About 4 years ago I had a job making little money and could barely pay my living expenses and credit card debt. At this time when my creditors randomly pulled my credit they noticed that my credit situation was worsening, so they closed my accounts. Direct Merchants Bank was one of these creditors. Well 4 years later and on time payments, I am now back on track. Since I was able to recently acquire some new retail cards, I thought I would ask DMB if they would re-instate my account. Great...they did! My question is....is it too soon to ask them for a credit line increase? Since my account was closed for so long, I have no idea how they do things. If any has this card, please give me your experience. Do they give automatic increases? Are they generous? How many months should I wait before requesting an increase? Overall satisfaction with them. Thanks for your feedback.
I have the Titanium card also. My acct was opened in January 2000 at $1000 limit. My increases seem to be following a 6-4-6 month schedule. The first increase was for $300, followed by $400, $600, $800, $3100 (doubled). Can't wait to see what they do in Sept, if anything. I don't have any complaints about lost statements or payments, online access is decent - they now have online payment, but I use my bank or credit union accounts. They've brought my APR down significantly over two phone calls. It's now 11.24. My only issue I've had with them is that I emailed them to ask about an upgrade to gold or platinum. Their response was something like 'we reviewed your account and you should be able to upgrade'. So I called, and they said that yes, they could do that, but I would lose all my cashback that I've earned, I would get no increase OR APR reduction for having a higher grade card. That's an upgrade?? Also, they once sent me a BT check @ 9.9%, and I had three months to use it. I passed because I couldn't use it at the time. Have tried several times since then to get a BT rate, but they never have anything 'available'; however, they will send me a check at the cash advance rate. Don't think so. Anyway, I'm satisfied with DMB. I've been waiting for the ax to fall, but so far, so good.
Oops, sorry. The acccount was opened January 1999, not 2000. I started asking for stuff at the one-year mark.
Well, I called their customer service number just to get some general information regarding an increase on an account that was just recently re-instated. The rep looked over my payment history and gave me a warm & fuzzy feeling that I have a good chance of getting an increase. The rep put my request through and told me to check back on Monday. I'll keep my fingers crossed. They have been ok so far.
I get regular, automatic increases. They will also give special BT terms, and lower rates on good accounts when asked. breeze
Good luck with it. After 14 months with their secured titanium card, they upgraded me to their Gold card and unsecured the account. A rep told me my new limit would be $2000, but when the card arrived it was still $500. I called and the rep said I would have to ask for the increase. I asked her if she thought I'd get one, and after she looked at my account for a bit, she said I had an excellent history with them and she didn't see a problem, so she put in the request. Five days later I got a letter denying me due to information off my credit report. They don't put much stock in their own experience with you apparently, but a lot on your report. Anyway, that was my experience. I hope yours is better. Sad thing is, it's now my best account since I'm still at $300 on my secured Cap 1.
Direct Merchant's is alright in my book. I logged onto their web site on Sunday to see if my credit limit increase went thru. Sure enough, there it was. Oddly, they only gave me a $ 240.00 increase. I guess they have to adhere to their sub-prime standards. Anyway, I'll take it. In one week I had a account that was closed for approx 4 years reinstated and the limit increase. Now I just wait for their automatic increases every 6 months or so. Thank to all for your feedback
Well they intentionally held my mail payments to get late fees among several other things. I mailed some 9 days before the due date. Think I am the only one? They recently settled a class action lawsuit for holding payments among other things. All I can say is to pay by phone or web or send your mail payments in 2 weeks before the due date. It took a letter to the BBB to get them to take off some crap services from account that I never authorized. Be warned.
BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THESES GUYS...!!! I got my DMB card while in college around 97. I always done very well with this card. My limit was around 2300. In Jan 99, someone used my card fraudulently. I contacted DMB Frauds dept. I sent in a police report along with an affidavit. I thought everything was taken care of. I paid my card off then closed the account. One year later I pulled my credit report. DMB had put a different account number on my report with charge off of $1900. Along with a collection for the $1900. I contacted FRAUD AGAIN...!!! The lady told me that they never received my affidavit. Luckily...I still had copies of everything I sent in to them a year earlier!! So... I sent it in again .... I was told that it was not to worry they would take care of it....!! What it all boils down to is... they are not organized at all, they have never resolved this problem... And If I wouldn't of had copies of what I sent to them years ago.. they would of held me responsible for the debt. Still to this day.. they sale this account and I have to send in the original information to these collectors and contact DMB so they can have it removed from my credit report. This process has happened 6 times. I do not recommend them AT ALL....!!!!!! Sorry this is so long!! I just feel this board needs to know how DMB REALLY IS...!! MartysGirl
