Barclaycard Ring Mastercard® Review
The Barclaycard Ring card is a fairly unique credit card. It is a low fee card, that gives cardholders a platform where they can voice their thoughts and request new features they would like to see added to the card. This is something that you won’t find on any other card available.
Barclaycard Ring MasterCard® Benefits
The Barclaycard Ring card isn’t going to offer a big, flashy signup bonus, and it’s not going to offer rewards on the purchases you make. Instead it’s going to help reduce your cost of borrowing with low fees and one of the lowest APR’s available today.
Low interest rate
The standard variable interest rate on purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances is 8.5%. This is a much lower rate then you will see with most other cards available. While you should always do your best to pay off your balance at the end of the month, sometimes it’s unavoidable. For these times, a low rate card like the Barclaycard Ring MasterCard® is beneficial to have in your wallet.
Nearly no fees
If the low interest rates were not enough, then you are going to love the lack of fees with this card. There is no annual fee, no balance transfer fee, and if you plan to use your card outside the United States, there are no foreign transaction fees. There are only two fees associated with this card. The first is a $3 cash advance fee. Even that is incredibly low since the average cash advance fee is typically between $10 and $20. The second fee is a late payment fee of up to $26.
Crowdsourced opinions
No fees and low interest rates are great, but what’s really unique about this card is how they listen to what their cardholders want. Within the Barclaycard community you will be able to discuss the card and what features you would like to see added. Then once per year, you will have the opportunity to vote alongside other cardmembers so see about having these changes implemented.
Barclaycard Ring profit sharing program
Each year you will also have access to the Barclaycard Ring profit and loss statement. This will allow you to get a firsthand look at how the program is doing financially. In addition to transparency, cardmembers will also be able to receive a share of the profits twice per year. The amount of your “dividend” will depend on how much spending you did with your card. You will be able to receive this distribution through either a statement credit or a check.
Tracking your credit score
Another great feature of the Barclaycard Ring MasterCard® is that you will be given your FICO score for free each month. This score is what most lenders will look at when considering how creditworthy someone is. With this feature, you will be able to track your performance month-to-month and see the improvements that you make.
Downsides to the BarclayCard Ring MasterCard
Unfortunately no credit card is perfect and even the most attractive cards have things that they miss on.
Cardholders need excellent credit
One requirement with the Barclaycard Ring MasterCard® is that you will need excellent credit to be approved. If you are someone that has a lot of debt, then this might be an obstacle to overcome.
If you are in the process of working your credit score back up after a rough patch, then a card like the Chase Slate might be a better option. While this card doesn’t offer the low APR like you can get on the Barclaycard Ring card, you will receive an introductory 0% APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers. Once the introductory period is over the APR will switch to a variable 15.24%-24.24% depending on your creditworthiness. The Chase Slate card will also come with no balance transfer fee when the transfer is made within the first 60 days of opening your account.
Should you apply for the Barclaycard Ring Card?
If you plan to carry a balance on your card for an extended period of time, then this would be a great card to have. It’s low APR and non-existent fees will help reduce your overall costs considerably.
