Interest Rates & Features:  

The relatively low interest rate of 14.9% is among the best features of the UltraVX Visa secured card. It stands among the lowest rates charged by credit cards for bad credit and is even competitive with rates charged by many more mainstream cards. An additional advantage is that the rate applies to both purchase transactions and to cash advances. In general, most cards charge a higher rate for cash advances than they do for purchases.

The 25-day purchase grace period is also an important point in favor of this card and can indeed be more important than the stated interest rate. In effect, the grace period means that, provided the card balance is paid in full each month, there will be no interest charge at all for purchases. It’s important to note that the grace period doesn’t apply to cash advances which are subject to interest charges from the day they are taken.

Other Fees:  

There is some good news and some bad news regarding other fees for the UltraVX Visa card. Let’s deal with the bad first. There is a $29.95 account set up fee when the card is initially activated. The fee is charged against the initial collateral deposit that is made. There’s also a relatively high $6.95 monthly fee for having the card. That’s the equivalent of $83.40 annually which places this among the highest priced cards in this category.

The good news is that the charge for taking a cash advance is just $2.00. Most cards charge a percentage of the advance and many have a $5.00 minimum for this service so this nominal fee should prove to be lower than most. Charges for late payments and exceeding the card's credit limit are each $25.00 which places them lower than for most other cards. Please keep in mind that these charges should never be incurred if the card is used for its intended purpose which is to improve a credit rating. To that end, we always encourage users to always make at least minimum payments on time and to take care to stay well within the card's limits. For more detailed information on the importance of these issues, we suggest reading the accompanying article, How to Build a Better Credit Rating.