Surge® Platinum Mastercard® review: Excessive fees for a credit-building card

The Surge Platinum Mastercard, issued by Celtic Bank, is designed for people with a bad credit history or none at all who want to build or rebuild their credit without tying money up in a hefty security deposit.

The card has some convenient credit-building features, like payment plans, but it comes with a significant annual fee and a stack of other fees that could make it more expensive than other credit-building cards. A few unsecured credit cards feature lower fees, and several secured cards even offer rewards and other credit-building perks.

Quick highlights

• Rewards rate: N/A
• Welcome offer: N/A
• Annual fee: $75 to $125
• Purchase Intro APR: N/A
• Balance Transfer Intro APR: N/A
• Regular APR: 29.99 percent variable

Current welcome offer

There’s no sign-up bonus or welcome offer with this card. However, this isn’t a big issue since welcome offers aren’t common among credit-building cards. The main preliminary benefit is the quick prequalification offer. Once you know if you’re prequalified, the application process is swift.

The Surge Platinum Mastercard credit card is an accessible credit card for applicants with a wide range of credit scores. It’s an option for those who have difficulty getting approved for an unsecured credit card and don’t want to give a security deposit — as secured credit cards require.

As you use the Surge Platinum credit card, the issuer will report your usage to all three major credit bureaus — TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. With on-time payments, low credit card utilization and responsible use, you can build your credit score and may eventually qualify for a better credit card.

No security deposit

You can get a credit limit between $300 and $1,000 with the Surge Platinum credit card, with no security deposit required. You’d typically have to pay at least a $200 minimum security deposit for a secured credit-building card with a credit limit that matches your deposit.

You may also be eligible for a potential credit limit increase of up to $2,000 after six months of making the required minimum monthly payments. A secured card would require a $2,000 deposit upfront for this credit limit. Although some secured cards could provide a higher maximum credit limit (typically up to $2,500, but some outliers offer up to a $5,000 limit), you would need to deposit funds equal to the credit limit you want. The Surge Mastercard’s limit increase could help keep your credit utilization low without cutting into your savings.

The Surge Platinum credit card has an annual fee of $75 to $125, which could increase to at least $99 up to $125 in the second year. Even the minimum annual fee can be much higher than competing credit-building cards’ fees, and the potential monthly maintenance fee of up to $10 makes this one of the costliest cards on the market (maintenance fees are at least waived the first year). Other credit-building cards come with no monthly maintenance fees. This card’s APR is also quite high. Although high APRs are typical of credit-building cards, the Surge Platinum Mastercard poses one of the steepest APRs around — on par with the typical penalty APR for missing payments.

There are also a few optional one-time fees you may run across. These include a $30 fee for an additional card (if you ever need one for an authorized user) and a $9.95 “premium card fee,” if you want a different card design. You’ll also be subject to a 3 percent foreign transaction fee for international purchases and late and returned payment penalty fees of up to $41.

If you ever call customer service to make a payment that must be credited to your account on the same day, or if the payment needs to be processed after 5 p.m. or on a non-business day, there’s also an undisclosed “expedited service fee” that the customer service representative will inform you of.

If you’re looking for an effective credit card to build credit, the Surge Mastercard may be worth considering if you’re trying to avoid secured cards, but the Surge card comes with costly fees. You may be better off with other options if you want to keep costs low.

Surge Platinum Mastercard vs. OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card

The OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card requires a refundable security deposit of $200 to $3,000, but you can potentially have a much higher credit limit than the Surge Platinum Mastercard (since the deposit amount also becomes the credit limit). The OpenSky Secured card has a lower $35 annual fee and a more favorable variable APR of 22.64% (variable).

The OpenSky Secured card can be a better pick if you may need to carry a balance in a pinch because you’ll save a substantial amount on interest payments (although carrying a balance isn’t recommended). However, if you want to keep initial costs low, the Surge Platinum doesn’t require a security deposit. Although you’ll pay a higher annual fee to get started with and annually renew the Surge Platinum card, it might be a better fit for you if you can’t afford a large security deposit to access a high credit limit.

Surge Platinum Mastercard vs. Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card

The Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card is a secured credit card that requires a refundable deposit amount of only $49, $99 or $200, depending on credit history. Even if your security deposit is less than $200, you’ll get access to a credit limit of $200. Any deposit over $200 will give you access to a credit limit equal to your deposit amount. Plus, Capital One will also assess all cardholders for a higher credit line after just six months of on-time monthly payments.

Like the Surge Mastercard, the Platinum Secured card’s variable APR of 30.49 percent is high. However, the major benefit of this credit-building card is that there’s no annual fee, and you can start building credit with potentially lower upfront costs than if you had opted for the Surge Mastercard.

If you need an unsecured credit card and don’t qualify for better cards, the Surge Platinum Mastercard can help you build credit with responsible usage. Although it has a high annual fee and significant maintenance fees, it can provide you with a decent credit limit that can help you keep credit utilization low.

However, if you can qualify for a card with a lower annual fee or have the funds to contribute to a refundable security deposit, you may want to consider a lower-cost secured credit card or a card with better perks.