Upgrade Visa

[ecxpa]

Anybody ever heard of this creature; seems like it is a line of credit card that morphs your balances into a loan set up with regular payments; not sure I understand the benefit of having such a card.....just curious, I got a "pre-approval" on Credit Karma

[Anonymous]

No. But the apr sounds humongous. You're better off getting a debt consolidation loan from a credit union, if you are carrying debt on credit cards. 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I'm curious about this card. It's supposed to take your ending balance and convert it to an installment loan. Great idea for a large emergency purchase, but does it create a new loan on your report?

[ecxpa]

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@Anonymous wrote:

No. But the apr sounds humongous. You're better off getting a debt consolidation loan from a credit union, if you are carrying debt on credit cards. 

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Not looking for debt consolidation but you are right ................looks like Credit One rates to me....not sure if rates vary during the payoff.

[ecxpa]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

I'm curious about this card. It's supposed to take your ending balance and convert it to an installment loan. Great idea for a large emergency purchase, but does it create a new loan on your report?  

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Not sure....it just appeared on my CK as a pre-approval.  According to website you can use it like a regular Visa card for purchases and send yourself cash advances as I understand it.   Not sure exactly how it works...whether each month's charges become a separate item  or not nor how it is reported.   It sort of looks like a line of credit  with fixed payments rather than varying payments based on your balance like a regular credit card does.................I just don't know.

[M_Smart007]

Make sure to go over the very fine print.

[ecxpa]

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@M_Smart007 wrote:

Make sure to go over the very fine print.

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Can't find a lot about this card......just wondering if this may be the new credit card of the future, will other lenders follow suit and come out with similar products.  Citi already has what they call a flex loan program where you take out a loan against your credit line and pay it separate from your monthly credit card bill......the interest on the flex loan I think is lower than your credit card interest.  I haven't used it so there's probably a lot I don't know about it

[SweetCreditObsession]

This showed up as option for me on Experian's Credit Match. You're right.. I couldn't see any benefit either. You're better off to pass on it.

[Anonymous]

It allows you to draw amounts off to your checking account to use as a you wish as well as using it like a regular credit card and with fixed repayment terms like a personal loan for each group of transactions you make in a cycle. It's an interesting idea but unless you need it for constant quick cash infusions with no fees and you get APR on the lower side, it's a bit limited in usefulness. 

ETA: Actually this looks more interesting as I read about it. "In practice, a credit line works the same as a traditional limit issued by a credit card, but it is quite different when it comes to credit bureau reporting. Upgrade Card reports its line of credit more similar to a personal loan than a revolving credit card account.

As a result, the balance on your Upgrade Card doesn't get counted toward your debt utilization ratio, a significant factor in determining your credit score."

https://www.cardratings.com/credit-card/upgrade-card.html

They are apparently talking about adding rewards for paying off your installments too. 

ETA2: This line of credit is backed by Cross River Bank. If this is actually reporting as a personal loan, you may end up with a CFA ding for it. Cross River Bank is not actually a regular bank, they specialize exclusively in fintech servicing. https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2019/12/17/the-forbes-investigation-inside-the-secret-bank-...

[BamBam2000]

So I wonder if I take the card with the limit they offered (15,000) and I don't use it will it increase my overall available limit and then decrease my utilization?