Visa Black Card benefits, fees : Bad Credit Advisor

Visa Black Card benefits, fees

I have received more pre approved offers for Visa Black Card which is issued by Barclays Bank Delaware, than I care to remember. Seriously, I am not bragging, whenever they arrive in mail, I shred them. But after hearing some of my well off friends talking glowingly about it, I decided to finally check and see what all the fuss is about. So when another offer came yesterday, I opened it and now, I am going to give a detailed review of Visa Black Card benefits, fees and etc. It came in fancy black envelope with gold letters. Inside I found even fancier invitation, Terms and Conditions and return envelope, on beige paper together with rather pompous application. Invitation stated that the exclusive Visa Black Card membership is limited to only 1% of U.S. residents ... I didn't realize I have made that far. Well so far so good.

Billed as the world's most prestigious and versatile credit card, Black Card Visa offers following benefits, right of the bag
- Limited Membership
- 24-Hour Concierge Service
- Exclusive Rewards Program
- VIP Airport Lounge Access
- Luxury Gifts

Unlike your average credit card, Visa Black is made with carbon and charges a hefty annual membership fee, that is of $495 for account holder and additional $195 for each authorized user. Not bad, and we thought that recently enacted credit card reform would take care of excessive fees. On more serious side, this credit card if for those lazy types who fly a lot, spend at least $50,000 a year and want concierge to get everything done, from all sorts of reservations to all kinds of recommendations, to travel assistance, to what have you.

One of the key benefits of Visa Black Card is its Exclusive Rewards. You basically get 1% cash back on all purchases or superior mileage redemption on any airline with no blackouts or restrictions. Then VIP Airport Lounge Access lets you inside of some 600 airport lounges worldwide. And you are promised some fancy gifts from the world's top brands, at no charge.

The Visa Black Card also offers 24/7 legal, medical, and financial emergency travel services, and up to $250,000 travel accident insurance. If your baggage is delayed while traveling, the Visa Black Card will credit you $100 a day for 3 days. Finally, you can return any purchase you make with the Visa Black Card, and get reimbursed up to $500 before 90 days have passed since the date of purchase.

Now to the fees. Unless you live in Iowa, where Late and Returned Payment Fees are 15 each, you pay $39.95 for these violations. The Annual Percentage Rate is variable 13.24% and minimum credit limit is only $5,000. Cash Advances charged on Visa Black Card, carry currently 21.99% in addition to either $10 or 3% of the amount of each cash advance whichever is greater.

There is a 3% fee on each foreign transaction as well as $10 or 4% fee on each balance transfer. Finally, Visa Black Card default APR which is here quite appropriately called Penalty APR of up to 30.24% will apply to your account if you
- make a late payment
- go over credit limit
- you payment is returned
- do any of the above on another account you have with Barclays

So here it is, now that I am done reviewing, this particular Visa Black Card offer goes to the shredder just like the others did.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:03AM by Tony | More in Personal Finance | Comments (0)

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