Anyone used the Score Mastercard by DND?

calse1

Hi there, never posted before, but I've come across a secured credit card product called 'Score Mastercard by DND'. Think it might be the only secured (fund in advance) credit card on the UK market. It looks like it was launched in 2022.

It doesn't look HUGELY popular. Has anyone got one? Or does anyone have any reasons why one shouldn't get one? Presumably quite useful for putting some money in, and having a much higher credit limit on your credit file?

WillPS

Surely a 'fund in advance' 'credit card' is a misnomer. That'd be a prepaid card, surely?

WillPS

Sufficiently curious to Google. Looks like they have one product which seems rather predatory (£19.99/month fee for no rewards or anything) which they attempt to benchmark against an average looking credit builder type card, rather clumsily they describe their approval rate as being 'low' while theirs is 'high'.

calse1

Well I think "secured credit card" used to be a more common term, but yes it's basically a prepaid card - with credit bureau reporting though, by the look of it. Which is not a terrible use of one's money if credit building I suppose? Odd to have so little on the internet about it though, right? 

spinningsheep

I remember a fair few years ago my very first CC was a Capital One secured card with a limit of £300 for which I had to pay a £300 surity. After about 18 months they refunded me the deposit and my card then became a "normal" Classic card. Tbf I loved the "lightning" design of that card. 

daivid

calse1 said:

Well I think "secured credit card" used to be a more common term, but yes it's basically a prepaid card - with credit bureau reporting though, by the look of it. Which is not a terrible use of one's money if credit building I suppose? Odd to have so little on the internet about it though, right? 

£20 a month sounds exactly like a terrible use of ones money to me, and I presume its not just the fee being wasted but also the loss of interest on the money -another £4 a month on a relatively modest £1000 limit. There is no guarantee any other provider will be looking favourably on the holder of such a card either. 

WillPS

daivid said:

calse1 said:

Well I think "secured credit card" used to be a more common term, but yes it's basically a prepaid card - with credit bureau reporting though, by the look of it. Which is not a terrible use of one's money if credit building I suppose? Odd to have so little on the internet about it though, right? 

£20 a month sounds exactly like a terrible use of ones money to me, and I presume its not just the fee being wasted but also the loss of interest on the money -another £4 a month on a relatively modest £1000 limit. There is no guarantee any other provider will be looking favourably on the holder of such a card either. 

If it reports as a credit card, then that's all other lenders will see on a credit report, not the specific lender. Of course it's still true that you don't know how a specific lender will view it, normally some (but not too much) is considered better than none though.

Totally agree on the price, it's a rip off for what it is.

retiredbanker1

I would be more concerned about the possibility of not having S75 cover on a card like this.

Shanwick

In addition to that rather ugly 20 / month fee it shows the following:

One Time Charge: Credit Access Fee

10% of Original Credit Limit or Net Credit Limit Increase for Personal Cards and 17% of Original Credit Limit or Net Credit Limit Increase for Corporate Cards

Charged Upon Approval or Credit Limit Increase

What an ugly card offering!

It is a pity that the likes of Capital One discontinued their genuine (non-predatory) secured card program in the UK! 

calse1

It does seem quite expensive really. A shame because I'm keen on using some savings on a secured card and the old Capital One product sounds like it would have been far better. 

cymruchris

If your circumstances are such that you can't get your credit profile improved through the traditional means of getting a sim only contract/electoral roll/catalogue account - then Loqbox would be a better answer in that it reports a loan to your history files, where you pay £X a month (effectively going into a zero rate savings account), whereby if you open a TSB current account at the end of it - you pay no fees and get all of your money back, and have a 12 month fully satisfied, perfectly serviced personal loan showing on your credit files. Even if you decide not to open the TSB current account, you only get charged a relatively small fee for the whole process (I recall it was about £30 to withdraw funds to your own choice of account).