Reflex Mastercard® Credit Card Review: Unsecured Credit with High Fees

Reflex Mastercard® Review

The Reflex Mastercard® is offered by Continental Finance, who service a number of credit cards for borrowers with less-than-perfect credit.

Here’s what you should know about the Reflex Mastercard® before you apply:

• It’s expensive: This card’s usage fees go as high as $245 a year, including annual and monthly fees, and it also has a high APR of 24.99% – 29.99% (variable). This means you’ll pay a lot for the card regardless of whether you settle your balance in full each month.
• It might give you a decent credit limit: The Reflex Mastercard® offers initial credit limits of $300–$1,000. But you may be able to increase this amount relatively quickly by making at least six bill payments on time, after which Reflex promises to double your credit limit.
• It probably requires a hard pull: A hard pull or hard inquiry is a mark on your credit report that shows lenders your credit has been checked (and that usually lowers your credit score by a few points). The Reflex Mastercard® website says they’ll use your personal information to pull your credit bureau data when you apply for the card, so it’s likely you’ll have to do this kind of credit check during your application.

Pros & Cons

Who is the Reflex Mastercard® Best for?

The Reflex Mastercard® isn’t usually a good option, but there’s one type of borrower who should consider applying:

• Bad credit holders who have been rejected for other cards: If you’re struggling to qualify for a credit card, it may be worth applying for the Reflex Mastercard®. If you’re approved, you can use Reflex to start building your credit score (by paying your monthly bills in a timely manner), and hopefully eventually become eligible for better cards.

What the Crowd Says

The Reflex Mastercard® gets mixed reviews and a middling score, overall. It’s generally considered to be perfectly fine for building credit. However, credit card experts and customers also mostly agree that it’s too expensive, and not a good long-term solution.

What Major Publications Say

The Reflex Mastercard® Secured gets a couple of bad ratings from experts. These reviewers lament the high APR and fees.

Meanwhile, several other sites give the Reflex Mastercard® Secured favorable reviews, but there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason for these. A couple mention the card’s accessibility, and one cites the credit protection program as a major benefit. However, these features aren’t particularly unusual, so they don’t really justify the high ratings the reviewers award.

What Cardholders Say

The Reflex Mastercard® gets reasonably good ratings from cardholders, overall. Many of them are happy with the card’s credit-building capabilities.

However, many remark on how expensive this card is. And there are also some additional concerns mentioned in the cardholder reviews alongside the compliments on the card’s perceived advantages.

Here are some of the things people like and dislike about the Reflex Mastercard®.

The following positive and negative points are among those highlighted in cardholders’ reviews on WalletHub:

• Long clearing times for payments: Many complain that the Reflex Mastercard issuer holds their funds for too long after they pay their bills, and that this causes problems like late payments and a lack of available credit. Many cardholders claim that their bill payments take 1–2 weeks to clear.
• Good credit limits: Several cardholders say they are happy with their initial credit limit, and several more are pleased about their credit limit increases.
• Problems making payments: There are several problems cardholders say they’ve had when paying their bills, including instances of their payment being flagged for fraud, restrictions on when Reflex lets them make payments, and problems with the credit card app.

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Rates & Fees

Fees

• Annual fee: $75–$125 for the first year; $99–$125 after that
• Monthly maintenance fee: $0 for the first year; $0–$10 per month ($0–$120 per year) after that
• Cash advance transaction fee: $10 or 3% (whichever is greater)
• Foreign transaction fee: 3%
• Late/returned payment fee: Up to $41
• Additional card fee: $30 per year

Interest Rates

• Purchase APR: 24.99% – 29.99% (variable)
• Cash advance APR: 24.99% – 29.99% (variable)
• Minimum interest charge: N/A

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Rewards

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Credit Limit

A high credit limit is good for your credit because it benefits something called your credit utilization rate—a metric that represents the proportion of your available credit you’re using. The lower your credit utilization is, the better it is for your credit.

The higher your credit limit is, the easier it is to keep a low (good) credit utilization rate, and this in turn benefits your credit score.

Credit Limit Increases

The Reflex Mastercard promises to double your initial credit limit if you make your first six monthly minimum payments on time. So if you start with the maximum initial credit limit of $1,000, you’ll be able to go up to $2,000 after six months.

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Benefits

Most Mastercard cards offer a few fairly basic benefits. These aren’t always guaranteed with every card, but they’re common.

It’s likely you’ll get some or all of the following:

Free credit scores

One guaranteed benefit of the Reflex Mastercard is the free credit scores you get each month (as long as you enroll to receive online statements). These are VantageScore 3.0 credit scores, which aren’t as widely used as FICO scores. However, they’re still a useful tool to monitor your credit and find out whether it’s improving.

Continental Credit Protection

This is an optional program that you can join by paying $0.99 for every $100 you have in debt.

The program allows you to cancel some of your debt if:

• You lose your job
• You’re hospitalized
• You become disabled

In the above cases, the program will cover up to 12 consecutive minimum monthly payments for you.

The program will also pay off in full any balance left on your card if you pass away.

Note that there are limitations on how much you can claim and when. Before you sign up, check the terms and conditions of the program carefully for more information about what coverage you can get.

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How to Get a Reflex Mastercard®

Continental Finance lists the Reflex Mastercard® as a card for people with bad credit. FICO scores under 580 are considered to be “bad” or “poor,” so even if your score is lower than this, you may still be eligible for the card.

How to Apply

You can apply for a Reflex Mastercard® credit card:

• By calling (866) 513-4598
• By first prequalifying online
• By returning the acceptance certificate you got with a pre-selected offer in the mail
• By responding online to your mail offer

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Building Credit

Credit Reporting

Credit reporting is important if you’re trying to build credit, since your credit reports comprise the information that your lenders pass on to the bureaus. If your credit needs improving, look for cards that guarantee reporting to as many credit bureaus as possible (ideally including Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).

Tips for Building Credit

Although you can use the Reflex Mastercard® to build credit, you have to use it in the right way.

• Keep your spending low: As mentioned, your credit score depends partly on a metric called the credit utilization rate, which represents the proportion of your available credit you’re using. Spending less on your Reflex Mastercard® will lower your credit utilization rate, which will benefit your credit score.
• Pay your bills on time: Paying your bills on time guards against late payments on your credit report (which are black marks that can hurt your credit score). In the case of the Reflex Mastercard®, paying your bills on time will also enable you to increase your credit limit. A higher credit limit is good for the same reason that lower spending is good—it helps your credit utilization and, in turn, your credit score.
• Monitor your credit score: The Reflex Mastercard® gives you free access to your VantageScore 3.0 credit scores each month. It’s useful to keep an eye on these scores to check that your credit building is going according to plan.

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FAQs

What bank issues the Reflex Mastercard®?

Celtic Bank issues the Reflex Mastercard®. However, the servicer is called Continental Finance.

Does the Reflex Mastercard® have a grace period?

Yes, the Reflex Mastercard® has a grace period of 25 days. A credit card grace period is the window of time between the end of your billing cycle and your payment due date.

If you pay off your balance in full before your due date, you won’t have to pay any interest whenever you use your card during the grace period. However, if you have a balance left on your card from previous billing cycles, you’ll pay interest when you use your card during the grace period.

Where can I use my Reflex Mastercard®?

You can use your Reflex Mastercard® anywhere that accepts Mastercard—almost everywhere that accepts credit cards.

You can even use your card outside the US, since the Reflex Mastercard® allows foreign transactions. However, there’s a fee for this service, which is equivalent to 3% of each transaction. This may not sound like much, but it can really mount up if you repeatedly use your card during a trip abroad, for example.

Are balance transfers allowed on the Reflex Mastercard®?

No, you cannot use the Reflex Mastercard® for balance transfers (when you move debt from one credit card to another).

Does the Reflex Mastercard® allow cash advances?

Yes, the Reflex Mastercard® allows cash advances—when you use your card to take out money at an ATM. But this service can be expensive.

There are cash advance fees equivalent to 3% of the amount you withdraw (or a minimum of $10). Also, unlike with purchases, cash advances have no grace period, meaning that interest kicks in immediately when you use your card to take out money. And the interest isn’t cheap, since the card has a hefty cash advance APR of 24.99% – 29.99% (variable).

What is the Reflex Mastercard® customer service number?

The Reflex Mastercard® customer service number is (866) 449-4514.

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

Reflex Card

P.O. Box 3220

Buffalo

NY 14240-3220

How do I cancel the Reflex Mastercard®?

To cancel the Reflex Mastercard®, contact customer service at (866) 449-4514.