IberiaBank Visa Select Credit Card Review

Editor’s Note: Thank you for your interest, this offer expired and is no longer available. Find more of the other best balance transfer credit cards offers.

To most Americans, Louisiana means great music, good food and some crazy Super Bowl moments. However, keen observers of the credit card industry also know Louisiana as the home of Iberiabank, a solid regional lender that’s been chugging away in cities like New Orleans and Lafayette for more than 125 years. An early adopter of remote banking, Iberiabank offers cards like its Visa Select to consumers with excellent credit all over the country, even if they’ve never been south of I-10.

Iberiabank Visa® Select is the only of Iberiabank’s credit cards that carries an annual fee, albeit a modest one. It’s also the only Iberiabank card with aconsistent zero-APR introductory purchase offer, zero percent or 7.50 percent introductory purchase APR for one year from the account open date. After that your assigned purchase rate will apply. Applicants with excellent credit may qualify for one of the lowest variable go-to rates in the country. Even the second- and third-tier APR ranges spelled out in this card’s terms and conditions beat most other cards on the market. Keep in mind other factors, aside from your credit score, may also play a role in the approval process. With a 3 percent balance-transfer fee on each transfer amount and a 12-month introductory balance-transfer APR of either 1.99 or 7.50 percent, this card becomes a good place to park a balance that you know you’ll need to pay off over two or more years. After the introductory period, your APR will be the same as your assigned purchase rate, based on your creditworthiness.

Beyond that, the Iberiabank Visa Select operates like many of the no-frills credit cards you’re used to seeing from national lenders like Chase, Capital One and Citi. Therefore, the real reason you might ever consider this card would be the fact that most of Iberiabank’s larger rivals have merged with each other over the past few decades. By making their best balance-transfer deals available only to first-time customers, some big banks have shut out potential business from consumers who may have once held a card at an acquired institution.

Although banking industry gossip hounds occasionally name Iberiabank as a takeover target for any number of predators, there’s little guarantee that will ever happen. If anything, the bank has used the years since the financial crisis to justify its conservative underwriting approach and to expand its regional branch footprint. Therefore, little Iberiabank looks like a welcome haven for customers who have tried just about every big name in the credit card business.

However, that’s one of the paradoxes that shielded Iberiabank from major damage during last decade’s credit crunch. The kind of consumer who would typically qualify for this credit card probably doesn’t need a destination for a balance transfer. If anything, they’re paying an annual fee in the same price range for a more comprehensive rewards credit card, like a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or a Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express.

Still, if you’re a fan of the underdog and you’re happy to spend a little money each year to keep a line of credit on standby for emergencies, you can do far worse than the Iberiabank Visa Select card.

Check Iberiabank’s website for the Iberiabank Visa Select for rates, additional information and application page.