The bank was founded in 1986 and is owned and controlled by T. Denny Sanford.[3][4] In 2020, Sanford was being investigated for possession of child pornography. Investigators obtained a search warrant prior to referring the case to the United States Department of Justice.[5] Sanford was cleared of charges in May 2022.[6]
The typical First Premier Bank MasterCard user uses the card for about 18 months before transitioning to another card with better terms. Sanford described the company as providing a "lifeline" for those with poor credit.[7]
In 2014, it was announced that First Premier Bank had filed a lawsuit against cardhub.com for allowing customers to view rates and terms, as well as for enabling users to review the card.[8] However, the lawsuit was dropped a few months later.[9]
In 2007, the bank settled a case with the New York Attorney General, who claimed that the bank used deceptive practices to market its credit cards. As part of the settlement, the bank paid $4.5 million.[4]
As of December 2010, First Premier Bank was reportedly offering a credit card with a 79.9% interest rate and a $300 limit. This was cited by Senator Bernie Sanders as an example of what he called "extortion and loan sharking".[10]
First Premier Bank's CEO, Dana J. Dykhouse, was referenced in a 2014 piece in the Argus Leader as belonging to a group of would-be local benefactors who the author wrote, "should quit gouging poor people who can't make it from paycheck to paycheck, or don't qualify for regular credit cards. ... Loan sharks who charge an obscene profit just because they can don't make good community leaders."[11]
In April 2018, John Kiernan of WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked the First Premier Bank MasterCard poorly, giving it 1 star out of 5. He wrote that the card had excessive fees, a low credit limit, and a high annual percentage rate, making it a bad choice for most users.[12]
