DCU Credit Cards

DCU Credit Cards

The most important feature regarding DCU credit cards is that all these three products, despite their different attributes (5), have a zero fee for balance transfers (1) (except the secured card option (4) ), no annual fee (3), and zero for cash advances (2).

All DCU credit cards now hold an EMV chip (6) (EuroPay, MasterCard, and Visa,)  for security (7) and all kind of protection in the transactions (9). This standard started in the European Union (8) and now is being rolled into credit cards like these ones in the US thanks to new regulations (10). 

There are three products inside the portfolio of DCU credit cards and we are going to review all of them in this article:

• DCU Visa Platinum.
• DCU Visa Platinum Rewards
• DCU Visa Platinum Secured

All these cards now hold an EMV chip (EuroPay, MasterCard, and Visa,)  for security and all kind of protection in the transactions. This standard started in the European Union and now is being rolled into credit cards like these ones in the US. 

DCU Secured Visa Platinum Credit Card

The DCU Secured Visa Credit Card accepts applicants with bad credit scores. It is a secured credit card, so your available credit limit amount will be commensurate with the amount of money that you pay as the security deposit. A security deposit of at least $500 is needed to activate the credit line for a DCU Secured Visa Credit Card. The DCU Secured Visa Credit Card is a great way to slowly rebuild your credit score. Your purchase history and charge usage of this card will be reported to all three of the credit score issuing and monitoring bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. Further, with the continued and responsible use of this credit card, your original security deposit could be refunded in full to you. The DCU Secured Visa Credit Card has several benefits and features designed to help applicants with bad credit to improve their credit scores.

DCU will proceed in transferring the balances of any existing overdraft from your Digital Credit Union account to your corresponding DCU Visa Platinum up to your available limit.

• $0 annual fee
• Easy approval for most applicants with poor credit who become Digital Federal Credit Union Members
• You could be approved for the DCU Secured Visa Credit Card with a FICO 300 credit score
• 13% APR, which is very low and quite competitive when compared to other secured credit cards
• $0 foreign transaction penalty fees
• $0 to 3% applicable fee for balance transfers, which is very low compared to other credit cards
• Your initial credit limit activating security deposit will accrue interest in a savings account, just as long as your account remains active
• No cash back reward benefits blackout dates
• No limits applied to an applicable number of cash back reward s benefits you can earn
• No cashback or rewards for this secured card

With continued, responsible financial usage of the DCU Secured Visa Credit Card, your secured credit card will eventually be upgraded to an unsecured credit card. At such a time, and minus any outstanding balance that you may accrue, your initial credit limit activating security deposit will be refunded to you in full. If you have bad credit, applying for membership benefits with the Digital Federal Credit Union can be a great way to rebuild and improve your credit score.

Comparison of The DCU Secured Visa Platinum Credit Card With Other Cards

Let´s see a comparison of the DCU Secured Visa Platinum credit card in comparison with other credit cards that are also secured, and are being issued by other credit institutions.

Now let’s see basically how this secured credit card from DCU compares to other secured cards from other providers and let’s see how it stands in the advantages and disadvantages.

Comparison With The Relax MasterCard From The Celtic Bank

with the Relax MasterCard secured from the Celtic Bank, well remember that the Relax has an APR of almost 30%, so an annual percentage rate of almost thirty percent.  This is a very high APR.  Neither Relax nor the DCU secured has any cashback options, rewards program, or any kind of advantage what is also typical for secured credit cards.

 In the Relax you are subject to an initial credit of 500 and here with the DCU secured credit card, it is not more flexible. You must start also with 500 with the secured card from DCU.

Both the Relax and the DCU, have a very fast process of application in the Internet. The results are provided online in both cases. However, with the DCU, you need to become a member of the DCU first and this takes a more than becoming accepted online for the Reflex.

The process with the Celtic bank, which is the bank that provides the Relax MasterCard, is faster than with the secured DCU credit card.  Relax MasterCard has a slight advantage here in comparison with the DCU secured.

Anyway, there are many disadvantages in comparison with the Relax MasterCard from Celtic Bank.  You should prefer the DCU secured option because it is much less APR. This feature will make an important difference to many users. We have to say that both cards report to the three major credit bureaus so in terms of building your credit both cards are fine. Nevertheless, DCU secured wins in the comparison at the end.

Comparison With The First Choice Credit Cards

If we compare the secured credit card from DCU with other secured cards from different credit institutions, as we are doing here, we have to compare it of course also with the First Choice MasterCard Classic Secure.

The First Choice Visa Secured card has a 15.9% APR. It is a little bit higher than what we enjoy with the DCU secured credit card.  Furthermore, none of these are obliged for an annual fee or any monthly maintenance fee.

Both have fast application processes online: I mean First Choice MasterCard Classic Secure and DCU Secured card has this quick application process online. As it happens with a secured card, there are no programs or cashbacks.  The First Choice MasterCard classic Secured is practically the same as this DCU secured product we are studying now.

DCU Visa Platinum

This card, adequate for people enjoying a higher credit score, has an annual percentage rate of ten percent (10% APR)

There is no fee for performing transfer balances. Likewise, there are no annual fees and no monthly maintenance. And no penalty fees for foreign transactions.

It has the EMV chip, which is an important layer of trust and security.

DCU Visa Platinum Compared With Similar Products

Now let’s compare the DCU Visa Platinum with other premium products available in the market. I mean products, that are available for cardholders that have higher creditworthiness because of their higher credit score.

 If we compare it with the MidFirst Visa Platinum, there is an advantage for the MidFirst Visa Platinum that is very clear. You enjoy with MidFirst the first year without any annual percentage rate. So, after this year, that actually are 12 billing cycles, this APR will be determined by the position and creditworthiness of the cardholder.

Instead, with the DCU Visa Platinum, you have to pay a 10% APR already since the first year. So, there is an important advantage here for the MidFirst Visa Platinum.

In my opinion, there is an advantage also for the MidFirst Visa Platinum here because you have a Zero Liability program included with Visa that is very advantageous if you travel frequently, and if you buy online frequently too. This advantage is important when traveling because it protects you against fraudulent charges in your card, against unauthorized charges in your card too, so this could be a good advantage.

DCU Visa Platinum Rewards

Now let’s see the DCU Visa Platinum Rewards Card. This is the rewards card from the DCU institution.  So as you can see, all these banks and credit organizations have, generally speaking, three products to cater to different audiences: they have a secured card, a premium card for those who enjoy high credit, and they also have these “rewards” cards.

Let’s see in detail which are the main attributes of this product: the DCU Visa Platinum Rewards.

Visa Platinum Rewards from DCU has a 12.75% annual percentage rate so almost 13% APR. As it is a rewards card, it enjoys all the rewards programs from Visa that is one of the most important rewards programs. Likewise, it features numerous cashback options.

You pay a higher APR than the one you pay for the normal Visa Platinum, the one that doesn’t have any rewards. Visa Platinum without rewards is almost 3% less.  Visa Platinum 10% APR and 3% more for the Platinum Rewards.

Is this extra 3% annual percentage rate justified in the rewards card?

If you are going to perform many qualifying purchases, it is a good option to have the Rewards card despite paying a little bit more for the annual percentage rate.

As it happens with all the DCU products, you have 0 fee for balance transfers (actually you have a 3% for balance transfers with the secured card product of DCU). You enjoy a 0 percent for any cash advance and this card does not have an annual fee or any monthly maintenance fee, so this is very convenient.

It has no penalty fees for any transaction you do in ATMs outside the United States. However, take note that European Union ATMs normally will make you pay a small fee for the service.

This Rewards card has, like all these DCU credit cards, the EMV chip. This is a chip for extra protection where the “E” stands for EuroPay, “M “for MasterCard, and “V” for Visa.

Related Articles

Related to this topic, there are some interesting reviews of credit cards and products related to debit cards and prepaid cards that I would like to suggest you read. I have kept the list short with some featured articles: Mid America credit cards, DCU credit cards, Midfirst cards, First Choice credit cards, the Walmart Rewards Card, the Ace Elite Visa Prepaid, the Venmo Debit Card, and the Relax Mastercard.

Furthermore, the discussion about the possibility of having two or more credit cards from the same bank.