My rating is based upon what this card is. It is a card to help people with bad credit. For those people who learned their lesson and can now handle using a credit card, this card is perfect. The fees are MUCH lower than the other card company out there (First Premier) and the ease of use of the online system and customer service is excellent. I use this card to make a $10 purchase per month and then I pay it off each month (never use more than 20% of your available credit if you are trying to increase your credit score rather than decrease it). They are reporting to all three bureaus as promised and I have seen my credit rating rise from 585 to 660 in three months. Thank you HSBC for being a company willing to extend credit when they probably lose 50% of these accounts to non payment...and that is the reason for their up front fees i'm sure.