Upgrade Credit Card

raisemysc0re · ‎08-09-2022

Been looking at this card since it appeared on my Credit Karma suggestions.

From what I've researched it shows more as an installment loan than a revolving account.

I think this might be perfect for a family member to increase their score since they are in the market for a mortgage soon.

First they can try to get pre-approved without a HP.

If they get approved for say 10K they can take out the full 10K and pay off like $9,000 leaving them with only 10% UTI on the loan.

Is there anything I'm missing that might harm their score or mortgage chances?

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Starting Scores (06/2016):

Current Fico8 Scores (Updated 11/12/24):

Current Fico10 Scores (Updated 11/12/24):

Cowboys4Life · ‎08-09-2022

"If they get approved for say 10K they can take out the full 10K and pay off like $9,000 leaving them with only 10% UTI on the loan."

Unfortunately that isn't how it works. It is really a hybrid credit card. It is really meant for actual purchases not cash transfers of large amounts. They pay cash back based on the payments you make not the purchase amounts. As for getting approved for $10k. Not likely. Average approval despite the large numbers pushed in the CK "ads" is around $5k. I don't see them allowing someone to take 90% of the credit line in cash. They would be better off getting a straight up personal loan and Upgrade might not be the best rate out there. Plus, opening a new account so close to apping for a mortgage is a REALLY bad idea. Are they using AZEO on their current revolving accounts?

CashOutReFi · ‎08-09-2022

Can anyone with an Upgrade card confirm if they offer interest rates below high 20%'s?

I have been pleased with what many other companies offer but have never gotten a good offer from Upgrade.

Didn't know if it was me or their offerings.

First Tech FCU Platinum Mastercard $16,000

Goldman Sachs My GM Rewards Mastercard $12,000

Goldman Sachs Apple Card Mastercard $5,500

TD Bank Target Circle Card Mastercard $5,500

FireMedic1 · ‎08-10-2022

@raisemysc0re wrote:
Been looking at this card since it appeared on my Credit Karma suggestions.
From what I've researched it shows more as an installment loan than a revolving account.
I think this might be perfect for a family member to increase their score since they are in the market for a mortgage soon.
First they can try to get pre-approved without a HP.
If they get approved for say 10K they can take out the full 10K and pay off like $9,000 leaving them with only 10% UTI on the loan.
Is there anything I'm missing that might harm their score or mortgage chances?

If the home will be within the next year. Adding new accounts. UW's kinda frown on that. Is there some baddies that could be fixed for score changes?

BK Free Aug25

MileHigh96 · ‎08-10-2022

@CashOutReFi wrote:
Can anyone with an Upgrade card confirm if they offer interest rates below high 20%'s?

I have been pleased with what many other companies offer but have never gotten a good offer from Upgrade.

Didn't know if it was me or their offerings.

I have three products from Upgrade, 2 of their cards and a personal loan through them. I've found they are pretty easy to deal with. I initially applied for my first card from the through Credit Karma, that's how I found out about them. I applied for my first card from them not too long after my BK7 discharge, so my data points may not align with what you are facing, so as always, YMMV.

The first card I got from them and was approved for was the Triple Cash Back Rewards card. I was approved for a $17.5K LOC and it has an APR of 14.97%. A few months later, I applied for and was approved for their Cash Rewards card and that came with a $7K LOC at an APR of 17.88%. And then lastly, I got a personal loan from them to refinance my high interest Lending Club personal loan I had taken out. That loan was for $6K and came with an APR of 12.53% which is less than half of what my APR was through Lending Club, so it was a no brainer.

It's been almost a year since my initial dealings with them, and I have no real complaints at all. One perk they have been offering lately is balance transfers to my Triple Rewards card where if you transfer $1K you get $50 back, if you transfer $2K you get $100 back, and if you transfer more than $3K you get $200 back, and that all comes with no fee on the transfers. So all in all, I'm pretty happy with them, I've had no issues.

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to do my best to answer them.

BK7 discharged - 06JUL2021
Loans:

Revolving Accounts (in the order they were opened):

Ally Everyday Cash Back Mastercard (converted from Ollo Platinum Rewards Mastercard) $5700 CL (opened 7/21/21)

Mercury Mastercard $5060 CL (opened 7/23/21)

Upgrade Triple Cash Rewards Visa Card $17,500 LOC (opened 8/4/21)

PenFed Pathfinder Rewards $6000 CL (opened 11/9/21)

Dell Pay Credit (converted from Dell Financial Services account) $6500 CL (opened 12/6/21)

Capital One Kohls Visa (converted from Kohls store card) $4050 CL (opened 12/13/21)

Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa Card $7,000 LOC (opened 3/17/22)

Capital One Quicksilver MC (PC'd from a Platinum card) $3200 CL (opened 5/6/22)

Capital One Savor One MC $5000 CL (opened 10/20/22)

Merrick Bank Double Your Line MC $2500 CL (opened 11/1/22)

NFCU cashRewards Plus $36000 CL (opened 3/17/23)

Affinity FCU Pure Rewards Visa $1500 CL (opened 5/18/23)

Bread Cashback AmEx $15000 CL (opened 5/23/23)

Canvas Select MC $3000 CL (opened 5/25/23)

NFCU Go Rewards Visa $27000 CL (opened 6/16/23)

Petco Pay Mastercard $5100 CL (opened 6/29/23)

Barclays GM Rewards Mastercard (converted from GS My GM Rewards Card Mastercard) $5500 CL (opened 8/1/23)

Denver Broncos Extra Point Visa $11000 CL (opened 12/8/23)

NFCU More Rewards AmEx $17000 CL (opened 2/8/24)

Ally Unlimited Cash Back Mastercard $3000 CL (opened 4/3/24)

Service Credit Union Everyday Visa $2500 CL (opened 8/19/24)

BECU Cash Back Visa $16000 CL (opened 8/21/24)

Best Buy Platinum Visa $4000 CL (opened 10/17/25)

Liberty FCU Platinum Credit Rewards Mastercard $12000 CL (opened 11/5/25)

Capital One T-Mobile Visa $15000 CL (opened 11/7/25)

Lands' End Visa $5300 CL (opened 11/13/25)

Associated Bank Max Cash Preferred Visa $500 CL (opened 11/17/25)

Affinity FCU Cash Rewards Visa $7500 CL (opened 11/18/25)

Closed accounts:

Mission Lane Visa - first starter card after discharge (opened 7/7/21 - closed 4/1/23)

Capital One Quicksilver MC (downgraded from a Walmart Rewards MC and transfered CL to older QS card) (opened 11/4/22 - closed 04/09/25)

Best Egg Visa (opened 05/17/22 - closed 04/14/25)

6/6, 6/12, 11/24 new accounts
TCL: $219.4K

Jeffster1 · ‎09-08-2022

I was approved for the Uograde Triple Rewards Visa for $4K early in my rebuild. Meh. Doesn't really work for me. Nothing terrible. Just ready to cancel it in the coming days. The one time I used it, I was unable to track my payment, and they were slow to report to the 3 CRAs. Not awful but not great.

0% utilization
FICO 8 EX 839 EQ 825 TU 834
American Express Blue Cash Preferred 30K I American Express Blue Cash Everyday 30K I American Express Delta Skymiles 13.9K I American Express Schwab Investor Card 5K I Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Visa 30K | Kinecta MyPerks Rewards MC 35K | Wells Fargo Autograph Visa 30K I BMO Harris Cash Back MC 12K | Capital One QS MC 12.5K I NFCU Flagship Rewards Visa 52K I NFCU Amex 28K I Citi Best Buy Visa 15K I Macy’s Amex 25K I Bloomingdale’s Amex 10K I Citi Thank You MC 10K I Bread Financial American Express 18K I AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature 8.5K I Saks Fifth Avenue World Elite MC 13.3K I Citi Dillard’s Visa 5K I JCPenney MC 10K I Synchrony Premier MC 10K I UCLA Wescom CU Rewards Visa 7K I PayPal Cash Back MC 20K I MyWalgreens Mastercard 10K I TD Bank Double Up Visa 5K I USBank Cash Visa 5K I Gemini Bitcoin MC 15K I TMobile Capital One Visa 20K I BILT 2.O MC 10K

C6 · ‎09-09-2022

@Cowboys4Life wrote:
"If they get approved for say 10K they can take out the full 10K and pay off like $9,000 leaving them with only 10% UTI on the loan."

Unfortunately that isn't how it works. It is really a hybrid credit card. It is really meant for actual purchases not cash transfers of large amounts. They pay cash back based on the payments you make not the purchase amounts. As for getting approved for $10k. Not likely. Average approval despite the large numbers pushed in the CK "ads" is around $5k. I don't see them allowing someone to take 90% of the credit line in cash. They would be better off getting a straight up personal loan and Upgrade might not be the best rate out there. Plus, opening a new account so close to apping for a mortgage is a REALLY bad idea. Are they using AZEO on their current revolving accounts?

They report the same as a PLOC. The OP has good scores and decent credit lines so he should likely get a 20K+ limit. I received 20K@15% and my score was around 765. You have access to the entire amount and it can be transferred to your checking account in a day. I also got the 2.2% cashback Visa. I just used it for a $7000 purchase with no issue, my account is set to autopay two days after statement cut, thereby avoiding interest and earning ~$154 cashback. So far it's a really good card. I could have received a LOC from my credit union with a rate of around 11 - 12% but I would not have received the rewards. Also, the usage could hurt some when using a credit card if one plans to max it out. This is a hybrid card / loan and it works very well. You have options to pay in full, have a fully amortized 60 month loan, or pay any amount in between. The interest rate is fixed. For me this is a near perfect product. Some have given Upgrade a bad name because they didn't understand the product. Also, there are different variations of the product, different rewards, some accounts don't have the early pay feature, etc., so as always buyer beware. The interest rates can be high for some as they advertise a range of 9 - 30% and I have only seen one myFICO member getting that 9% rate. I received a rate of 15% and while not the best it is not bad being that it's fixed. In the current market most credit cards are subprime anyway with most rewards cards from Amex, Chase, Capitol One, Macys, Paypal, etc., all coming out with interest rates of 25 - 30%. I highly recommend the Upgrade hybrid product if you get a decent offer. They offer a soft pull qualifier so there is not much to lose.