FIT Mastercard® Review: High-Cost Credit Card with Limit Increases

Is the FIT Mastercard® Worth It?

The FIT Mastercard® is a high-cost card with low credit limits, and it’s really only worth getting if you’re hard set against exploring secured credit cards and you plan to take advantage of the credit-building tools, resources, and protections that come with the FIT Mastercard®.

Here are key features to consider when deciding whether to get the FIT Mastercard®:

• Low credit limit that doubles after 6 months: You’ll start out with a $400 credit line on the FIT Mastercard®, which will double to $800 after 6 months of on-time payments. While this serves as a guarantee that your hard work will pay off, an $800 credit limit is still fairly low, and you could get larger credit lines with other credit cards.
• High maintenance costs: You’ll have to pay $188 in fees after opening your account just to begin using the FIT Mastercard®, then you’ll need to pay $174 in annual and monthly fees every year after that just to keep the account open. You’ll also be stuck with a high APR of 29.99% (variable), which makes it an expensive card for carrying a balance.
• No transaction fees during the first year: You won’t be charged any foreign transaction fees or cash advance fees during the first 12 months after getting the FIT Mastercard®, which is a feature you won’t find with other cards. However, you’ll need to wait 95 days after opening your account before you can actually get a cash advance.
• Credit-building perks: In addition to offering credit limit increases, the card issuer reports to all three credit bureaus, provides free credit scores, and offers an optional credit protection program that can prevent late payments. These are valuable features if you’re looking to establish or repair your credit.

All in all, the FIT Platinum Mastercard® has some definite advantages for credit building, but it’s still far from the best option. You should only consider getting the FIT Mastercard® if you’re determined not to pay a security deposit and you’re struggling to get approved for other cards.

Pros & Cons

Who Is the FIT Mastercard® Best For?

Because of the high cost of maintaining the FIT Mastercard®, we only recommend getting it after you’ve explored all your other options. In particular, this card may suit your needs if you fall into one of the groups below:

• Short-term cardholders: The card issuer will waive your monthly fees, foreign transaction fees, and cash advances fees for the first year after you get the FIT Mastercard®, making it a suitable option for giving your credit a quick boost and covering short-term expenses.
• Borrowers recovering from credit card debt: If you’ve struggled with debt in the past, the FIT Mastercard® may offer a bit of security in terms of its low spending limits and optional credit protection program. You’ll just need to make sure to pay your credit card bill in full every month to avoid getting hit with the card’s high 29.99% (variable) interest rate.

What the Crowd Says

Reviews are unusually mixed for the FIT Mastercard®. For major review publications, this seems to come down to how much weight they give to the card’s specific advantages and disadvantages. Although cardholder reviews appear generally positive on the surface, firsthand reports from dissatisfied users hint at serious issues that shouldn’t be ignored.

What Major Publications Say

Professional reviews of the FIT Mastercard® are incredibly mixed, with ratings ranging from 1 to 4 out of 5 stars. Ultimately, they all agree that this credit card is incredibly expensive to maintain due to its high fees and APR. Where they disagree is whether the card’s high cost is worth it for the benefits cardholders get.

Positive reviews seem to assume that only people with very poor credit (or no credit score at all) will be applying, and they emphasize the value of three-bureau credit reporting and a $400 starting credit limit that doubles to $800 after 6 months. They frame it as a good choice if you’re out of other options.

Negative and mixed reviews point out that you can find many of the card’s major benefits elsewhere, even if you have terrible credit—plenty of other cards for poor credit holders offer credit limit increases and three-bureau credit reporting without the hefty fees.

What Cardholders Say

People who actually have the FIT Mastercard® tend to rate the card positively, emphasizing friendly customer service and easy card approval.

Most satisfied cardholders are subprime borrowers who are happy to have gotten approved for an unsecured credit card that will reward them for paying all their credit card bills on time. However, these positive reviews don’t tell the whole story.

Here are the main upsides and downsides that cardholders reported:

Issues Receiving or Activating the Card

Negative user reviews primarily highlight one major issue with the FIT Mastercard®: technical errors delaying or preventing card delivery and activation.

Many people report paying the $89 setup fee and waiting to receive the card in the mail, only for it to never come. Eventually, their only way forward is to cancel their account altogether, which is a frustrating process that costs time and leaves them down $89 until the fee can be refunded to their account.

Mounting Credit Card Debt

Due to the card’s high fees and APR, some cardholders report struggling with debt on the FIT Mastercard®, which has strained their finances and hurt their credit score. This is partly due to the fact that the card’s annual fee will be charged to your account as soon as you open it, leaving you with only $301 out of $400 to spend.

Some unfortunate cardholders make the mistake of only making their minimum payment rather than paying their full card balance each month, which leads to quickly growing debt due to the card’s high APR. This further emphasizes that the FIT Mastercard® really isn’t designed for heavy purchases.

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Rates & Fees

Fees

• Annual fee: $99
• Monthly maintenance fee: None in the first year, then $6.25 per month ($75 per year)
• Processing fee: $89 (one-time fee)
• Cash advance fee: None for the first year, then $10 or 3% (whichever is greater)
• Foreign transaction fee: None for the first year, then 3%
• Late/returned payment fee: Up to $41
• Additional card fee: $30 (one-time fee for adding an authorized user to your account)

Despite this card’s high maintenance fees, there is one notable upside: You won’t be charged any transaction fees during your first year as a cardholder. This means you can take advantage of free cash advances (but watch out for cash advance APR) and foreign transactions.

Interest Rates

• Purchase APR: 29.99% (variable)
• Cash advance APR: 29.99% (variable)
• Minimum interest charge: None

To avoid interest charges, you should pay your credit card balance in full each month. If you don’t, then your balance will grow according to the annual percentage rate (APR) on your credit card.

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Rewards

Many rewards cards are unavailable to applicants with poor credit or limited credit histories. However, cards with cash back and rewards points do exist for holders of lower credit scores. If rewards are important to you, keep looking around for a more suitable card.

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Credit Limit

Choosing a credit card with a high credit limit is important if you’re planning to use the credit card to build credit. This is because credit scoring companies like FICO and VantageScore look at how much credit you’re using compared to your overall available credit line when calculating your credit score.

Credit Limit Increases

One of the main advertised perks of the FIT Mastercard® is that you can double your credit limit after 6 months by making your first 6 months of payments on time. This is essentially a guarantee that you’ll be rewarded for responsible account management.

After that, the card issuer will review your account periodically to see if you’re eligible for further credit increases. However, they’ll only ever increase your credit line up to the maximum credit limit of $3,000.

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Benefits

You’ll get a few basic benefits with the FIT Mastercard® credit card, which are summarized below.

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How to Get the FIT Mastercard®

Credit Score Required

The FIT Mastercard® is designed to help you rebuild your credit, and it’s marketed as the “perfect credit card for people who have struggled to get credit in the past.”

The servicer, Continental Finance, also describes itself as “a servicer of credit cards for consumers with less-than-perfect credit.” Continental Finance recommends many of their cards to people with a bad credit score, which is generally defined as a FICO score under 580.

How to Apply

You can apply for a FIT Mastercard® credit card in one of the following ways:

• By phone: Call (866) 513-4598.
• Online: Go to the FIT Mastercard® website.
• By mail: If you’ve received a preselected offer by mail, it should include an acceptance certificate. To accept the offer, complete the certificate and mail it to Continental Finance.

When you apply for the FIT Mastercard®, you’ll need to give the following information:

• Your full name
• Your Social Security number
• Your date of birth
• Your address (no P.O. boxes)

The credit card issuer needs this data to check your credit. They’ll then use the information from your check along with other details (e.g., your monthly income) to decide whether to approve your application and what terms to offer you.

According to Continental Finance, most people get an instant decision about their application. However, some applicants may have to provide additional information to help with the decision, in which case the application could take up to 30 days.

Once you’ve been approved, your card will be mailed out to you within 3 business days.

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Building Credit

Credit Reporting

Credit reporting is an important part of building credit because your credit report is based on the information your lenders send to the credit bureaus. Lenders aren’t legally required to report your credit history, and many report to only one or two of the major credit bureaus.

Choosing a credit card like the FIT Mastercard® that’s reported to all three credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) will help you achieve more comprehensive credit score improvement.

Tips for Building Credit

Credit cards can be an excellent credit-building tool, but they can also do significant damage to your credit if you’re not careful. To protect your credit while you have the FIT Mastercard® and make the most of the card’s credit-building benefits, follow these tips:

• Pay your credit card bills on time: Your payment history is the most important factor determining your credit score. Sending in at least the minimum payment by your payment due date each month will help you quickly raise your credit score and ensure that you qualify for the FIT Mastercard® credit line increase after 6 months.
• Use your card sparingly: To keep your credit healthy, never let your credit card balance exceed 30% of your available credit. This requires extra care when you have a low-limit and high-fee card like the FIT Mastercard®, which will start you off with a credit utilization rate of 24.75% after the annual fee has been charged to your account.
• Pay your full balance each month: Because the FIT Mastercard® has a very high APR, any balance you leave unpaid at the end of the month will begin growing very quickly. This will negatively impact your credit score by affecting your debt-to-credit ratio and can also hurt your finances.

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FAQs

What bank issues the FIT Mastercard® credit card?

The FIT credit card is issued by the Bank of Missouri, and it operates on the Mastercard network. However, the card is serviced by Continental Finance.

How do you contact FIT Mastercard® customer service?

If you need help with your FIT Mastercard® credit card, you can call customer service at (866) 449-4514.

For general inquiries and correspondence, you can also write to the following address:

Continental Finance

P.O. Box 3220

Buffalo, NY 14240-3220

What’s the grace period on the FIT Mastercard®?

The FIT Mastercard® credit card gives you a 25-day grace period (beginning on the first day of the new billing cycle). The grace period allows you time to pay your bills in full without racking up any interest charges.

If you pay off your balance in full by the due date, your purchases during the grace period won’t accumulate interest. However, if you carry a balance from previous billing cycles, you’ll have to pay interest on any charges you make to your card during the grace period.

Can you get a cash advance on the FIT Mastercard®?

You can use the FIT Mastercard® credit card to get a cash advance, but you can only do so after you’ve had the card for at least 95 days.

A credit card cash advance is when you use your credit card to withdraw money from an ATM. This privilege usually comes at a cost, in the form of a cash advance fee and/or heightened interest rate.

With the FIT Mastercard®, you won’t have to pay any cash advance fees for the first 12 months after account opening. After that, you’ll need to pay either $10 or 3% of the transaction amount (whichever is greater). The cash advance APR is 29.99% (variable).

Does the FIT Mastercard® allow balance transfers?

You can’t use the FIT Mastercard® to perform a balance transfer. A balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another, which is a common form of debt consolidation.

Balance transfer cards are usually only available to people with good credit scores, and they typically have low interest rates or even 0% introductory APR periods and high credit limits.