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The alternative lending company founded as SelfScore changed its name to "Deserve" in 2017 and began offering a wider portfolio of credit cards. You can read about those cards here. However, Deserve later discontinued its cards. As a result, all offers described on this page are out of date.
A year after it began offering credit cards to eligible international students, alternative lending company SelfScore is increasing its portfolio of financial products by adding a rewards credit card: the SelfScore Achieve® for Students. It offers a higher credit limit, cash-back rewards and an introductory APR of 0% on New Purchases for 6 Months (19.74% variable APR thereafter), and then the ongoing APR of 19.74% Variable.
The new card was designed to help international students studying in the U.S. — although applications are no longer restricted only to international students.
The best news for would-be cardholders?
"We will not be looking at credit scores," says Kalpesh Kapadia, the company's co-founder and CEO. Instead, the company uses its proprietary scoring system, opening the card up to people who don't have a FICO score, commonly used to qualify for credit cards.
More on that below. First, let's look at the new card.
SelfScore Achieve® for Students: The basics
SelfScore's first credit card product, the SelfScore Classic Mastercard, is fairly bare-bones. Credit limits start at $300 but can be increased to $1,500 once the cardholder meets certain requirements, like linking the card to a bank account and making several on-time payments. The Classic has no annual fee, and it doesn't require a Social Security number. It does, however, help newly arrived students build a credit history in the U.S.
The new card has a little more meat to it:
Credit limits of up to $5,000
The $0
Unlimited cash back rewards of 1% on all purchases
No foreign transaction fees
0% on New Purchases for 6 Months (19.74% variable APR thereafter), and then the ongoing APR of 19.74% Variable
Both cards come with Mastercard Platinum benefits, including purchase assurance, extended warranty coverage, travel assistance and car rental collision waivers.
How to qualify for a SelfScore Mastercard
Traditional credit scores depend on how you've handled credit in the past. But what if you've never had credit before, or your credit history was left behind in your home country when you moved to the U.S.?
SelfScore says it wants to help creditworthy students, and eventually nonstudents, who are stuck in the conundrum of not being able to get credit because they don't already have credit.
SelfScore evaluates creditworthiness by looking at documents common to international students, such as passports, student visas and financial documentation that foreign students must submit to their universities anyway.
"Funding sources matter," Kapadia says. "You have demonstrated that to the university and to the embassy overseas. We are piggybacking on that."
Expanding access to credit
Even though SelfScore doesn't rely on traditional credit scores, the company recognizes that international students will need those credit scores as their financial needs change over time. SelfScore reports account activity to two of the three major credit bureaus — Experian and TransUnion — so responsible use of a SelfScore card will result in a better credit score over time.
But Kapadia isn't keen on helping students build credit only to lose them when they can qualify for more enticing credit cards elsewhere. Hence the new rewards card and a hinted-at suite of premium credit cards in the future.
» MORE: The best student credit cards
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