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The Merrick Bank Credit Card is an unsecured credit card, which means you don’t have to find the money for a security deposit when you open your account. This may sound appealing, but you’ll probably have to pay account set-up fees and annual fees, which could be as much as $147 in total.
These fees won’t be worth it for many borrowers, and you may be better off opting for a secured credit card with lower fees and better benefits. Read on to find out why.
Quick Review
The Merrick Bank Credit Card is advertised for borrowers who are new to credit or have experienced a recent hardship. Many similar credit cards for bad credit scores require a security deposit, but the Merrick Bank Credit Card is unsecured.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s free of charge to get your card. You’ll probably have to pay account-opening fees of up to $75, annual fees of up to $72, and expensive interest charges if you carry a balance, since there’s a high purchase APR of 22.45%–29.45% (variable).
For your initial credit limit, you’ll get $550–$1,350, which is reasonably generous. There are also automatic credit limit increases after 7 months if you use your card responsibly.
However, the Merrick Bank Credit Card has comparatively expensive fees, high APRs, and nothing too impressive as far as benefits. As such, it’s not the best short- or medium-term option for credit-building, so you should shop around for cards with cheaper fees, lower APR, cashback rewards, or other advantages.
Merrick Bank Credit Card Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Credit card issuer: Merrick Bank
- Regular APR: 22.45%–29.45% (variable)
- Annual fee: $0–$72 (charged as $0–$6 per month after the first year)
- Account-opening fee: $0–$75
- Grace period: 25 days
- Initial credit limit: $550–$1,350
Additional Information
- Double your credit limit after 7 months.
- Cash advances available.
- Foreign transactions available.
- Balance transfers not available.
- Reports to all three credit bureaus.
- You can add authorized users to your account.
- Monthly FICO® Score free of charge.
- $0 fraud liability for unauthorized use.
- No penalty rates.
- Mastercard® benefits (e.g., ID theft and fraud protection and 24-hour assistance with lost or stolen cards).
Merrick Bank Credit Card Feature Breakdown
Fees
- Annual fee: $0–$72 (charged as $0–$6 per month after the first year)
- Account-opening fee: $0–$75
- Cash advance fee: $10 or 4% (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: 2%
- Authorized user fee: $0–$12 per year per additional cardholder (charged as $0–$1 per month per cardholder after the first year)
- Late/returned payment fee: Up to $40
- Over-limit fee: $0
The Merrick Bank Credit Card has fairly high fees, overall. These aren’t offset by any cashback rewards or particularly notable benefits, so it’s not the best deal on the credit card market.
Interest Rates
- Regular APR: 22.45%–29.45% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 26.70%–35.70% (variable)
- Penalty APR: None
- Minimum interest charge: $1
If you don’t settle your Merrick Bank Credit Card balance by paying it off in full each month, you’ll be charged interest. The rate of interest you’ll pay each year is called your APR (“annual percentage rate”).
Notably, the Merrick Bank Credit Card doesn’t have a penalty APR (an increased APR that credit cards charge if you miss payments). But if you miss payments, you’ll still usually incur fees and get late payment marks on your credit report.
Grace Period
The Merrick Bank Credit Card gives you a grace period of 25 days (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 off your balance 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, your charges during the grace period will be charged the usual interest rate.
Rewards
The Merrick Bank Credit Card doesn’t offer any rewards.
Many rewards credit cards aren’t available to applicants with poor credit or limited credit histories, but there are exceptions. For example, Petal® credit cards and Discover it® Secured offer cashback rewards to borrowers with bad or limited credit histories.
So if rewards are important to you, keep shopping for a better deal.
Benefits
The benefits you get with the Merrick Bank Credit Card are:
- Mastercard® ID theft protection: This includes TransUnion credit report monitoring and dark web monitoring to check for misuse of your personal information (e.g., your social security number and your credit or debit card information).
- Identity fraud expense reimbursement: This reimburses you for any losses you might suffer if you become a victim of identity fraud.
- Zero fraud liability: This means the credit card issuer won’t hold you responsible for transactions not authorized by you.
- 24-hour assistance if your card is lost or stolen: This gives you an emergency phone number to report your card lost or stolen and request emergency card replacement as well as emergency cash advances.
- Discounted airport concierge services: This gives you 15% savings on Mastercard® airport meet-and-greet services.
- Priceless cities and priceless experiences: This is an online collection of experiences curated exclusively for Mastercard® customers in cities around the world—wellness retreats, concerts, dining, museums, art events, and much more.
- Price drop protection 120-day coverage: This reimburses you the difference in price if you purchase an item with your qualifying credit card and then find it advertised cheaper elsewhere.
These benefits are standard across Visa® and Mastercard® credit cards.
Cash Advances
A cash advance is when you use your credit card to withdraw money from an ATM. Cash advances are allowed on the Merrick Bank Credit Card.
There’s a cash advance fee of 4% or $10 (whichever is greater). The Merrick Bank Credit Card cash advance APR is potentially higher than the purchase APR at 26.70%–35.70% (variable).
Unlike purchases on your credit card, cash advances won’t benefit from a grace period. So be careful about using a Merrick Bank Credit Card for taking out cash, as the interest charges could be expensive.
Balance Transfers
A balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another (which is a common form of credit card debt consolidation). The Merrick Bank Credit Card doesn’t let you make balance transfers.
If you need to consolidate debt, look for a credit card that allows balance transfers and, ideally, has a low balance transfer fee and balance transfer APR.
Foreign Transactions
The Merrick Bank Credit Card has foreign transaction fees equivalent to 2% of each transaction amount. Many credit cards have foreign transaction fees equivalent to 1%–3% of the transaction amount, so this is fairly standard.
Credit Limit
Your initial credit limit on the Merrick Bank Credit Card will be $550–$1,350. Merrick Bank will then regularly review your account for credit line increases.
If you keep your card account in good standing and make your minimum payment on time every month, Merrick Bank will also automatically double your credit in as little as 7 months.
Note that the Merrick Bank Credit Card will also take your annual fees and account set-up fees from the amount of available credit you’re initially granted. So if you have an initial credit limit of $550, for example, and you’re offered an annual fee of $72 with a set-up fee of $75, your initial available credit will be $403.
Credit Reporting
Credit reporting is an important part of credit building, as your credit report is based on the information your lenders send to the credit bureaus.
Lenders aren’t legally required to report your credit history. Fortunately, the Merrick Bank Credit Card reports to all three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion). This allows you to improve your credit scores across the board with all of the most important bureaus.
Credit Building
Because the Merrick Bank Credit Card reports to the three major credit bureaus, their credit cards are great for credit building. However, you must keep up with your monthly payments, as your credit may suffer if your payments are late.
Credit Score Requirements
The Merrick Bank Credit Card website doesn’t specify any credit score requirements. However, it’s advertised for borrowers who are new to credit or have experienced financial hardship. This suggests that you may be able to qualify even with bad or limited credit.
FICO scores under 580 are considered bad. You may be eligible even if your score is lower than that. 1
Application and Approval
If you’ve received a Merrick Bank Credit Card offer in the mail, you can respond online by going to the website and entering your name, email, and acceptance certificate number.
If you haven’t received an offer, you go to the Merrick Bank website and complete their online form to find out whether you prequalify for the Merrick Bank Credit Card.
Managing Your Account
You can log in and manage your Merrick Bank Credit Card online—including making payments—by using the online cardholder Center at Merrickbank.com. There are also Android and iOS apps you can download.
To pay your bill over the phone, call (800) 204-5936. You can pay using a checking/savings account or debit card.
You can also pay your Merrick Bank Credit Card bill by mail. Find the payment coupon that comes with your statement, and enclose it with a check or money order mailed to:
Merrick Bank
P.O. Box 660702
Dallas, TX 75266-0702
Allow 4–7 days for your payment to arrive if you send it to the above address.
Alternatively, for overnight mailings, send your payment directly to:
Merrick Bank
Attn: Lockbox Operations #660702
2701 East Grauwyler Road, BLDG 1
Irving, TX 75061
Additional Cardholders
You can add authorized users to your Merrick Bank Credit Card account so that other people can use it (e.g., family members or your partner). This will cost up to $12 per year for each additional cardholder.
Customer Service
If you need help with your Merrick Bank Credit Card, you can contact customer service by phone at (800) 204-5936.
You can also write to:
Merrick Bank
Customer Service
P.O. Box 9201
Old Bethpage, NY 11804-9001
Should You Get the Merrick Bank Credit Card?
FinanceJar Verdict
Because of its potentially high fees, high APRs, and unimpressive benefits, the Merrick Bank Credit Card isn’t the best option for building or rebuilding credit.
We recommend that you look for cheaper alternatives with cashback rewards or more desirable benefits. If your credit score is less than ideal, check out:
Who is this card for?
- Holders of imperfect credit scores: The Merrick Bank Credit Card reports to the three major credit bureaus, so it builds credit with all of the most important bureaus. Its cards are also more accessible to holders of bad or limited credit scores. This doesn’t guarantee you’ll be approved if your credit score is in the “bad” range, but you’ll have a reasonable chance.
- Borrowers who don’t want to pay anything upfront: Although the Merrick Bank Credit Card doesn’t ask for a deposit, you’ll still have to pay fees as high as $147 when you set up the account. But because the fees come out of your initial credit line, you won’t need to pay anything until the end of your first billing cycle.
Comparable Cards
To decide whether the Merrick Bank Credit Card is right for you, take a look at how it measures up against other cards for less-than-perfect credit.
