topic Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD in Credit Cards

DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 16:30:43 GMT

Deserve, formerly known as Selfscore, is bank that offers credit card targeted mostly towards international students with no SSN, or people with shallow credit history. I got myself a Deserve credit card a few years ago (when it was still known as Selfscore) when I was an international student, and I was forced to product change into Deserve Classic card (no benefits, no AF) when they became Deserve.

Now, I'm a US citizen with a 700 FICO, 760 FAKO score and wanted to know if I could product change into other Deserve cards with higher limit (the classic has a max limit of 1500...) and other perks like cash back. However, according to their representative, Deserve does not offer product change, nor do they allow you to have more than 1 Deserve card. That means that if you want to product change, you would have to first close the current card, apply for the new card, and if approved, it would show up as a brand new account on your credit report.

This has three negative impacts: First, closing the current card could destroy your length of credit, given that this card is usually offered to those who are just starting to build credit. Second, applynig for the new card triggers a hard pull. Third, the brand new account further destroys the length of credit.

Deserve telling me that the only way to product change is to close the first account and apply for a new one is completely ludicrous, and now that I have Boa Chase and Discover cards, once I get my hands on Penfed and Amex, I'm going to be cancelling my Deserve card completely even if I take a little hit on my credit length.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 16:35:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Deserve, formerly known as Selfscore, is bank that offers credit card targeted mostly towards international students with no SSN, or people with shallow credit history. I got myself a Deserve credit card a few years ago (when it was still known as Selfscore) when I was an international student, and I was forced to product change into Deserve Classic card (no benefits, no AF) when they became Deserve.

Now, I'm a US citizen with a 700 FICO, 760 FAKO score and wanted to know if I could product change into other Deserve cards with higher limit (the classic has a max limit of 1500...) and other perks like cash back. However, according to their representative, Deserve does not offer product change, nor do they allow you to have more than 1 Deserve card. That means that if you want to product change, you would have to first close the current card, apply for the new card, and if approved, it would show up as a brand new account on your credit report.

This has three negative impacts: First, closing the current card could destroy your length of credit, given that this card is usually offered to those who are just starting to build credit. Second, applynig for the new card triggers a hard pull. Third, the brand new account further destroys the length of credit.

Deserve telling me that the only way to product change is to close the first account and apply for a new one is completely ludicrous, and now that I have Boa Chase and Discover cards, once I get my hands on Penfed and Amex, I'm going to be cancelling my Deserve card completely even if I take a little hit on my credit length.

Deserve is serving a market niche you appear to have outgrown. That's not a reason to suggest not applying for one of their cards.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 17:25:08 GMT

For the record, closing a card would have no immediate effect on your AAoA as it will continue to age and grow for up to 10 years, in 10 years when it drops off your CR completely, the effects will be insignificant if any at all as your other cards would also have aged by 10 years.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 18:15:16 GMT

I agree with the other posters but also want to note that restrictions on product change happens all over, even with "majors". We frequently see posts of people who got the Amex ED (for example) and now want to change it into a BCE/BCP/CM and are told that this is not possible (and may be told by CSRs to apply for the card that they want). And number restrictions (although usually more than 1) also apply.

As said above, closing is going to be fine. The cards offered seem fine for the niche, nothing like First Premier etc, so no need to slam them!

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

HeavenOhio — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 18:30:59 GMT

Welcome, @Anonymous.

Do you have any other accounts (cards or loans) on your report?

Deserve is a starter card, and it's not a keeper. If they're one's first card, the ideal thing would be to app for another card in six months. After another six months, apply again. When one has his fourth card (after about 19 months), Deserve can go. That's because FICO likes three open cards.

But it looks like this may be your only card and there's a possible concern about significantly lowering your AoOA (age of oldest account) ten years down the road. My gut says that a "a few years" in AoOA reduction might result in a small ding. 10 points maybe?

But if you'd like, you can keep this card open as there's no annual fee. Simply put a small charge on it every four to six months to keep it active.

The good news is that a lot of banks will love to have you on board, provided your history is clean.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

RonM21 — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 23:36:45 GMT

If you thought your profile supported just closing it, that would be optimal here. But in the case (maybe yours) where you don't have many cards, that would make the decision difficult, which is understandable. If your profile doesn't support closing the card, get to a point where you can build your profile more so that down the road you can afford to move on from them, if you'd like.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 23:56:10 GMT

If you have Boa , Chase, and , Discover, why would you even want another card from this lender? Even pcing doesnt make sense if its a one card per. It got you where you needed to be. Enjoy your prime cards and move on towards your Amex imo. Also, closing it wont really affect you credit only if it affects your utilization .

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 04:52:42 GMT

i have deserve edu card and it bumped its limit from 800 to 3800 automatically and comes with 1% cashback. i never use the card except for the free amazon prime. i dont see why you would hate on it so much

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 05:53:07 GMT

Why would you even bother thinking about that, let alone making the effort to post about it here and not just sock drawer the card and forget about it ... and if they decide to close it so be it.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 22:23:22 GMT

I get the whole “screw them, I am going to stick it to them by canceling” mentality but as others have said, I would just leave it behind. Sock drawer the thing - if they decide they want you to use it again, they may just send you an offer in the mail. But no point in giving yourself a kick in the backside 10 years down the line when the age effect catches up with you just because you’re irritated with them in the present.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 05:42:52 GMT

Yeah I think I just got super pissed off at the moment haha I'm just gonna throw it in the drawer and probably cancel it in a few years once my base cards' history is stable enough to withstand the cancellation. Anyway, thanks for the advice!

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 11:57:49 GMT

I think you can easily get other good cards.

Re: DO NOT GET DESERVE CREDIT CARD

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 05:56:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think you can easily get other good cards.

Yeah I got Chase Freedom Unlimited, BOA CR, BOA TR, Discover It card I'm just gonna cancel Deserve once my base cards are old enough