What’s my available credit?
You may obtain your available credit by calling the phone number on the back of your card, and following the prompts. You may also login to our website to find this information. Once you’re logged in, click on View Balance. The number here is the amount of $$ you have available to spend, assuming your card is in Positive status; if the card is not in Positive status, there may be a number showing in Available to Spend but you will not be able to access it. The available credit is the total credit available (Credit Limit) minus any purchases made. Fees DO NOT reduce your available credit, which is why you can have an amount due that is more than your credit limit.
What’s my credit limit?
You may review your credit limit by calling the phone number on the back of your card, and following the prompts. You may also login to our website to find this information. Once you’re logged in, click on View Balance. The number listed as Credit Limit represents the total amount of credit that is made available to you in this debit period (weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly).
What’s the amount/date of my next debit?
You may obtain the amount and date of your upcoming debit by calling the phone number on the back of your card, and following the prompts. You may also login to our website to find this information. Once logged in, click on View Transactions. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of your screen to Pending Debits. This is the amount currently due, and is the amount of the next debit (assuming no additional purchases are made). This number is made up of all of the purchases made this period, plus the corresponding fees.
Sometimes cardholders don’t understand exactly how we computed the number. Scroll through the Transactions section of the screen. Any purchases (and associated) fees that we made between your last debit date and up to 7 days prior to your upcoming debit date will be included in the debit amount. Purchases made less than 7 days prior to your next debit will be included in the following debit.
I have $$XX in available credit, but my card was declined. Why?
Typically, this is because the card is in a status other than Positive. If a debit is returned by your bank, your account will go into Temporary Hold status until that debt is cleared. If this is the case, you will need to contact our Returns Department.
Another reason you may be on Temporary Hold is because we do not have updated contact information for you. We are required to maintain up to date address records for all of our cardholders. If mail is returned to us, then we will attempt to contact you using the phone number(s) and email address we have on file. If we are unable to reach you, your account will be placed on Temporary Hold until you contact us with the updated information.
Another reason a card may be declined is because you attempted to make a purchase that cost more than the remaining available credit on your account. For example, if you have $10.00 in available credit, and you attempt to make a purchase for $10.01, that purchase would be declined.
You already debited my bank account, but my I can’t use my card/don’t have any credit available.
The reason you not have an updated balance is because we have a risk rule for all new accounts that there is a 5-day hold time following the first debit before we update the available credit. The reason for this rule is that many banks do not return a payment for insufficient funds or other reasons for up to 5 days, and most fraud on the cards happens on the very first debit. On all future debits, your available credit is updated on the very same day of your debit.
The rule is explained in paragraph 4 of the cardholder agreement
“4. Promise to Pay / Method of Payment. On each scheduled Due Date, you agree to pay all amounts due to Issuer in full, including reimbursement for all Transactions made on your Account as well as all Transaction Fees (“Transaction Fees”) and other charges as described below. You may access your Transaction history, including your next Due Date and amount due, by calling the phone number on the back of your card or on the web at www. essentiafinancial.net. On each Due Date your bank account (“Bank Account”) will be drafted through Electronic Funds Transfer (“EFT”) for all amounts due to Issuer. The first time that your Bank Account is drafted for amounts due to Issuer, your Card will not be available again for use until 5 days following the Due Date.”
Can you increase my credit limit?
Credit limit increases are system generated according to a specific debit history with us. The increase process is tied to cumulative debits, not cumulative purchases. Currently, the process for credit limits is as follows: Every cardholder begins with an initial credit limit of $50. Following $50 in cumulative debits (i.e. one $50 debit, or 5 $10 debits, doesn’t matter), the credit limit automatically increases to $75. Following an additional $75 in debits, or a cumulative total of $125 in debits, the credit limit increases to $100. Following an additional $100 in debits, or a cumulative debit total of $225 in debits, the credit limit increases to $125. Following an additional $125 in debits, or a cumulative total of $350 in debits, the credit limit increases to $150, which is the current maximum.
I need to delay my debit. I’m not going to have the money to pay.
We can delay a pending debit. There is an $8.00 Delay ACH fee in order to delay a debit. Also, we require 4 days notice in order to delay a payment. A delay request must be made 4 days in advance of a pending debit, and the delay cannot be greater than 30 days from today.
This requirement is disclosed in paragraph 5 of the cardholder agreement
“Delayed Payment Fee. You may request a one-time change in your scheduled Due Date of up to 14 days from the next scheduled Due Date, and Issuer may grant this delayed payment date. If the requested change is for the purpose of delaying payment of any amounts currently due, a fee of $8.00 will be charged to your account for each delayed payment date change. You must call at least 4 days prior to your next scheduled Due Date in order to delay your payment. Requests to delay a scheduled Due Date that are made less than 4 days prior to the next scheduled Due Date may not be honored.
Very Important. If you are calling the Help Desk to delay a payment, make it clear that you are delaying just this ONE payment only. If you are calling to permanently change your debit schedule, there are different steps for the operator to follow.
Also, please understand that when you delay your payment, we are delaying the CURRENTLY pending debit amount only. If you still have credit available, and you want to use your card anytime between now and 7 days or more from the ORIGINAL debit date, then those purchases will revert to the original debit date, and you will have to call and delay that debit as well. So, if you are planning to use the card again between now and 7 days before the originally pending debit, then you should just wait, and call back, rather than incurring two delay fees.
How do I mail a payment?
If we receive a payment by mail, we must close the account. If you would like to close your account and make your final payment by mail, please send a money order to Card Services, P. O. Box 11764 Columbia, South Carolina 29211. We will set your next due date 30 days from today in order to give you time to send in your payment. However, if we have not received the payment by the end of 30 days, your account will drafted.
How do I access my account/check my balance online?
You are automatically set up to manage your account online when your card is enrolled. From the main page (www.essentiafinancial.net), just enter your account number (printed on the front of your card) for User Name. Your password is the 4-digit number you received from our Help Desk operators when you enrolled.
I am being debited incorrectly.
A cardholder may elect to be debited Monthly, Semi-Monthly, Bi-Weekly, or Weekly. This option is selected during card enrollment. Sometimes it is easy for us to see what went wrong (you were set up for bi-weekly, which means every other week on the same day, instead of semi-monthly, which is 2 specific days during the month).
But it could be that you were set up properly and then later had a collections debit. Collections debits hit 14 days following the DATE of the RETURN. Sometimes cardholders think we debited them on the “wrong day” but a Collections debit isn’t necessarily going to be on the same day as the regular debit. Prior to a collections debit, you will always receive notification via mail or email of the date and amount of that debit, to give you the opportunity to make other arrangements if necessary.
Do you report my positive credit history to the credit bureaus to improve my credit score?
Because the major credit reporting agencies currently categorize our business as a lender similar to a payday loan vendor, from whom they will not accept positive payment history, they also will not accept direct reporting of your payment history from us. We are working to challenge this designation.
In the mean time, your positive payment history with us has resulted in regular credit increases through our company, and has put you at the very top tier of our customers. We are developing a product now that will provide cardholders like yourself access to substantially higher lines of credit, and when it becomes available, you will be contacted.
Even though the major credit bureaus do not accept reporting from us, we do report your positive history to a credit reporting agency. Approximately 50 million Americans have little or no credit history on file with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, but like yourself, earn a steady income and meet regular payment obligations of rent, utilities, and recurring bills. The agency to whom we report is a leading provider for what is called an “expanded credit report.” This is the kind of report a potential employer or landlord or rent-to-own place would run in order to determine your credit worthiness.
While making regular payments to us does improve your creditworthiness to someone who is looking at a more comprehensive picture of your payment history, unfortunately your history with us may not get onto the credit report you would get from the big 3 listed above.
My card won’t swipe.
If your card is in Positive status with credit available, and you are still getting a decline at the terminal, it could be a communication issue with the terminal (which our operators would be glad to research for you). If we don’t see any declines on our side, it is possible that the card has become demagnetized and will need to be replaced.