A Credit Card You Can’t Use
We always try to bring you the best credit card deals on this site. So today we are trying to balance that out with one of the worst deals out there, a credit card you can’t use.
This credit card is called Bits Gold. It is available in the UK, but it is an interesting idea that makes a lot of sense for the issuer, but not for the customer. Here’s how it works. When you sign up, you get a digital credit card. But it is locked, as in you can not use it. That means that you can not go into debt. But a monthly fee is charged to the card and you have to pay it off.
The monthly fee is £2/mo ($2.50), £4/mo ($5.20) or £8/mo ($10.40). You choose which one you want and the more you can afford to pay, the better the impact on your credit score.
Conclusion
A very strange proposition. You are basically paying a fee for someone to hold to credit card and let you use it. And you will improve your credit in the process.
This Bits Gold card is available in the UK market, and I’m not sure what other options are available there. If you have bad credit you can look at secured cards like Discover it Secured for example that also offers rewards. You also have the option to convert to an unsecured card later on.
Crazy or genius? Let us know what you think!
As always, it’s a YMMV sort of thing — like everything else in the financial realm. Could help some people. Not for everyone.
Pretty sure this would be illegal in the US
Almost sounds like fraud… since your credit score gained with this method doesn’t reflect your true ability to pay back debt.
But then again, the credit card market is a catch 22 to begin with. Can’t get a card without credit but can’t build credit without a card.
Like what Self Lender does? Or What a Secured Shared Loan does at almost every bank? Manipulating and churning to get points sound like fraud to you then? If so Why are you here?