Milestone Gold Mastercard Review

Building or rebuilding credit can take time, and parting with a few hundred dollars for a deposit on a secured credit card without knowing when you’re going to get it back can be stressful. The Milestone credit card doesn’t require a security deposit to get approved, and you can get approved with bad, limited, or no credit. 

That said, your annual fee could be as high as $99 after the first year, based on your credit profile.

Pros Explained

• No security deposit required: You don’t have to worry about putting up any money to get approved for the card. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, don’t have any savings you can part with, and need to build credit, the Milestone credit card can be extremely appealing. 
• May get approved with bad, limited, or no credit: Getting a credit card can be difficult when you’re new to credit or working to recover from past credit missteps. With the Milestone credit card, anyone can check to see if they’re pre-qualified without it affecting their credit score.
• Fixed APR: The card’s interest rate stays the same regardless of what the prime rate is. (Variable interest rates are based on the prime rate.) That doesn’t necessarily mean that the rate will never change, but your credit card issuer will have to tell you if it does.

Cons Explained

• Potential for a high annual fee: This card has a variety of fee structures. Depending on your credit profile, you may end up with an ongoing annual fee of $35 or $59, or a first-year annual fee of $75 then $99 after that.
• No rewards program: When your main goal is to improve your credit, rewards may not be a top priority. But if you want the option to have both, some other cards can provide it. 
• Low credit limit: The credit limit for the Milestone Gold Mastercard is $300, and the set-up fee and annual fee come out of that. So when you open your card, you might only have $225 of available credit. That’s really low, especially when you’re trying to improve your credit score. If you have the money for a security deposit, you could get a higher credit limit with most secured credit cards.

Milestone Gold Mastercard’s Other Features

• Identity theft resolution services

Customer Experience

Milestone Mastercard doesn’t offer a mobile app and it doesn’t offer 24/7 customer service—most competitors have both. You can reach customer service at 866-453-2636 or via email.

While the card can help you build your credit history, it doesn’t provide access to your credit score to help you keep track of your progress.

Security Features

The Milestone credit card’s security features are standard for the industry.

Milestone Gold Mastercard’s Fees That Stand Out

For the most part, the fees associated with the Milestone credit card aren’t entirely out of line with the industry standards. There are, however, some exceptions.

The annual fee, for instance, can be much higher than what you can find with some of the better credit cards for bad credit on the market. On the flip side, the card’s 1% foreign transaction fee is lower than the typical 3% fee you see with other cards that charge one. 

The card also waives its cash advance fee for the first year, which isn’t common among other cards. (The fee is either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater). Even with no fee the first year, avoid taking out a cash advance; they’re very expensive. The Milestone Gold Mastercard also charges an overlimit fee of up to $40. Many cards don’t have such a charge, which occurs when your balance rises above your credit limit.