Look Credit One is a "sub prime card", no doubt about it. But it does have a place. I opened one in February of this year and it has helped my scores, has not cost me more than the 89.00 AF, and I get my EX FICO score every month for free. If you understand the fee's and how they work, you can make this card work for you. Here's the major issue's to remember with this card:
1) AF of $89.00
2) Low CL, usually $300.00 - $400.00
3) Max of 3 free payments each month, after that, you have to wait until the next month OR pay $10.00 to use their "expedited payment".
4) It generally takes 3 - 5 day's for your free payment to post, and thus free up your avail credit. Expedited payments post immediately, but cost $10.00
5) Absolutely NO grace period for purchases. Interest accrues from the date of the charge.
6) Additional charge for adding AU's.
Credit One report's to all 3 CA's. I've never been charged ANY additional fees, other than the original 12 month initial AF. If you use this card right, it can work for you. Where most people get in trouble is, this is their only CC and they want to use it everyday. It's basically impossible, because of the low CL's, very limited free payments, amount of time payments take to post and thus free up avail credit again. These cause all sorts of issues and can lead to major fees. While I certainly do not recommend this card if you can get approved by other decent lender's, you can make it work to help your credit.
Here's strictly how I use it: my Netflix $7.99 auto bill gets paid every month on this card. The day it hits, I immediately make a payment. That's it. That's all I use it for. In the meantime, it reports current to all 3 CA's and it gives me my free EX FICO score every month. They do not advertise this as a "FICO" score, however, I can attest that for the last 4 months, this score has matched EXACTLY my EX FICO score. It hasn't been different by 1 point. It matches every month exactly.
So while I do not plan to keep this card after my first year is up, I really cannot complain about Credit One. It has worked for me, and only cost me $89.00.
