topic Re: Predatory credit card red flags in Credit Cards

Predatory credit card red flags

katiekelton — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:13:29 GMT

Hi all, I'm digging into predatory credit cards — like red flags to look for and specific lenders or products to beware. What's your take? Have you ever had a bad experience with a predatory card, especially if you had bad credit at the time?

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

swankytiger — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:45:19 GMT

Credit One

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

BrutalBodyShots — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:51:50 GMT

Hey there @katiekelton! Most predatory issuers (like Credit One, Mission Lane, First Premier, etc) will target the credit ignorant or credit desperate and charge them money to use their products. No one needs to pay a penny to hold a credit card, but these companies get away with charging monthly or annual fees because people don't know any better. The only time anyone should ever pay a fee for a credit card is if the rewards/perks of the card more than offset the fee. That's not the case with inferior/predatory issuers, as they are charging fees just for the ability to hold their card, not because of what the card provides. Most of them have little to no rewards at all. So, for me, the biggest "red flag" when it comes to predatory issuer products is that you are paying something and getting nothing.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

katiekelton — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:08:22 GMT

@swankytiger Agreed, its annual fee and APR run high for such a low credit limit. Did you happen to use the card at any point?

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

BrutalBodyShots — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:02:37 GMT

I have never possessed an inferior/predatory issuer product if your question was directed to me.

All bank cards have ridiculously high interest rates generally speaking, so I don't really use that metric as a gauge for a predatory issuer.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

katiekelton — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:08:49 GMT

@BrutalBodyShots Hey! Sorry, my other reply was actually to the other respondent. This is a really great, succinct way to explain predatory cards. Completely agree a cardholder should only have to pay if the perks outweigh the cost.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

AndrewF — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:26:50 GMT

@swankytiger wrote:
Credit One

My mother stated that Credit One recently sent her an email stating she qualified for a $150 CLI, then when she clicked it, they said they wanted her to pay them $29 to increase her credit limit by only $150.

So she backed out of the application and they didn't take the $29.

Then the next day they increased her credit limit $150 without ever charging her $29.

Yeah, that's funny. I've heard a lot of bad things about Credit One but this was hilarious. Who the hell pays $29 to be considered for a CLI, much less a paltry $150? Then they gave it to her anyway after she refused to pay $29.

In other words:

Credit One tried to monetize something that was going to happen anyway.
When the upsell failed, the system still executed the increase.

That’s not funny so much as revealing.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

sznthescore — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:50:12 GMT

My biggest "red flag" would be annual fee and/or month fee. Having to start over recently, I went back to see what builder cards were still around. I went with First Premier with a 535 FICO score. Paid the $50 annual fee and started with a $200 limit. Six months later I was able to obtain the cards shown in my signature with the potential to unsecure. All still secured but with better lenders. I DON'T do the "nickel and dime" fees and I DON'T carry a balance so the APR doesn't matter to me.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

AndrewF — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:51:04 GMT

@sznthescore wrote:
My biggest "red flag" would be annual fee and/or month fee. Having to start over recently, I went back to see what builder cards were still around. I went with First Premier with a 535 FICO score. Paid the $50 annual fee and started with a $200 limit. Six months later I was able to obtain the cards shown in my signature with the potential to unsecure. All still secured but with better lenders. I DON'T do the you "nickel and dime" fees and I DON'T carry a balance so the APR doesn't matter to me.

Corrrect, the APR on a credit card is horrendous wiith any credit score, it just gets worse if you have bad credit.

If you can't pay in full every month, you shouldn't have any credit card. If you still want rewards and you would like to be FORCED to budget, find a rewards debit card like the Discover one.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

BrutalBodyShots — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 22:26:57 GMT

@sznthescore wrote:
I went with First Premier with a 535 FICO score. Paid the $50 annual fee and started with a $200 limit. Six months later I was able to obtain the cards shown in my signature with the potential to unsecure.

@sznthescore, can I ask why you didn't go with a reputable issuer initially, even if it meant a secured card?

@AndrewF, I agree that a fee for a CLI is ridiculous and something you'd only find from a predatory issuer like Credit One.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

JamesS84 — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 23:30:36 GMT

First Premier seems pretty predatory to me. Anyone that charges a fee before your account is open to skirt the law, really.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

BrutalBodyShots — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 23:47:23 GMT

They absolutely are, no doubt about it @JamesS84.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

sznthescore — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:41:01 GMT

@JamesS84 wrote:
First Premier seems pretty predatory to me. Anyone that charges a fee before your account is open to skirt the law, really.

To be clear @JamesS84 I did NOT pay the annual fee BEFORE applying for the account or to open it. However, it was billed to the new account immediately after opening.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

sznthescore — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:58:28 GMT

@BrutalBodyShots wrote:
@sznthescore wrote:
I went with First Premier with a 535 FICO score. Paid the $50 annual fee and started with a $200 limit. Six months later I was able to obtain the cards shown in my signature with the potential to unsecure.
@sznthescore, can I ask why you didn't go with a reputable issuer initially, even if it meant a secured card?

@BrutalBodyShots In my opinion, at that time I wasn't ready and/or would not meet approval qualifications. In six months, with that one card I improved my credit score by +49 points (FICO 8). Then, I just tried my luck with Citi and got approved. That caused an "itching for new credit" fever and I had a little app spree. However, I do have a plan this time around. I'm strategically rebuilding. I know too many of the rules to the credit game not to know better. Just had an unexpected financial crisis... sometimes life happens. 😏

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

AndrewF — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 01:54:15 GMT

@sznthescore wrote:
@BrutalBodyShots wrote:
@sznthescore wrote:
I went with First Premier with a 535 FICO score. Paid the $50 annual fee and started with a $200 limit. Six months later I was able to obtain the cards shown in my signature with the potential to unsecure.
@sznthescore, can I ask why you didn't go with a reputable issuer initially, even if it meant a secured card?

@BrutalBodyShots In my opinion, at that time I wasn't ready and/or would not meet approval qualifications. In six months, with that one card I improved my credit score by +49 points (FICO 8). Then, I just tried my luck with Citi and got approved. That caused an "itching for new credit" fever and I had a little app spree. However, I do have a plan this time around. I'm strategically rebuilding. I know too many of the rules to the credit game not to know better. Just had an unexpected financial crisis... sometimes life happens. 😏

After my bankruptcy I decided after I had researched the issue, that a secured Discover card would be the best fit. I product changed it to a Discover It later after they gave me my deposit back. It's better to let a bank hold on to your $200 for 5 months and hand it back than it is to pay an annual fee to a subprime slime bank to get no real benefits. Just keep paying them.

At first I thought Credit One might be a division of Capital One because of the similar logos, but there's no relation. Credit One is just a sleazy bank in Nevada that seems to profit from spamming people they know probably will default and then suing them for twice what they actually spent. Like they keep doing to my cousins.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

BrutalBodyShots — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 02:38:02 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
After my bankruptcy I decided after I had researched the issue, that a secured Discover card would be the best fit. I product changed it to a Discover It later after they gave me my deposit back. It's better to let a bank hold on to your $200 for 5 months and hand it back than it is to pay an annual fee to a subprime slime bank to get no real benefits. Just keep paying them.

I agree with this above. Well played.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

AndrewF — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 06:46:46 GMT

@BrutalBodyShots wrote:
@AndrewF wrote:
After my bankruptcy I decided after I had researched the issue, that a secured Discover card would be the best fit. I product changed it to a Discover It later after they gave me my deposit back. It's better to let a bank hold on to your $200 for 5 months and hand it back than it is to pay an annual fee to a subprime slime bank to get no real benefits. Just keep paying them.

I agree with this above. Well played.

It actually gets much worse with Credit One because in Indiana at least, when someone sues you, the entire Complaint is viewable by anyone that punches your name into MyCase, which is the court e-file system.

When Credit One sued one of my cousins, it showed that she opened the card, the first charge was $149 for an annual fee, she maxed out the $600 credit limit quickly, mostly by going to Starbucks every day, never made a single payment, and then about 18 months later they sued her for over $1800 and won and garnished her paychecks and she never showed up.

Within 6 months of that, she opened another one and the same thing happened. That's why I know they must not care whether you've been in trouble with them before. You're profitable no matter what you do after you open a card with a $149 annual fee and a $600 credit line and a 40% interest rate.

They just have lawyers on retainer all over the place and they'll get a taste when they sue you.

Right away, the $149 is intended to maliciously comply with the Credit CARD Act's requirement that you can't charge an opening fee that's more than 25% of the assigned line of credit, but it's $149 that means that you owe the bank that much right away, and you didn't even get anything for it except a stupid fee harvester. There's only $451 of available credit, so the bank only stands to "lose" that much in purchases, and they will add interest and late fees along the way if you don't pay. Late fees and interest are also money you didn't get to spend on anything. So in the end it's actually like 4 times the amount you really spent that you'll pay back when a law firm goes to court.

The people that accept cards like this, it's likely almost none of them ever show up for court, so it doesn't even matter how well prepared (could be completely unprepared) for court the lawyer is, it's a slam dunk. The court will sanction the cardholder because the lawyer will get a default ruling and figure out where you work and serve it on them. Or your bank account. And many banks end up charging something like $79 to enforce a garnishment order, so there goes another $79.

I've had bankruptcy attorneys explain to me how few people who are being sued by a credit card company, period, show up for court. So imagine people who took a fee harvester because their car needed a tank of gas.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

katiekelton — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:19:37 GMT

@sznthescore it sounds like you were strategic with how you built credit and re-entered the world of unsecured cards!

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

katiekelton — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:20:36 GMT

@AndrewF excellent depiction of how a credit-building card becomes predatory.

Re: Predatory credit card red flags

bs1234 — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:32:57 GMT

Some people have mentioned annual fees, which i don't think can be considered a red flag as lots of good cards do (where rewards at least potentially outweigh the fee). However, I am not aware of any "good" card that charges monthly fees, so I would consider that a major red flag. As is ratio of credit limit to fee