Very interesting (cashplus MasterCard)

Member Name: g0405

Product:	cashplus MasterCard
Date:	25/06/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Credit building option, grand looking card, good internet service

Disadvantages: Does credit building really work? I don't know yet.

After a lot of hesitating whether or not to try this card, I took the plunge and paid the initial £15 or so which they asked for. Time will tell whether or not it was worthwhile. The main and probably only reason I actually invested in the Cashplus Gold Card was to make use of its so-called 'Creditbuilder' facility. While I very rarely use the card itself to make payments, I have never encountered any problems during transactions in any shops. The card itself is a beautiful gold MasterCard, and with the exception of the somewhat tacky 'Gold Card' printed in the top left hand corner, it is aesthetically very pleasing. The card comes with an online self-service, which I must say is excellent and beats some of the banks I've dealt with.

Having a poor credit history to say the least, Cashplus and their Creditbuilder option definitely appealed to me. The thinking behind it is that, regardless of your own credit history, you pay £4.95 a month for use of the card which acts as a repayment of a small loan over a year. When repayment is complete, your credit file will show 12 green repayments on time. I have not yet completed a year, but when it is finished I will be very interested to see what happens. It must be emphasized that Cashplus only credit report you to Experian, not Equifax or Callcredit. So while it is very good, it is not a flawless system.

If you're interested in this method, one massive warning is that once you have your card account, you then have to visit the Creditbuilder website and then print off and send away the application form for Creditbuilder. Signing up for the card itself does not automatically make you eligible for the faux loan.

My only criticisms of it would be that while I was trying to register the card on Paypal, it was not accepted. Whether this is a problem exclusive to me, I don't know, and while it is not a huge problem personally for me it could be a waste of time for others. My second criticism is that the company, APS, billed my bank account of the initial fee literally within seconds and I had not even fully completed the application process. So once you're there, there is no way back.

As a pre-paid card, this one is probably the best. If you've got past defaults and such, and cannot get a debit card, I highly recommend you give this a go. Aside from a nominal monthly fee, what have we got to lose?

Summary: An interesting and perhaps fruitful investment