First Latitude Platinum Elite Mastercard® Secured Credit Card review: Credit-building at a cost

This card includes the basics you should expect for any credit-building card. The issuer will report your card activity to the three credit bureaus, giving you an opportunity to build your credit responsibly.

The issuer also offers you the opportunity to apply for a second credit card after six months of on-time payments. A second credit card from this issuer probably won't help much, but it will expand your available credit and help you keep your credit utilization ratio low.

To build credit with this card, do the following:

• Pay your card balance on time and in full every billing cycle.

• Add to your security deposit when you can to increase your credit limit.

In six months to a year of responsible credit use, you should be able to qualify for better cards, even if they're other credit-building or secured cards. At that point, you should close this account and look for cards without annual fees to continue your credit-building journey.

Apply for the First Latitude Platinum Elite card if you’re OK with the card’s low annual fee and want to earn cash back rewards for general purchases. It has acceptable deposit limits and presents a fine opportunity to build your credit.

Rewards: Fair cash back for payments

If you can find a secured card that rewards you for your purchases, it’s worth strong consideration. With the First Latitude Platinum Elite secured card, you’ll earn 1 percent cash back rewards when you make payments to your card. This can go a long way toward offsetting your annual fee, but you’ll need to spend and pay at least $3,000 each year to earn enough points to do so. You can only redeem your points in 500-point increments — worth $5 — as a statement credit, which can be helpful for paying down your balance.

A cash back rate of 1 percent is better than what other secured cards offer, but this benefit is dampened by the card’s annual fee. You won’t net any real value until you earn 3,000 points. However, every 500 points after $3,000 spent is $5 you wouldn’t have without the First Latitude Platinum Elite secured card.

Deposit: Determine your credit limit

Like with most secured cards, your deposit amount is the same as your credit limit, so the more you can deposit the better. It might be tempting to only deposit $200 into your card account to access any line of credit you can, but this might not give you enough spending power. You should deposit as much as you can so that you expand your available credit and have plenty of room to keep credit utilization low.

You can only deposit up to $2,000, which is the average upper limit of a secured card’s deposit. Since First Latitude extends this deposit amount to you, it’s worth making the most of because it will help you build credit.

The card’s annual fee is not likely to sit well with anyone. If you really don’t want to pay $29 each year to hold the card, no one can blame you. There are options available for free that offer more.

Rates and fees: Annual fee eats up value

Getting started on a credit-building journey can be infinitely more difficult than continuing to build established credit from a fair or good range. If secured cards are the only options available to you, your start-up costs are going to be high because of your security deposit. An annual fee just adds fuel to the fire, making you fork up more of your hard-earned cash just to access a tool that is meant to help you turn a leaf on your credit journey.

It’s rare for secured cards to charge annual fees. At least, it should be. There are plenty of secured options that don’t require annual fees, so the First Latitude Platinum Elite should be your last option for this reason alone, if it isn’t already.

Credit-building features: No credit-monitoring tools

Some of the best secured cards give you means of tracking your progress so that you have the necessary information to keep your credit score on the right track. First Latitude makes no mention of any credit-monitoring tools like free FICO scorecards that can help you stay on the right track. You can check your credit report through TransUnion for free, but seeing your score monthly in an issuer-provided app and checking it often is an important part of building credit.

Other secured cards also let you “graduate” to an unsecured card after at least six months of positive payment history, but First Latitude simply advertises that you can apply for a second credit card after six months. That's not the worst idea, but it's not the best. It's better if you could have your deposit returned to you and your secured card graduates to an unsecured one.

While none of our experts had the First Latitude Platinum Elite Mastercard, Bankrate writer Benét Wilson, had a secured card at one point and can attest to the strengths these cards offer:

Secured cards are in a surprisingly competitive marketplace. The right one for you should match your needs, so knowing your options is important when making a decision.

You might be better off with either the Capital One or Discover secured cards if you want to access a decent credit limit, keep costs low and earn rewards. The First Latitude Platinum Elite could be a good card for anyone looking to build credit, but it shies away from greatness because it charges an annual fee and a handful of other circumstantial fees. But it might be a fit if you:

• Have limited options and need access to credit.

• Can afford a higher security deposit to maintain a low credit utilization ratio. 

• Are OK with paying a $29.00 annual fee.

If you aren’t too interested in the First Latitude secured card, here are two alternatives worth considering.

Capital One Quicksilver Secured Cash Rewards Credit Card

<span>Better for cash back</span>

opensky® Secured Visa® Credit Card

<span>Higher credit limit</span>

Our proprietary card rating system takes into account a mix of factors when scoring credit cards for students and people building credit, including each card’s cost, APR, credit-building tools and more.

We analyzed over 50 of the most popular cards designed for students and people with no credit history, bad credit or a fair credit score and scored each based on where its key features stood in relation to others in its category.