Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa® review: A mediocre, confusing unsecured card
Consider better fair-credit cards to build credit and earn more rewards.
Written by
Edited by
The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for .
Snapshot
2.3
Bottom line
Intro offer
N/A
Rewards Rate
1%
Annual fee
$39
Regular APR
29.74% Variable
Bankrate Score
Cost of membership
Ease of building credit
APR
Features
Remove a card to add another to compare
Remove a card to add another to compare
Credit One Bank Platinum Visa overview
The Credit One Platinum Visa card offers unimpressive rewards and selects terms according to your creditworthiness. As a result, you can’t see your terms until you’re approved, making it a potentially risky credit-building option compared to other cards on the market. Read the terms and conditions carefully to avoid hidden fees.
If you have fair credit or better, you may want to consider other unsecured or secured cards that offer better rewards, terms or other helpful benefits. However, if this card is one of the few available to you it might be a suitable short-term option.
-
Rewards
- 1 percent cash back on eligible gas, grocery, mobile phone, internet, cable and satellite TV services
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: $39
- Foreign transaction fee: 3 percent or $1, whichever is greater
- Cash advance fee: 8 percent or $5, whichever is greater
- Late/returned payment fee: Up to $39
- Regular APR: 29.74 percent variable
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis -
Credit-building features
- Free credit score
- Regular account reviews for credit line increases
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Other cardholder perks
- More Cash Back Rewards program
- Zero fraud liability
- Optional credit protection
- Experian IdentityWorks
- Visa traditional benefits
Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis
Credit One Bank Platinum Visa pros and cons
Pros
-
The card earns an automatic 1 percent back in eligible categories with no minimums for reward redemption.
-
You’ll get decent Visa benefits and protections with this card.
-
The More Cash Back Rewards Program can earn up to 10 percent back at some retailers.
Cons
-
Your starting credit limit could be as low as $300, which makes keeping credit utilization low difficult.
-
Various fees make this card costly to maintain.
-
Your specific card terms aren’t defined until you prequalify.
Why you might want the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa
The Credit One Bank Platinum Visa offers a few useful perks that can give fair credit cardholders decent value while building credit.
Perks: Card-linked programs and Visa benefits add value
The Credit One Bank Platinum Visa carries some perks that add extra value to the card. Perhaps the most valuable is the More Rewards card-linked rewards program, which can help you earn extra cash back, discounts or other rewards at participating retailers. You’ll need to link your card and activate limited-time offers worth up to 10 percent cash back on top of your regular rewards. You’ll also have access to the Visa Offers and Perks program, which offers discounts on dining and other retailers.
These features are in addition to traditional Visa credit card benefits, such as 24/7 pay-per-use Roadside Dispatch service, auto rental collision insurance, emergency card replacement and cash dispersal, zero fraud liability, and lost or stolen card reporting. While these are common benefits with Visa cards, having these perks in case of emergency is helpful.
Credit building: Free score and regular review
While better options exist for people with fair credit, you’ll get standard credit-building features with this card — like a free credit score and periodic account reviews for credit line increases. You’ll get a minimum credit line of $300, and while a specific timeframe isn’t given, Credit One states that it will grant credit line increases based on your overall credit performance.
Credit line increases can improve your credit utilization ratio, which can help improve your credit score and qualify you for better cards. You can monitor your score through Credit One’s website.
Why you might want a different card for fair credit
Credit One cards can be very confusing with their card terms, which you won’t know unless you prequalify. You may want to find clearer, better rewards and terms with other cards or issuers.
Rewards: Mediocre rates that don’t cover all purchases
The Credit One Bank Platinum Visa earns an unlimited 1 percent cash back as a statement credit on eligible gas, grocery, phone, internet, cable and satellite TV services. These are mediocre rates compared to similar cards and purchases outside these categories don’t earn any rewards, which is unusual in the world of reward cards.
Credit One Visa cards also use the merchant’s Standard Industrial Classification Code instead of Visa’s merchant category codes to determine which purchases are eligible for rewards. This makes knowing whether you’ll earn cash back for your purchases more confusing.
Rates and fees: Complex and expensive
The Credit One Bank Platinum Visa isn’t cheap or easy to understand. You can pay significantly higher fees after applying if you haven’t read the fine print, which you won’t know until you prequalify. It’s important to note that once you find out the terms, you aren’t obligated to continue your application if they aren’t favorable. However, even Credit One’s best terms are generally poor compared to other cards. The $39 annual fee reduces your initial credit limit, which means if you qualify for the minimum $300 credit line, your card will max out at $261 until you pay your balance. The Platinum Visa also has an expensive ongoing 29.74 percent variable APR that could lead to significant compound interest if you don’t pay your bill on time.
Credit protection: Too pricey to be worth it
Credit One offers an optional added-cost credit protection program that waives your minimum payment, annual fee or late payment fees for six months if you become involuntarily unemployed or disabled. Benefits can be initiated for a qualifying event occurring after the first 30 days of enrollment. Once activated, this feature costs 96 cents per $100 of your balance each month after you enroll. While credit protection is active, you can’t use your account.
This feature is overly complicated and can be very pricey for what it does. Many other debt management options offer much less expensive ways to handle these financial situations, particularly in events lasting more than six months.
How the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa compares to other cards for fair credit
The Credit One Bank Platinum Visa is complex and potentially expensive for minimal rewards. A secured credit card, could be less costly in the long run despite the upfront deposit. Here’s how the Platinum Visa stacks up against some of the more popular secured cards on the market.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Rewards rate
Receive 1% cash back rewards on eligible gas and grocery purchases as well as mobile phone, internet, cable and satellite TV services. Terms apply.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Intro Offer: Unlimited Cashback Match - only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year! There's no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a dollar-for-dollar match.
Rewards rate
Earn 2% cash back at Gas Stations and Restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter, automatically. Earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card
Annual fee
Intro offer
Rewards rate
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Who is the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa right for?
The Credit One Platinum Visa may be a good choice for people with fair credit who want to earn rewards and possibly get extra incentives when shopping online.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa worth it?
An unsecured card may be appealing if you’re building credit, but the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa card offers mediocre rewards and complicated terms filled with potential extra fees. Though there are some decent perks provided through Visa, they don’t make up for the difficulty in finding value in the card. So, even if it’s one of the only cards for average credit available to you, consider more rewarding starter cards, which are likely better options.
How we rated this card
We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.
Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).
We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:
Frequently asked questions
What cardholders think
Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa®
In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.
Community Reviews
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.
