If you need a credit card for online purchases or online payments, and you’re not able to get a credit card, you can get a Secured Credit Card.
A Secured Credit Card is called “Secured” because it has security or collateral. Your collateral will be your savings account or your time deposit. The bank will hold your savings or time deposit until you surrender your Secured Credit Card.
Advantages of RCBC Bankard Instacard over the Secured Credit Cards of other Banks
1. Your credit limit is 100% of your savings account balance or time deposit amount.
Most other banks assign only 80%.
2. All RCBC branches and bank officers know their RCBC Bankard Instacard secured credit card.
In some banks, there are bank officers who do not know what a secured credit card is and do not know if their own bank is offering secured credit cards.
3. Your application for a RCBC Bankard InstaCard is expected to be immediately approved upon your opening of your time deposit.
Exceptions:
– Applications from delinquent RCBC credit card owners will not be approved.
– See comments in the Comments Section below: Several applicants have complained that their applications are not being processed within expected time. They also say that despite follow-ups, they are not able to get definite answers with regards to the status of their applications. Some have expressed regrets in applying and have wanted to withdraw their collateral savings.
I think some applications with information that need to be verified or further evaluated will experience delays in approval.
Where to Apply for a RCBC Bankard Instacard secured credit card:
Go to any RCBC or RCBC Savings branch
What to Bring:
Valid IDs
At least 5,000 pesos for time deposit
(Deposit more to get a higher credit limit. Deposit at least 20,000 pesos if you’re planning to use this Secured Credit Card as your tool to apply for a regular credit card later on).
What will you fill up at the bank:
1. InstaCard Application Form
2. Time Deposit Account Forms
3. Deed of Assignment
(You will assign your time deposit to the bank as your Collateral while you’re using your Secured Credit Card. RCBC will use your collateral to pay your credit card debt in case you fail to pay your debt.)
Other Notes to Remember:
1. You should be at least 21 years old
2. Minimum time deposit amount is 5,000 pesos
(Based on comments, some branches are requiring at least 10,000 pesos)
3. Annual fee is free for the first 12 months
4. Membership fee is 60 pesos per month, starting from the 13th month.
For other cards, membership fee is 100 or 150 pesos per month)
5. Interest rate is 2.5% for peso credit cards and 2% for U.S. dollar credit cards
6. Minimum amount due is 500 pesos or 5% of Total Amount Due, whichever is higher
7. Late payment charge is 200 pesos or 7% of Past Due Amount, whichever is higher
8. There’s a Multiple Payment Fee. Do not make more than 3 payments within a statement cycle in a non-RCBC payment channel. You will be charged 40 pesos for every payment starting from your 4th payment.
Important Things to Remember About Cancellation:
1. If you cancel your credit card within 12 months from card issuance, you will be charged with a termination fee of 300 pesos.
2. After cancellation, you will wait for 60 days before your collateral deposit will be withdrawable.
3. This Instacard is a credit card product jointly offered by RCBC, the bank, and Bankard, the credit card company. You will be negotiating your cancellation with RCBC, but there will be times that RCBC will mention the need to wait for Bankard’s instructions.
These are the RCBC credit cards offered to Instacard applicants:
Cards with Membership Fee of 60 pesos per month
Classic MasterCard
Fully Booked MasterCard
HBC Mastercard
Landmark Anson’s MasterCard
LJC MasterCard
Mango MasterCard
Sta. Lucia Mall MasterCard
UnionPay Classic
Wilcon MasterCard
Card with Membership Fee of 100 pesos per month
Gold MasterCard
Cards with Membership Fee of 150 pesos per month
Black Card Peso
Diamond Card
UnionPay Diamond