Perhaps you have finally decided to work on your credit history. Consider applying for an Onyx Card. No, this is not another secured credit card with monthly fees to hold you down. This is a credit card limited for use at American Octane, a shopping website. The interesting spin on this one, is that they are advertising that they report to major credit bureaus. I normally don’t recommend spending more in order to establish a good credit history and with it a high credit score, but this one just may work for you. What do you get?

Your payment history is reported to major credit bureaus.

Without this, having a credit card does you no good as far as your credit history is concerned. This company shows a sample customer credit report on their website, so they must be committed to actually following through on this.

You can get a $2500 credit with no credit check.

In order to increase your credit score, you have to show responsible use of credit. So having a $2500 credit limit is nice, definitely higher than many of the secured credit cards out there, since you can purchase something on American Octane and still have a lot of credit left, showing that you don’t have a tendency to max out your credit.

No annual percentage rate on your purchases.

It is nice not to have to pay additional interest on your purchases. Looking at their site, some of those costs appear to be built into their prices. They certainly won’t be competing with the deep discount stores any time soon, but if you can find something at a price you are willing to pay, this is a great way to go.

No monthly or annual fees.

This is a big benefit. If you have looked around for credit cards for those who haven’t established a credit history or have ruined theirs, the monthly fees can be exorbitant. There is not much risk involved with an Onyx Card when most of the fees are waived.

Possibly some products you were planning to buy anyhow.

The site where you can use this credit card has everything from clothes over electronics to housewares. The product selection is a bit limited but hopefully they are working on expanding it.

Low minimum payments.

With this credit card you are required to pay at least $10 per month or 5% of the outstanding balance, or the entire outstanding balance if it is less than $10. Make sure you make those payments. This is how you improve your credit score. The few fees that you can be charged apply when you fail to make these payments. Let’s face it, if you cannot afford to pay $10 per month, you should not have a credit card. Most of the products currently on the website cost less than $100, so you won’t trigger the 5% rule if you only purchase one product at a time.

For those of you who have ruined your credit history some time in the past, this seems like a nice way to add to your recovery measures. Most banks will not give you credit, but with the Onyx Card you can improve that history to the point where they will start considering you an acceptable risk again. And you will already be in the habit of paying your bills every month. This company definitely came up with a unique way to make their products attractive to customers. Whether it works for you depends on whether you can find any product you want to purchase from them.