has one of the highest APRs in the credit card industry. In addition, it has a relatively high annual fee for the initial year of card membership, and this annual fee is assessed on your account before you start using your card, so it lessens your credit limit during the first month. The annual fee does drop slightly after the first year, but it is replaced in year two and in future years by a fairly steep monthly fee.
Is The Surge Mastercard Right For Me?
If you are looking to rebuild or build your credit, the Surge Mastercard can help consumers accomplish this goal since it reports to the three major credit bureaus. However, this will only be accomplished if the payments are made on time each month and the cardholder stays within the designated credit limit. Consumers also need to calculate the costs of being a cardholder; the very high rates and fees on the Surge Mastercard® Credit Card must be assessed and understood before applying for this card.
Tips On Building Your Credit Score
If you are having trouble getting approved for the Surge Mastercard® Credit Card or, for that matter, any credit card, you may need to concentrate on building your credit score. Issuers use a credit score to determine the level of risk of giving you this “loan” so raising your credit score is one way of lowering your risk factor.
The first thing to do when trying to build your credit score is to take stock in your situation. Everyone is entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year from all three credit reporting agencies. Obtain your copy of your credit report and closely examine what appears on it. If any inaccurate information is listed, or if you do not recognize some of the accounts listed, then immediately file a dispute with the credit bureau. They will remove any inaccurate information after they conduct an investigation.
If the information on your credit report is accurate, you will need to embark on improving your score. The best way to do this is to have a thorough understanding of how your score is calculated.
Your payment history is the most important factor in determining your credit score. It is critical to make at least the minimum payment by the due date every month on every one of your bills. To help you do this, utilize some of the free tools that are available. You can set up automatic payments of your credit card’s minimum payments so you never miss a deadline. There are also due date text or email alerts that a credit card issuer will send. These are available on the issuer’s website or mobile app.
The second most important factor in your credit score is your debt utilization. When it comes to credit cards, this is the amount of debt you have on all your credit card accounts divided by the amount of available credit. So if you have $10,000 in available credit and $4,500 in credit card debt, your debt utilization is 45%. Any debt utilization above 30% will begin to negatively impact your credit score. So it’s important to keep that percentage as low as possible. To lower your debt utilization, start tracking your monthly spending to see where all your income in going. This will help you see where you can cut spending. Making your coffee at home instead of going to Starbucks every morning or signing up for a less expensive cable package might be easy ways to eliminate some expenses.
With fewer expenses, you can create a repayment plan to pay off that debt. If you have debt on several credit cards, make the minimum payments on every card except the one with the highest interest rate. Once that card is paid off, then use the same method on the one with the second highest interest rate. Be diligent and stick to the plan and slowly, but surely, your debt will be repaid.
If you make payments on time each month, and commit to paying off some of your debt each and every month, you may see your score begin to increase within a year.