The Indigo Platinum card is targeted towards people with sub prime credit and it’s issued by Celtic Bank (they also issue the Surge Card). I like to cover credit cards that target people with bad credit as they are often predatory and there are usually better options out there. Let’s see if the Indigo Platinum is one of those better options or not.
Card Benefits
Let’s take a look at the benefits of the card first:
- Bankruptcy on file is OK
- You can see if you’re pre-qualified before you apply and only a soft credit check [Note: Most credit card issuers allow you to check for pre-qualified offers]
- Pick your card design for free
As you can see, the list of benefits for this card is quite small.
Fees & Other Interest Information
There are basically three versions of this card, we will look at what is the same across all cards and then the differences.
Same across all cards:
- APR of 23.9%
- Penalty APR of 29.9%
- Credit limit of $300
- Authorized user fee of $25
- Runs on the MasterCard payment network and will be accepted anywhere MasterCard is accepted
- Reports to all three credit bureaus
- No rewards program
The difference between the three cards is simply the annual fee:
- No annual fee
- $59 Annual fee
- $75 for the first year, $99 thereafter
Worst case scenario you’re going to be paying an annual fee of 33% of your total credit limit. I don’t really see how this is even legal considering that the CARD act clearly states that an annual fee cannot be greater than 25% of the credit limit.
Our Verdict
Being able to check to see if you’re pre-qualified before applying with only a soft credit pull is a neat future (although remember you can do this with other card issuers as well), unfortunately having an annual fee that is up to 33% of your credit limit is absolutely terrible. Couple that with the fact there is no rewards program and you have a truly awful card.
There are other options for people with bad credit, for example:
- The Discover it Secured card. This will help people with bad credit improve their credit score, downside is you need to put down a security deposit. Upside is no annual fees and a good rewards program and the card can graduate to an unsecured card (you get your security deposit back, but keep the card and the rewards program improves).
- There are also a bunch of other options for people with bad credit. For example using the shopping cart trick to get store credit cards.
Unfortunately this probably isn’t even the worst card on the market. Here are other cards in the hall of shame:
If anybody knows of any other cards with ridiculously high annual fees and other fees, let me know. You can help by sharing these posts on social media, hopefully unsuspecting consumers will come across these reviews before they apply and decide to go down a different route instead.
Indigo and First Premier are horrible. Both came with annual fee already on it and blocking some of my credit line. Indigo takes forever to post your payments and is currently holding my payment of $120 in 4/28 for 40 days so I don’t have access to that money. Their reasoning was a reversed payment that my bank rejected (which took 6 days to post so my money again was in their hands and I had no access to it in their card or my bank). Pick a different card!!! Credit One is ok although they too already had annual fee on it the day I got it. CapitolOne has been the best and I own two of theirs.
I highly recommend that everyone stay away from this credit card. I didn’t research it properly before applying, and I already regret it just one month later. Of course, as mentioned the annual fee is a minimum of $75 which applies immediately, and the highest limit offered is $300. I spent around $100 in transactions, paid $40 instantly, and then my card started declining on other small transactions. I’ve called twice to inquire and have experienced the worst customer service of my entire life. They tried to convince me that their system showed I only had an available credit line remaining of $48 while their automated phone system and website showed an amount of $149. They could never explain the discrepancy, even after 30 minutes of talking and being put on hold repeatedly. They gave me multiple excuses, none of which made sense. First they said that the card can’t be used at some retailers because they have to have an agreement set up with them. That didn’t make sense since I tried using it at 2 of the largest retailers in the USA. Then, to get me off the phone, the guy said… OK you’re right about your available credit line being $149. Next time you use the card, it will be fine. When asked if he found an issue and corrected it, he just repeated himself and said it would work next time. Well, it doesn’t. I truly believe this entire thing is a scam. I believe they’re collecting all these annual fees and then customers are left unable to use their cards. I found numerous other complaints that are the exact same on other websites, so I’m obviously not the only one who experienced this. Stay far away from this one. I would recommend a secured card before I would ever recommend this. It’s just not worth it.
Trying to apply to Indigo but they’re asking for my social but I don’t want to give out my number. Don’t have $$ for a security deposit. Any other CC option
Never activated the Indigo card and I am being billed SCAM
indigo credit card is a rip off and scam. once u make a payment through ur checking account they will take money without authorization and say u did it.they r crooks and will screw u over.
I received one of those pre-approved applications in my mail and applied tonight. It came back with my minor granddaughter’s name saying it couldn’t be approved because they found no credit file. How does that happen??? I called and they barely spoke english and kept telling me to re-apply. It seems like a scam but I want to protect my granddaughters credit. Do I call the Attorney General in California, better business bureau? Very frustrated.
I was approved for the indigo platinum car then they charged my bank $5.53 for a international card I didn’t give them my bank account number so how did they get it
I made my first payment for this credit card 7 days ago, and it was made 4 days earlier than the due date. I paid the balance in full and the payment still has not been credited to my account. I have incured a late fee because they have not posted my payment. This is obvioously a terrible experince right from the beginning. I absolutely would NOT recommend this credit card to anyone!!!
I have worked so hard to build my credit and I see my TransUnion score go up to 701 and Experian score was 668, while Equifax stayed at 623. Guess what? Fico score 619. And that is what counts! I have cards with CapitalOne 2000 CL and one with 750 CL. Barclay 1300 CL and 1500 CL. Discover IT 1000 CL. And I have an arm load of store cards. I am entering my 3rd year of chapter 13 bankruptcy and I think life will not get too much better until the discharge. No matter what I do I can’t raise that Fico score more than 1 or 2 points. I have seen it go down as well after getting a new card!
I applied for and accepted the Indigo card about six months ago, while my BK case was still open. As the rest of you have said, the terms are AWFUL, but the approval process was easy and the $300 credit line adds to my total available credit. This card has a 25-day grace period for charges, and I am determined to never owe them a penny in interest.
In addition to the gem mentioned above, I also have the Credit One (so-called) Platinum Visa with a $900 limit and much better terms than Indigo. Credit One offers line increases every few months, with the first one coming after making only one on-time payment.
My only other open account is an American Express Gold card, which I have had since 2008 and luckily was not cancelled in my BK. This is a charge card which must be paid in full each month, so it doesn’t add any available credit in terms of credit reporting, but shows as current on my credit reports, which I hope will become meaningful at some point.
Post discharge for about five months, my scores are:
Experian: 677
Equifax: 706
Trans Union: 680
FICO 08: 616
It seems the only one that really matters is the FICO 08 score, as I haven’t heard of a lender yet who uses anything other than FICO in making lending decisions. Still, I am surprised by the variation in scores, and would enjoy hearing from any of you who are in the rebuilding process and have information or experiences you can share.
Interesting because by law you are in violation of federal bankruptcy laws if you opened a credit card account with an open bankruptcy case. The law clearly states that you cannot open new credit with an open and/or pending bankruptcy.
That is incorrect, it will depend on the terms of your bankruptcy. Each case is different and each district is different depending on which state you live in. My terms are
100% payback
Up to $2000 in credit without trustee approval
I receive 100% of my tax returns
1 year after making ch. 13 payments my credit union approved a $1000 secured card and a $1000 fresh start loan. I am currently 27 months into my bankruptcy. Scores rise very slowly as some trade lines that are included in the bankruptcy will arbitrarily show a failed to pay and then reflect a recent missed payment. I did notice after a second or even a 3rd dispute the trade line will then just be removed along with the recent or failed to pay comment. It is a slow process and I do not expect massive score increases while in this ch. 13., however having positive payments and revolving credit should allow for a much quicker rebound once it has been discharged.
Did I get approved