5 Things to Know About the Mercury Credit Cards
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The Mercury credit cards are issued by First Bank & Trust and managed by Mercury Financial, a technology company that aims to help its customers build credit.
Image courtesy of Mercury Financial
Mercury Financial has a couple of cards to choose from, including:
The Mercury® Rewards Visa® card.
The Mercury® Rewards Visa Signature® Card.
Both cards earn 1% cash back on all purchases. They’re unsecured, meaning they don’t require security deposits. They also forgo pesky fees, which is nice to see in cards for people with thin credit histories.
But the cards’ website is lacking in some useful information about the products’ features, making it difficult to comparison-shop when you’re looking for a credit card.
Here are five things to know about the Mercury credit cards.
1. You have to be invited to apply
There’s no prominent “apply now” button on the Mercury credit cards' website. Instead, Mercury mails out preapproved offers with reservation codes. These preapprovals are based on information in your credit profile.
If you misplaced your reservation code, or just want to see whether you were preapproved, you can input your last name, ZIP code and last four digits of your Social Security number on Mercury’s website.
2. They're inexpensive to carry
When you’re newer to building credit, many card options pile on the fees. Annual fees are the most common, but some also charge monthly maintenance fees, one-time processing fees and more. The cost of carrying cards like these can add up quickly.
The Mercury® Rewards Visa® card and The Mercury® Rewards Visa Signature® Card charge none of those fees. Just be mindful that there are fees for things like late payments or purchases in foreign countries.
3. The cards earn cash back
Both Mercury credit cards earn rewards (in the form of points) on every qualifying purchase, although it's not easy to find out how much those points are worth when redeemed, or how you can redeem them. Blink and you’ll miss it on the website, but you can redeem points for a statement credit, or use them to shop on Amazon.com, at a value of 1 cent per point. If there are other redemption options available, they’re not mentioned.
Rewards are a nice perk on a credit-building card, but they aren’t as important as the credit-building opportunities it can offer.
A card like the Discover it® Secured Credit Card can offer more transparency, not to mention rewards: 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter, and 1% on everything else. It also offers a sign-up bonus: INTRO OFFER: Unlimited Cashback Match – only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a dollar-for-dollar match. The card does require a minimum of $200 as a security deposit, but Discover reviews your account starting at seven months to see if you qualify for a regular (unsecured) credit card. After upgrading, you can get the security deposit back.
4. The app provides helpful tools
The Mercury Cards app is available on both the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can use it to not just check your balance and pay your bills, but also to get tips on how to attain your personal financial goals, compare different payment and interest scenarios, split larger payments up into smaller ones, and more.
It’s far from the only app out there that allows you to manage your card. But anything that makes tracking and goal-setting simpler for those who are building credit is a good thing.
5. Beware of the interest rate
As of this writing, the Mercury credit cards were charging a variable APR with a top range higher than 31% — well above the average of 23.37% among credit cards assessing interest as of August 2024, according to the Federal Reserve. High APRs aren't unusual for credit cards aimed at people with no credit or bad credit, since you’ve yet to prove yourself to lenders as a thoughtful user of credit.
Still, it's a number to be mindful of as you use a Mercury credit card. If you’re unable to pay your bills in full, the resulting credit card debt can quickly spiral out of control. An alternative could be a credit-building card with guardrails. These cards require you to open a funding account, but they limit how much you can charge to what’s in that account so you can’t overspend. Plus, your bills are automatically paid in full each month, so you can’t get into debt.
The Chime Secured Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card, for instance, doesn't charge interest or fees because you can’t carry a balance. You’ll need a Chime Checking Account to qualify, and you’ll use it to move money to the Chime Builder secured account as a deposit. The amount you choose to move determines your credit limit.
On the other hand, the Mercury Rewards Visa Card functions more like a traditional credit card, meaning that when you’re ready to graduate to other options from different issuers, you’ve had more practice managing such a card.
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