Imagine Visa Credit Card Reviews

Imagine Visa credit card reviews highlight a mix of customers who love the product and those who express having quite unpleasant experiences. The card is designed to help consumers with fair or poor credit build or rebuild their scores.

However, its potentially high monthly and annual fees, among other challenging realities, can limit the card’s ability to assist despite the promise of up to 3% cash back on select purchases.

Imagine Credit Card Loan Alternatives (for 580+FICO Score)

Imagine Visa Credit Card Reviews: Features and Benefits

The best credit cards for gas and groceries offer multiple percentage points in cash-back rewards. While not one of our top picks in the category, the Imagine Visa credit card does offer 3% cash-cack statement credits for gas, groceries, and utility bill payments. Imagine also provides 1% cash-back on other purchases as well. However, there are numerous other factors about the card to consider before applying.

• APR 19.24% – 36%
• Balance transfers available
• Pre-qualification won’t affect credit score
• No minimum credit score is required to pre-qualify
• Cash advances available
• Mobile app available
• 3% cash back on gas, groceries, and utility payments
• 1% cash back on other purchases
• Rewards are redeemable through automatic annual statement credits
• $0 to $175 annual fee
• $5 to $12.50 monthly account maintenance fee may apply
• Reports to all three major credit bureaus
• 3% balance transfer fees
• $5 or 5% cash advance fee (whichever is greater)
• $41 late payment fee
• Free VantageScore 4.0 credit score access
• 3% foreign transaction fees
• A one-time $19 additional authorized fee applies
• Credit limit increase requests not accepted
• Annual fee charged immediately upon card acceptance

Imagine Visa Credit Card Reviews: Editorial Rating

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for the Imagine Visa Credit Card: 7.3

Credit cards designed for building or rebuilding poor credit often lack many of the perks of mainstream cards designed for those with better-than-average credit scores. Some of those perks may include cash-back rewards with spending options, travel mile benefits, introductory offers, purchase protection, and other benefits. The best balance transfer cards may also provide multiple-month intro offers to help consolidate debt.

The Imagine Visa credit card offers some of those same perks—At least, it appears that way on the surface. The card does provide cash-back benefits on some purchases. However, earned rewards are only redeemable through an automatic once-annual statement credit. Customers don’t have an opportunity to spend rewards as they wish.

Digging deeper into Imagine Visa credit card reviews, other benefits that look excellent at first glance require some investigation before becoming a card member.

The Imagine card offers balance transfer and cash advance abilities without hidden fees. However, some card accounts will be subject to potentially high annual and monthly maintenance fees. That fact can make the Imagine Visa card more expensive to use for these things than is practical.

For those reasons and other undesirable card features, Imagine’s product misses the mark in our review. While the Imagine Visa credit card can help rebuild credit in some situations, applicants should be keenly aware of the card’s fine print before committing to being a customer.

Imagine Visa Credit Card

Needing to build or rebuild credit can limit consumers’ credit card options. Secured credit cards are often an excellent and safe way to begin rebuilding credit. However, having money available upfront is necessary to pursue that avenue. Another option is identifying a solid card option with no security deposit, called an unsecured card.

The Imagine Visa credit card is an unsecured credit card that does provide some benefits to users who are careful to manage their card account responsibly. The card’s up to 3% cash-back feature is a solid benefit that can generate a statement credit each year, reducing your balance, meaning you simply owe less money.

The Imagine Visa provides industry-standard cash advance, balance transfer, and foreign transaction fees with no hidden costs or increased APR for those transactions. The card also reports to all three major credit bureaus to ensure your credit score updates as it should to maximize credit profile building.

The card also offers a wide range of interest rates, depending on creditworthiness. Some applicants could see an APR as low as 19.24%, on the low end of credit cards in its category.

Is the Imagine Visa Credit Card Legit?

Despite some less-than-stellar Imagine Visa credit card reviews, the card is a legitimate financial product issued by WebBank. WebBank is a lender accredited with the Better Business Bureau, carrying a B+ grade and an average BBB rating of 1.17 of 5 stars.

How to Use the Imagine Visa Credit Card

While the Imagine Visa has its downsides and more and higher fees than many cards in its category, the product can be an effective tool for building or rebuilding credit for some consumers. Responsible use is the key that can make the difference between the card being useful or becoming a burden.

The Imagine card offers a no-commitment pre-qualification step that applicants can use to see what terms they’re likely to receive if they formally apply for the card. By inputting some personal and financial information and allowing Imagine to access bank account records, potential card holders can see their expected interest rate, annual fee, monthly fee, and other specifics should they become approved.

The pre-qualification step only invokes a soft credit inquiry, which won’t affect the customer’s credit score and won’t appear on future inquiries. If the terms are acceptable to the customer, they can formally apply for approval, which draws a hard credit inquiry that will have a temporary negative effect on their credit score.

Using the card strategically after approval can limit the customer’s exposure to high fees, and paying the entire balance on time each month can quickly build credit while saving interest charges on purchases.

Things to Know

To effectively use the Imagine Visa as a financial tool to build a credit profile, there are some important facts to know that can help avoid creating a negative situation or poor credit report marks.

• WebBank and Imagine place up to a 4-day hold on charges before paying the vendor. This practice can make it appear that more money is available in an account than there really is and can lead to charging over the credit limit.
• Imagine charges the annual payment, if applicable, immediately upon card acceptance, meaning customers will begin their card membership with a balance that reduces the amount of available credit.
• Monthly maintenance fees, if applicable, are taken out of the account at the start of each billing cycle, meaning customers will begin each month with a balance.
• Cardholders can’t request a credit line increase at any time.
• A late fee of $41 will apply to late payments.
• The company regularly reports to all three major credit bureaus. While this fact can be excellent for effectively building credit, it can also be problematic for those who make late payments or miss payments.

Imagine Credit Card App

Imagine provides its customers with a mobile app to help manage their accounts. Customers can access their account details, make payments, set up recurring payments, check their balance, and monitor their free VantageScore 4.0 credit score through the app.

Imagine Visa Credit Limit

The lowest starting credit limit with Imagine is $350. However, applicants with higher credit scores or more substantial credit histories can sometimes receive starting limits of $500, $700, and up to $1,000. Customers who use the pre-qualification tool on the company’s website will see the terms and details of their potential approval before formally applying for the card.

Earning and Spending Rewards

Imagine Visa cardholders can earn 3% cash-back rewards when they shop for gas or groceries. 3% rewards are also available for using the card to pay utility bills. 1% rewards are available for other purchases.

Spending earned awards with Imagine differs from rewards on other credit cards. Where other card reward programs may give customers their choice of how to spend their points, Imagine Visa only allows an annual statement credit. The credit happens automatically each year and reduces the account balance.

How to Apply for the Imagine Credit Card

Applicants can go to imaginecredit.com and find the pre-qualification tool. Inputting personal and financial information and allowing Imagine to access a bank account will return the pre-qualification results.

The results are based on a soft credit inquiry that doesn’t affect credit scores. They’ll include details, such as expected APR, annual and monthly fees if they apply, credit limit, and any introductory period details.

After pre-approval, customers can then choose to apply for the card formally. A formal application will draw a hard credit inquiry, affecting their credit scores temporarily.

Pre-qualification or pre-approval doesn’t equate to an approval and credit card offer. Sometimes, customers may receive positive pre-qualification results and be turned down after formally applying. This scenario is typical if the information provided by the customer in the pre-qualification step is inaccurate or doesn’t match the results of the hard inquiry.

Imagine Visa Credit Card Reviews and Complaints

Imagine Visa credit card reviews are either excellent or very poor. While the company’s star ratings on review platforms land at an average of around 2.6 stars, the ratings don’t tell the whole story. Imagine reviews tend to be either four stars and above or 1-star reflections of poor experiences. Few reviews land in between the two extremes.

Compiling the Imagine Visa credit card reviews reveals that while the card can be a useful tool for rebuilding bad credit, it can also be an expensive way to negatively impact credit scores if the cardholder isn’t careful.

Imagine Visa Credit Card Complaints

Complaints directed at Imagine Visa have a common theme. Some customers complain about the high cost of having both monthly and annual fees. Others view the company’s billing practices and fund holds as deceptive. Several complaints exist regarding poor customer service.

The circumstances that appear to cause all these complaints is Imagine Visa’s tendency to bury important card details in the fine print.

Is the Imagine Visa Credit Card Worth It?

The Imagine Visa credit card can be a worthwhile financial tool for building or rebuilding bad credit. However, careful planning, keeping an eye on account details, and being aware of all of the fine print in the contract are crucial for success in this capacity.

Consumers with average or slightly below-average credit scores can likely do better with another card with fewer fine-print details to understand and manage.

Other Funding Options for Fair Credit

Check out recent reviews on credit cards and personal loans:

• Amex Blue Cash Preferred
• Citi Custom Cash Card
• Top Rated – Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Check top-rated personal loans for free at Credible

Consider Top-Rated Personal Loans for Fair Credit

Source: TrustedCompanyReviews.com, Top-Rated Personal Loans Review

Imagine Visa Vs. Petal 1

While Imagine Visa credit card reviews suffer from poor ratings due to a large amount of fine print in its card contracts, other cards available for fair to poor credit are available and worth investigating before committing to one or the other.

Our Petal 1 review showcases an unsecured credit card option, similar to the Imagine Visa, but with fewer hidden details and fees.

Petal 1 is another option for those with less-than-stellar credit reports. The card offers between 2% and 10% cash-back benefits at a rotating collection of merchants. Customers generally pay an annual fee of up to $59 and may be subject to an $8 monthly maintenance fee.

Petal 1 is one of our top picks for credit cards with no security deposit this year. However, the Petal 1 card is also issued by WebBank and has plenty of its own fine print.

Before choosing and applying for any credit card, ensure you understand the agreement’s details to avoid misunderstandings and having a poor experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Image Sources: imaginecredit.com – bbb.org

About Author

Deane Biermeier