What Is Celtic Bank, and Are Its Credit Cards Right for You?

Based in Salt Lake City, Celtic Bank provides financing for small businesses. It issues several credit cards that serve a variety of purposes, from building credit to earning rewards. Celtic’s cards include:

Celtic Bank also issued the Deserve EDU and Deserve PRO cards, but those are no longer open to new applicants.

Here’s a closer look at the cards issued by Celtic Bank.

The Indigo Platinum Mastercard is an unsecured credit card, meaning it doesn’t require a security deposit. Your payment activity will be reported to all three of the main credit bureaus. That’s basically it as far as benefits go. Otherwise, this card costs a lot to carry. It charges an annual fee of $175 for the first year and $49 after that, plus a monthly fee of $12.50 after the first year (that comes out to $150 per year). Plus, as of this writing, the interest rate was almost 36%, which is shockingly high.

The Reflex® Platinum Mastercard® offers a credit limit of $300 to $1,000, which doubles if you make the first six monthly payments of at least the minimum on time. Your activity is reported to the three credit bureaus. But, again, the fees add up. Let’s start with the annual fee, which is $75 – $125 intro first year, then $99 – $125.

There’s also a monthly fee if your credit limit is $300 or $500. It’s $0 per month for the first year, but then you’ll pay $12.50 per month (that’s $150 per year). The ongoing APR is 35.90% Variable APR.

Similar to the Reflex® Platinum Mastercard®, the Surge® Platinum Mastercard® comes with a credit limit of $300 to $1,000 that doubles if you make your first six monthly minimum payments on time. Your payment activity is also reported to the three credit bureaus. The annual fee is $75 – $125 intro first year, then $99 – $125, and there’s a monthly maintenance fee of $12.50 per month after the first year (if your credit limit is $300 or $500). The ongoing APR is 35.90% Variable APR.

The $0-annual-fee Rocket Visa Signature® Card earns 5 Rocket Rewards points per $1 spent. New cardholders can also get a sign-up bonus: Receive a $200 statement credit when you spend $3,000 in the first 90 days.

You can redeem rewards in three ways:

• Toward closing costs or a down payment on a new Rocket mortgage (points are worth 1 cent each for this option). You can redeem up to $8,000 worth of points this way, but it takes $160,000 in spending on the card to earn enough points to max this out. 

• Toward the principal on a Rocket mortgage (points are worth 0.4 cents each for this option). 

• As cash back in the form of a statement credit (points are worth 0.25 cents each for this option).

If you’re not a Rocket Mortgage customer, and you have no plans to become one, other cash-back cards have significantly better rewards rates. And to meaningfully chip away at the costs of a mortgage, you’d have to spend an awful lot on the card.

To get the AMC Entertainment Visa Card, you must be a member of the AMC Stubs loyalty program. The $0-annual-fee card rewards movie lovers with:

• 50 points per $1 spent at AMC theaters, or on the AMC app and website.

• 20 points per $1 spent on dining, gas and groceries.

• 10 points per $1 on all other purchases.

Note that this is the earning rate for the base-level AMC Stubs membership, which is free. There are higher membership tiers that boost earnings, but those tiers cost money to join.

As of this writing, new cardholders can earn $50 AMC Stubs Bonus Bucks by spending $50 within the first 3 months of account opening.

If you’re a member of the free loyalty tier, you can only redeem rewards for concessions. Higher-tier members can also redeem for tickets. You get a $5 reward every time you accumulate 5,000 points, meaning points are only worth 0.1 cents each. That’s a flop.

As the card’s name implies, its main benefit is that once your application is approved, you’ll get a digital version to add to Apple Pay within minutes. The annual fee is $0.

The Digital First Card earns cash-back rewards based on your spending amount:

• 1% cash back on all purchases up to $500 in spending.

• 1.25% cash back on all purchases once you spend more than $500 in a billing cycle.

• 1.5% cash back on all purchases once you spend more than $1,000 in a billing cycle. 

Other cash-back cards offer 1.5% back or higher without the need to spend $1,000 first, so this isn’t the most impressive rewards program available.

Celtic Bank’s rewards cards are OK, but not amazing. Other no-annual-fee cards earn more rewards that can be redeemed more flexibly.