Aspire® Credit Card 2024 Review: An Expensive Unsecured Card for Poor Credit

Is the Aspire® Credit Card Worth It?

No, the Aspire® Credit Card isn’t worth it. Although you can sign up without paying any account-opening fees or deposit money upfront, there are several other considerations you should look at before you decide whether to get this card:

• You’ll pay a fortune in fees: Because this card usually has annual fees, and monthly fees after the first year, you’ll pay a lot just for the privilege of owning it—possibly as much as $208 a year.
• Your credit limit may or may not be high: For your initial credit limit, you might get up to $1,000, with the exact limit depending on your creditworthiness (unlike with secured cards, where it depends on the deposit amount you pay). What’s more, you can’t make a request to increase your credit card limit later, although automatic credit limit increases are apparently available.
• Interest rates are steep: The purchase APR of 22.74%–36.00% (variable) is potentially so high that interest charges will be huge if you don’t pay off your entire balance every month.
• Better unsecured cards are available for bad credit: With high fees and no rewards, the Aspire® Credit Card has little to recommend it. However, there are unsecured cards for poor credit with lower fees than the Aspire card charges or even with cashback rewards and other benefits. This means it’s definitely worth shopping around before you commit to an Aspire card.

Pros & Cons

Who Is the Aspire® Credit Card Best For?

We really don’t recommend the Aspire® Credit Card, as there are less expensive and still accessible options out there. We only recommend you consider the card if you:

• Got an offer in the mail and are out of other options: If you’ve applied for other credit cards and haven’t had any luck qualifying, it could be time to turn to the Aspire® Credit Card. If you received a pre-qualified offer in the mail, it’s likely you’ll be approved for the card, so this may be a good last resort if you’re in desperate need of credit.

However, if you’re in a different position, consider alternative credit cards for bad credit.

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Rates & Fees

Fees

• Annual fee: $49–$175 in the first year; then $0–$49
• Monthly fees: None for first year; then $5–$12.50 per month ($60–$159 per year)
• Balance transfer fee: 3% after the first year
• Cash advance transaction fee: $5 or 5% (whichever is greater)
• Foreign transaction fee: 3%
• Late payment fee: Up to $41
• Returned payment fee: Up to $41
• Authorized user fee: $19 one-off fee

Overall, this card has extremely high fees. It can cost you up to $175 in the first year and $208 in the second year and every year after that. You’ll be paying these fees just for keeping the account open—with no rewards or refunds to offset the cost.

Interest Rates

• Purchase APR: 22.74%–36.00% (variable)
• Balance transfer APR: 25.74%–36.00% (variable)
• Cash advance APR: 25.74%–36.00% (variable)
• Penalty APR: N/A
• Minimum interest charge: $1

If you don’t pay off your Aspire® Credit Card balance in full each month, you’ll be charged interest. The interest you’ll pay on your credit card depends on your APR (“annual percentage rate”).

The terms state that you can either be offered a fixed APR (your rate won’t change based on the prime rate) or a variable APR (your rate will change based on the prime rate). However, they don’t specify how they determine which type of interest rate you’ll be offered.

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Rewards

Many rewards cards are not available to applicants with poor credit or limited credit histories. However, cards with cash back for lower credit scores do exist. So if rewards are important to you, it’s worth continuing your search for the right card. Keep in mind that rewards cards for bad credit tend to require a security deposit.

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Credit Limit

One factor in calculating your credit score is how much available credit you’re using at a time. If you have a higher limit, it’s easier to keep this number low (which is good for your credit score). Unfortunately, the Aspire® Credit Card’s maximum limit of $1,000 doesn’t leave a lot of room for borrowing within a healthy range (ideally, you should only borrow 30% or less of your credit limit at a time).

Credit Limit Increases

Aspire says that you can’t request credit limit increases, unfortunately. However, you may be able to get an automatic increase. Whether you’re offered an automatic increase depends on factors like whether you’ve:

• Made timely payments
• Stayed within your credit limit
• Maintained your credit score
• Avoided black marks on your credit report

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Benefits

The Aspire® Credit Card offers a very basic package of benefits:

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Building Credit with an Aspire® Credit Card

Credit Reporting

As they offer free TransUnion credit reports, it seems likely that the Aspire® Credit Card issuer at least reports to TransUnion. However, reporting to the three major credit bureaus is ideal for credit building.

Even if Aspire doesn’t report your on-time payments to the credit bureaus, it will be likely to report late ones. As such, you should keep up with your monthly payments so that your credit doesn’t suffer if your payments are late.

Tips for Building Credit

To improve your credit score and start qualifying for better cards, follow these tips:

• Pay on time: The most important part of credit health is never missing a minimum monthly payment.
• Pay more than you need to: If you can afford to pay more than your minimum payment each month, do! Keeping a low balance can help your credit score and save you from interest charges.
• Don’t max out your card: Having a high outstanding balance reported to the bureaus can hurt your credit score, so try to only borrow 30% or less of your credit limit.

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How to Get the Aspire® Credit Card

Credit Score Requirements

The Aspire® Credit Card says that you can qualify with less-than-perfect credit. This means that you may be eligible if you have poor, fair, or limited credit.

FICO scores under 580 are considered bad, so you may still qualify for the card if your score is lower than that. 1

How to apply for the Aspire® Credit Card

To get an Aspire® Credit Card, you can:

• Respond online to a pre-qualified offer you received in the mail.
• Apply for pre-qualification online.

To apply, you will need to provide personal information, including your Social Security number and residential address.

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Comparable Cards

To decide whether the Aspire® Credit Card is right for you, take a look at how it measures up against similar credit cards on the market.

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Aspire® Credit Card FAQs

Does Aspire do a hard credit pull?

Yes, Aspire will do a hard credit pull when you apply—also known as a hard inquiry or hard credit check (a kind of check that appears on your credit report whenever you apply for credit, and knocks a few points off your credit score).

They may also do an income check, for which Aspire might access your bank account information.

What bank issues the Aspire® Credit Card?

The Bank of Missouri issues the Aspire® Credit Card.

Does the Aspire® Credit Card have a grace period?

The Aspire® Credit Card gives you a 25-day grace period (beginning on the first day of the new billing cycle). The grace period allows you time to pay your bills in full without racking up any interest charges.

If you pay your bills in full by the due date, your purchases during the grace period won’t accumulate interest. However, if you carry a balance from previous billing cycles, you’ll have to pay interest on any charges you make to your card in the grace period.

Can I use the Aspire® Credit Card for a cash advance?

You can use your Aspire® Credit Card to withdraw cash from ATMs. When you do this, it’s called a cash advance.

However, there are fees and interest rates for this service. The Aspire® Credit Card has cash advance fees of either $5 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance—whichever is greater. The APR for cash advances is 25.74%–36% (either fixed or variable and based on your creditworthiness).

Can I make a balance transfer on the Aspire® Credit Card?

The Aspire® Credit Card offers balance transfers—the ability to move debt from a different credit card to your Aspire card. Transferring debts from one credit card to another in this way is a common form of debt consolidation.

After the first year of card ownership, the Aspire® Credit Card balance transfer fee is 3% of the transfer amount. But, unless you have debts on another credit card with an even higher APR, it’s not a good card for balance transfers, as the APR is incredibly high at 25.74%–36%.

Can I use the Aspire® Credit Card abroad?

Many cards have foreign transaction fees equivalent to 1%–3% of the transaction amount. The Aspire® Credit Card has a fee of 3%, so it’s within the standard range.

However, if you make a lot of foreign transfers, the cost will start to mount up. As such, borrowers who plan to use their card abroad a lot or who shop on non-US websites should look for no-foreign-transaction-fee credit cards instead.

Where can I use my Aspire® Credit Card?

You can use the Aspire® Credit Card anywhere Mastercard is accepted. This means it can be used almost anywhere that accepts credit card payments.

How do I pay my Aspire® Credit Card?

You can pay your Aspire® Credit Card bill at the Aspire Account Center online or in the app (you can download the iOS app or the Android app).

You can also pay by check or money order. Send these payments to the address for payments shown on your monthly statement.

How do I contact customer service for the Aspire® Credit Card?

For help with your Aspire® Credit Card—including if your card is lost, stolen, or used without your permission—you can call the customer service phone number at (855) 802-5572. You can also send a text to the same number.

Alternatively, you can use their online form to send them a message.

For mail correspondence, use the following postal address:

Account Services

P.O. Box 105555

Atlanta, GA 30348-5555