I have a partially secured MasterCard with DMB...$99 deposit with a $500 limit. I have had the card for 7 months and it hasn't appeared on my CR. A rep at DMB told me that DMB does not report new accounts until after 6 months. Then all accounts are reported every 3 months. This means that a new account might not appear for 9 months. According to the rep the secured card's limit can only be increased by adding to the deposit. In other words my card's limit will remain at $500 unless I add to the $99 deposit. The rep said I could apply for an unsecured card which is periodically reviewed for limit increases. If I'm eligible, they would unsecure my present card.
I have the same deal. But I am told that if you have a good record with them, that your card will become unsecured after 1 year. I will have had mine for a year in April--if they don't unsecure it and give me a line increase, I will drop them.
I haven't heard that but I hope it's true. I forgot to mention the fact that they will not immediately post payments that are more than $50! If they receive such a payment on the 1st they hold it for X-number of days waiting for it to clear. I'm told that the record will reflect that the payment was received on the 1st. For this reason I make payments that are less than $50. If I want to pay more, I make multiple payments in the same cycle. I wonder when they will stop holding payments? Maybe after the account is a year old?
The hold on a check is somewhere between $75 and $99. I paid on line $75, was credited the next day, my $99 payment was on hold for 2 weeks. my2cnts
Hello All, Yes it is Direct Merchants Bank. Mine has never been a secured card. It started with a $100 limit------Wow now @1400.00 11.9% I have had it several years. I called to cancel because of low limit and they lowered the %to 15.9 along with a rate increase. I called this week to switch to their rate reward card and was declined. But they lowered my rate to 11.9% with an intro @ 3.9 on all purchases for 6 months. I use the card, sometimes carrying a balance. They have been very easy to work with. I also have a CB card and a Credit Union card. I have never had them hold a payment for posting and I pay online at their website.
Word of Caution I got a secured card from DMB in Feb. with $500.00 limit. I failed to read all of the extra crap about Purchaseshield and AccountProtection services that came with the card. The next month I noticed my account was over the limit because of the $160.00 from the above services that I did not want. I was hit with $29.00 over-the-limit fees even though I promptly wrote a letter to Customer Service on their website. The record is still there. I have spoken with at least 10 Customer Service people. They all said that I could do nothing about it. Not only this, I mail payments off 6-7 days before the due date and everytime they are posted 1 day late at which point I get another $29.00 fee. Months later I had an account with a balance over $800.00 of which only $350.00 were actual purchases..sad. I finally wrote a complaint letter to the BBB and got some response finally. The Account Manager from DMB had the nerve to tell me that I never called or wrote a letter stating that I did not want these extra services mentioned above on my account, and this letter was the first they heard of it. She also told the BBB that she sent me a copy of my statement showing that I exceeded my credit limit before these services were added. Another lie, and she never sent me this statement but lied about doing so. She also had the nerve to tell the BBB that this matter has now been cleared up and should be closed. I am the damn one to decide whether my complaint is closed. I sent a reply to both the BBB and DMB declaring all of these lies that are being stating from DMB. In closing, I would caution anyone from getting this card. DMB is owned by a marketing company along with Purchaseshield and Accountprotection services. As a comparison I also have an unsecured CapitalOne card and have absolutely nothing but compliments for them. Exactly how a card should be. Good Luck.
