Mission Lane Card Review: A No-Deposit Option for Poor Credit
The Bottom Line
3.5
While the Mission Lane Visa Card doesn’t require a security deposit, it may charge an annual fee. Other cards for bad credit eschew fees altogether. Overall, you could do worse than the Mission Lane Visa Card, but you could also do better.
Rates, fees and offers
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
N/A
Bonus offer
N/A
Intro APR
N/A
Ongoing APR
APR: 29.99%-33.99%, Variable
Cash Advance APR: 29.99%, Variable
Foreign transaction fee
3%
More details from Mission Lane
- $0 Annual Fee. Clear terms and transparent pricing.
- See if you qualify instantly without harming your credit score.
- Be automatically considered for a higher credit line in as few as 7 months.
- Free, online credit score access for cardholders.
- No interest on purchases when you pay in full and on time each month.
- No security deposit required – get started today!
- Enjoy coverage from Visa®.
- Access your account anytime, anywhere with our mobile app.
- If you are charged interest, the charge will be no less than $0.50.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Qualify with limited credit
No security deposit
Automatic credit-limit reviews
Cons
No upgrade path
No rewards
Detailed Review
A card for people with bad credit (FICO scores of 629 or lower), the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card doesn’t earn rewards. But there's also no security deposit needed, and Mission Lane's pre-qualification process can give you a good idea ahead of time as to whether you'll be approved, sparing you an initial hard inquiry on your credit report (although there'll still be a "hard pull" if you end up officially applying).
The card, issued by TAB Bank, also reports to all three credit bureaus. So if you're seeking to rebuild your credit and are unable to tie up hundreds of dollars in an upfront deposit for a secured credit card, the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card could be a solid option.
The Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card is one of two possible Mission Lane offers, and it's designed for those who won't qualify for the company's $0-annual-fee Mission Lane Cash Back Visa® Credit Card, which does earn rewards and is aimed at those with fair credit (FICO scores of 630 or higher). The aforementioned pre-qualification process will allow you to see which of the two offers you might be eligible for, if either, and what your terms would be.
Empty Table Header | Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card | Mission Lane Cash Back Visa® Credit Card |
|---|---|---|
Annual fee | $0. | $0. |
APR | The ongoing APR is 29.99%-33.99% Variable. | The ongoing APR is 26.99%-29.99% Variable. |
Rewards | None. | Unlimited 1% or 1.5% cash back on purchases. |
Security deposit | None. | None. |
» MORE: Best credit cards for bad credit
Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card: Basics
Card type: Alternative and starter.
Annual fee: $0.
Sign-up bonus: N/A.
Rewards: None.
APR: The ongoing APR is 29.99%-33.99% Variable.
Foreign transaction fee: 3%.
Other benefits:
Roadside dispatch.
Compare to Other Cards
Benefits and Perks
Accessibility
Even if you have a bad credit, you may still qualify for the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card. When evaluating applications, Mission Lane and its issuing bank can consider your credit scores but also your income, credit usage and debt-to-income ratio. As such, be prepared to provide W2s, 1099s, pay stubs or benefits documents as a part of your credit card application.
No security deposit
Unlike some other credit cards for people with bad credit, the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card does not require a security deposit to open the account. With secured cards, the security deposit amount usually becomes your credit limit. Instead, Mission Lane assigns you a credit limit based on your application credentials.
Potential for credit limit increase
Mission Lane automatically considers increasing your credit limit at least once within the first year of having the account. You may be eligible for a credit-line bump if you’ve made your first six payments on time, you don’t have an overdue balance and you haven’t maxed out your credit card.
Fast pre-qualification process
Before submitting an application for the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card, you can go through Mission Lane’s pre-qualification process to see whether a hard inquiry will be worth the likely (but temporary) hit to your credit scores.
If you’ve been preapproved, you’ll then learn your APR rate and annual fee amount, if any. You can choose to decline the offer if you don’t like the terms, and because pre-qualification only initiates a soft inquiry, your credit score won’t be affected.
Drawbacks and Considerations
No rewards
Earning cash back can help offset the cost of a card’s annual fee. Unfortunately, the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card does not earn rewards. Other cards, even those for people with bad credit, can earn cash back at respectable rates. The Discover it® Secured Credit Card, for example, earns 2% cash back on up to $1,000 of combined spending per quarter on restaurants and gas, and 1% on everything else. And while it requires a security deposit, that card's annual fee is $0.
No upgrade path
Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card holders have no way to graduate to another card within the Mission Lane ecosystem. The only reward for responsible use is a credit limit increase. If you want another card and have raised your credit scores to qualify for something with more perks, you’ll have to apply for another product with another issuer.
Then, if you are approved for that other card, you’ll have to decide what to do with your Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card. Canceling a credit card, especially one that you’ve had for a while, can lower your credit score; however, if you won’t use the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card anymore and it charges an annual fee, it can make sense to get rid of it rather than pay for a card that isn’t being used.
Vague credit limit policy
Mission Lane does not disclose the minimum or maximum credit limit for the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card, making it hard to assess the card’s usefulness. Credit limits of $500, $1000 or $3,000, for example, are meaningfully different. If you’re concerned about the spending power of the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card, you could get a secured card instead and control your own destiny. For example, the Capital One Quicksilver Secured Cash Rewards Credit Card allows cardholders to deposit more than the required minimum of $200 if they want a higher credit line. That card also earns rewards, features an upgrade path, and has an annual fee of $0.
How To Decide If It's Right For You
If you qualify for the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card, know that it’s a decent card that can help you build credit. But it's also true that other cards are less costly to own and potentially more valuable, so you don’t have to settle for the Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card, even if you have bad credit.
Looking For Something Else?
Methodology
NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.
