BPI Express Start Credit Card Review Part II

Last time I actually shared with you guys how you can avail of the BPI Express Start Program. 

Today, I am happy to tell you now that I already received the card way back 2nd of June. It got some delays in the delivery since I requested for the card to be delivered to the branch instead of having it delivered at home(by the way some banks like BDO don’t allow that). The reason is we live in a building and credit cards are required to be received by the owner or by the authorized person. I am working so definitely no one will receive it.

Credit Limit for this Secured Credit Card

I’ve got 90% of my deposit as my credit limit which is 9000 PHP since I deposited 10000 PHP only. As per their representatives, I can increase its credit limit by depositing more and by requesting for the deposit to be placed on hold.

BPI Express Start Credit Card Appearance

Another thing, the card looks very presentable. It doesn’t show any marks that it is a secured credit card. It has the secured chip thingy and it has a one-tap card feature too.

BPI Express Online?

Since I have an account on BPI Express Online, the credit card account is already showing on my portfolio. A Nice thing about it is that all transactions can be tracked in real-time by using the mobile app that they have.

Card Activation

Also, once you’ve got the card it is already activated, so there’s no need to ring and be queued on their hotline just to activate the card.

Real-Time Transactions

BPI Credit Cards are pretty cool because all my transactions are showing on BPI Express Online in real-time. It’s really awesome because you can see and manage your credit limits very well.

Their billing is real-time as well so all purchases made on or before your cut-off date it will all be billed together.

Cut-Offs

So to explain the cut-offs, let me just give an example.

Example:

The cut-off date is the 7th of the month. All charges from the 8th of last month and the 7th of the current month will be billed.

May 8 – June 7 charges will be billed on June 7.

Grace Period for Payments with BPI Credit Cards

Aside from that they only have 20 days grace period so therefore my due dates are every 27th. Before I applied for this, I tried to review the grace periods of the credit cards and I get an answer of 30 days, but apparently, it’s different with BPI.

Paying BPI Credit Card Dues

The last thing, I don’t like the payment methods. We got out of the office at 4:00 and most BPI branches close 30 minutes after my out. I am not able to pay through the branch so I tried using online. I was automatically enrolled online. However, I found out that I still have to enroll in bills payment to enable a feature for paying my credit card bills. I think they suck on that part. My savings and credit card were enrolled but then I still have to enroll for bills payment. Anyway, I already registered myself for that feature and it was processed in 3 business days.

BPI Express Start Credit Cards is advisable due to the following reasons:

• Save money, since your hold-out deposit will earn interest unless you request to terminate your subscription with the program.
• Manage your expenses and
• Also, to build a good credit standing.

Just an added info

As far as I know, having a good standing within the program, BPI can give you a regular credit card. I’m not sure about that though but having a good standing means easier approval among all credit card providers.

To wrap this all up. My conclusion is simple. Anyone can avail of a credit card in the Philippines by applying for a secured credit card using BPI Express Start Program.

Next time I’ll give you guys tips on spending wisely using your credit cards. Stay tuned by following me. Spread the word by sharing. And please comment to provide feedback and discussions.

🙂