There are three options for people with insufficient or no proof of income:

• Secured credit card.
• Supplementary credit card.
• Prepaid card.

These credit card alternatives require no background checks or strict documentary requirements like ITR or certificate of employment.

For this reason, they are ideally used by the unemployed, students, stay-at-home moms, freelancers who haven’t paid taxes, first-time cardholders, minimum wage earners, and those with no or poor credit history.

Let’s explore each card in detail.

a. Secured Credit Card

Secured credit cards also enable you to do cashless transactions like regular credit cards. But unlike the latter, it’s easier to get approved when applying for a secured credit card as they don’t require any proof of income.

However, banks offering secured credit cards require applicants to open a savings or time deposit account. The minimum deposit will serve as collateral where the bank will get deductions from in case of missed credit card payments.

The money in your account will also determine your credit limit. Most banks, for example, set a certain percentage (80% to 95%) of the minimum deposit as your card’s credit limit.

Unfortunately, there’s no available BDO secured credit card as of this writing. If you want to have one, consider the following secured credit cards offered by other banks:

• AUB Secured Credit Card (Minimum deposit: Php 25,000 for AUB Easy Mastercard; Credit limit: 80% of deposit).
• BPI Express Start (Minimum deposit: Php 10,000 for a savings account and Php 50,000 for time deposit; Credit limit: 90% of deposit).
• Metrobank Save and Swipe (Minimum deposit: Php 12,000; Credit limit: 90% of deposit).
• RCBC Bankard InstaCard (Minimum deposit: Php 10,000 / USD 2,000; Credit limit: 95% of deposit).
• Security Bank Fast Track (Minimum deposit: Php 15,000 for a savings account and Php 100,000 for time deposit; Credit limit: 80% of deposit).

To keep the secured credit card active, banks will require applicants to never touch the minimum deposit amount.

After 12 months or so of using the card and regularly paying your balance on time, you can then upgrade to a regular credit card with a higher credit limit.

b. Supplementary Credit Card

A supplementary credit card is simply an extension of the credit given to primary cardholders. Banks may allow credit cardholders to have up to seven supplementary cards.

These cards are usually given by the primary cardholders to their family members who are unable to show proof of income due to age or unemployment.

If you’re a student, a senior citizen way past the required age for credit card application, a stay-at-home mom, or an unemployed spouse/parent/sibling, you can convince a family member with a credit card to help you avail of a supplementary card.

Like regular credit cards, supplementary cards also earn points and qualify for promos. However, supplementary cardholders share credit limit with the primary cardholders, who have full control over how much the former can spend.

As with secured credit cards, supplementary credit cards are also a good stepping stone to a regular credit card.

c. Prepaid cards.

Reloadable prepaid cards provide a convenient way to do cashless transactions in any store that accepts Mastercard or Visa.

These cards work like debit cards as you can only spend the money available in your account. But unlike debit cards, prepaid cards don’t require you to open a regular savings account.

BDO offers two prepaid cards:

• BDO Cash Card which only cost Php 150 with no minimum maintaining balance. You can apply for it at any BDO branch nationwide even without a checking or savings account.
• BDO Visa Travel Money Card which is available for existing BDO depositors. It can be used to store different foreign currencies intended for overseas purchases when you travel.

Go back to the main page: How to Apply for BDO Credit Card