Is The Horizon Gold Credit Card A Good Credit-Building Tool? 

Who Is Horizon Gold?

They state that they have been around since 2006, and also claim to have thousands of satisfied card holders but that's pretty much the only information about them, which isn't great. 

Who Is Horizon Card Services?

Honestly, this is also a mystery, It's sad to say but there isn't much information out there about who this company is or how they work. 

They even have an Alert on their BBB Account as you can see below: 

It also looks like you can only get a full refund if you file a complaint with the BBB. 

Horizon Gold Credit Card Account

The Horizon Gold card isn't actually a credit card at all.

It's more of a revolving credit account that you can use to build your cred and the main features of this account include: 

These few benefits sound great on the surface; however, that's pretty much where it all ends, very much on the surface.

In general this card isn't that great for building credit or using it to shop for items online.

Horizon Gold Card - It Isn't Worth It!

The honest truth is that this account just isn't worth it and I put together a detailed explanation as to why below: 

A $300 Annual Fee

First things first, let's all be honest, there is absolutely no way anyone can make sense of this account having an annual fee of $300 per year. 

That is literally only $250 away from owning an American Express Platinum card.

With absolutely none of the benefits.

Now: 

I understand this account is for people who are looking to re-establish or re-build their credit. 

However, you would have to be crazy to choose this specific option. 

Your credit limit is only going to be $500, this means you are spending $300 of your limit on an annual basis just to have this account.

Think of all the things you can do with an extra $300.00 per year because that is what you are going to give up just for having this account.

There are a ton of better options and we discuss them below; this annual fee alone is enough to say NO to this card, but it gets worse.

Reports To A Phantom Credit Bureau 

Another huge issue is that the Horizon Gold Account isn't clear on exactly which credit bureau they are going to be reporting your account to. 

On top of that, they only offer reporting to 1 credit bureau. 

This means you aren't going to see the best results to all of your credit reports which is an absolute NO NO when it comes to building or establishing credit.

If a company isn't reporting to all 3 or at the least 2 of the major credit reporting agencies it is pointless to use the product. 

Add on the annual fee and this is a complete disaster. 

And guess what: 

They aren't known for having the best customer service either.

Bad Customer Service Reviews

The BBB has given this business a B+ and they are NOT accredited:

They even have 47 - 1 Star reviews on Sitejabber which is not great at all. 

These 3 factors are the primary reasons to stay as far away as possible from this type of account. 

Below we discuss much better alternatives for tools that can help build your credit.

Best Alternatives To The Horizon Gold Card

I didn't want to make such a negative review; however, the truth is that it isn't a great product in general and the facts about the account haven't changed since the product started being offered.

There are a ton of options that are much better than a Net Frist Platinum Account and we discuss them below: 

A Fingerhut Account

Fingerhut is our #1 recommended product for repairing your credit because not only does it give you access to over 400,000 products; it reports to all 3 credit bureaus. 

You have the ability to get a credit limit increase after a few months of paying your bills on-time and it doesn't come with a ton of fees. 

I recommend you check out our complete review of Fingerhut so that you can see why it's the best thing for building credit. 

Credit Builder Loans

These loans have a small monthly fee attached to them and they don't do a hard pull on your credit report.

Just like Fingerhut, Credit Builder Loans will report to all 3 credit reporting agencies, but once the loan is paid off, the funds will be sent back to you.

We wrote a detailed guide here and a review of one of the best credit builder loan companies, Self Lender here.

Secured Credit Cards

If you have about $200 dollars to invest in building your credit,  then a secured credit card is probably going to be a great option for you.

There are several options you can chose from and it is usually easy to get approved for them. 

Secured Credit Cards will report to all 3 credit reporting agencies and you can actually use them anywhere a Visa or MasterCard is accepted.

You can check out our guide to secured credit cards here and our Secured Card Reviews page here. 

Steps To Take After Approval

But it is super important and is one of the largest factors in your credit score.

No matter what, avoid late payments.

Keep Credit Utilization Low

Another factor to consider is credit utilization, you really want to keep this under 3% of total credit if you can but try to never get it over 15%.

For example, if you have 3 credit cards with $1,000 limits on each of them, your total credit is $3,000.

If you spend $500.00 the percentage of credit you are utilizing is around 16.6% and is above the recommend credit utilization, so be mindful of how much you spend.

How Do I Cancel My Horizon Gold Account?

According to Horizon Gold, cancellation and refund requests can be made within 30 days of your billing date by calling Member Services at 1-800-251-6144.

They can be reached Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST (excluding holidays).

If you cancel your account after 30 days from your billing date, you are not eligible for a refund.

You cant use your account for any purchases after you cancel or close your Account.

If you don't pay any remaining balance in full when you cancel, your outstanding balances will continue to accrue interest charges. 

So make sure you pay any balances before or right after you cancel the card.

Is There A Fee For Closing My Account?

Outside of the fees associated with your remaining balance, there is no fee for closing your account.