Starting in March 2026, your ARQ Prestige account provides you with a secured credit card, backed by the assets in your Save and Trade accounts.
You can use the card to spend any amount up to your credit limit.
Your credit limit is calculated from the assets in your Trade and Save accounts. Safer assets, like USDc, have a higher loan-to-value ratio (100%) than riskier assets, like volatile stocks (for example: GME, which has a loan-to-value ratio of 10%).
Below, we answer frequently asked questions.
If you have further questions or you are experiencing any issues, please contact our Customer Support team via the in-app chat.
SECURED CREDIT 101
What is secured credit? Secured credit is a type of credit line (“credit”) that is backed by the value of another asset, such as the funds in your Savings account (the “Save” section of the app) and the assets in your Trading account (the “Trade” section of the app).
What does “secured” mean? It means that the credit used can be repaid in two ways: (1) the customer pays the amount due, or (2) the lender may sell the asset that secures the credit to repay it.
What is your ARQ Secured Credit Line? It is like any other credit card, but secured by the assets in your Save & Trade accounts. Generally, the more assets in your Save and Trade accounts, the larger your credit limit (up to a ceiling) and the more you can spend on your card.
Why offer a secured product?
It enables us to offer one of the lowest credit card financing rates on the market:
0.7% monthly (8.4% annually) in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia
0.9% monthly (10.8% annually) in Brazil)
It allows you to grow your credit limit as you build your wealth in your Save and Trade accounts
Instantly access as much credit as your assets can support (up to $50,000 USDc)
CALCULATING YOUR CREDIT LINE
How is my credit limit calculated?
You can always spend with your Prestige Card up to your credit available. Your available credit is calculated based on:
The value of your Save and Trade portfolios
The risk of the assets you are holding. More stable assets, like USDc or diversified ETFs, lead to more credit available than less stable assets, like certain stocks. For example, if you have $100 of USDc, your credit limit would be $100. If you had $100 of Nvidia stock, your credit limit would be $30. If you had $100 of Gamestop, your credit limit would be $10.
Your credit use. If you have unpaid expenses on your credit card, they will decrease your credit available.
When you first activate your ARQ Prestige Credit Card, your maximum credit limit is calculated based on the assets in your Trade and Save account as follows:
USDC Cash: 100% of the value held in your Trade and Save accounts will count towards your credit limit
Non-USDC Cash: 70% of the value held in your Trade and Save accounts will count towards your credit limit
Stocks and ETFs: Depending on the type of stock and ETF, the value held in your Trade account may expand your maximum credit limit by 50%, 30%, or 10%
Is there a maximum and minimum credit limit?
Yes:
The maximum credit line is $50,000 USDc
The minimum credit line is $250 USDc
DEPOSITS TO YOUR TRADE AND SAVE ACCOUNT
Each time you add funds to your Trade and Save account, your maximum credit limit may increase. For example, if you add $1,000 USDc to your Save account, your credit available may increase by $1,000.
WITHDRAWALS AND TRADES WITH A CREDIT BALANCE
When you have unpaid expenses, you are using your credit line. The amount you were able to borrow was secured by the assets in your Trade and Save accounts. That means you must continue to hold at least as much value in those accounts as is needed to support your outstanding credit.
What you do in your Trade and Save accounts may change your credit available as follows:
Buying stocks or ETFs in your Trade account may decrease your credit available because the purchased assets may qualify for less credit than the cash you used to buy them.
Withdrawing cash from your Trade or Save accounts may also decrease your credit available.
How does a credit balance affect withdrawals?
You will be able to withdraw cash from your Trade and Save accounts up to the amount that is needed to back your unpaid balance on your card. If you have used all of your credit or you have negative credit available, you will not be able to withdraw cash from your Trade and Save accounts until you pay down your credit balance.
How does a credit balance affect trading?
If you have a credit balance, your combined Save and Trade accounts must contain the value needed to support your credit use. Each time you buy a stock, you are using cash to buy assets (like stocks and ETFs) that may support less credit than cash. Depending on their risk, some stocks and ETFs support a greater amount of credit available than others. As a result, buying power may be different depending on the types of stocks or ETFs you are looking to purchase.
What is “Credit Collateral” in Buying Power?
It is a portion of your Trade cash that is backing your outstanding credit, and so cannot be invested in the asset you are viewing. It only reduces Buying Power when the asset you are trying to purchase can support less credit than cash, and when the cash in your Trade account is backing some of your unpaid card balance.
Why is Buying Power different for different Stocks and ETFs?
Different stocks support different amounts of credit. If you are buying a riskier stock that only supports a credit capacity of 30% or less of its value, then your buying power for that asset may be lower than for a safer asset that supports a 50% credit capacity. This is because you are using cash to buy the asset, and cash supports a 70% or 100% credit capacity. The “credit collateral” amount is reducing buying power to account for the difference in credit supported by the asset you are trying to buy. This means buying power may be lower for higher risk assets than for safer assets.
MARKET PRICE CHANGES
As we covered above, your maximum credit limit is calculated from the assets held in your Save and Trade accounts. As a result, if the value of your Trade portfolio changes from market price moves, your maximum credit limit may also change.
Market price changes in the assets you hold in your Trade account may change your credit available as follows:
Market price increases may increase your credit available once a month
Market price decreases may decrease your credit available more than once a month
Large market price declines may result in a reduction in your maximum credit limit, which may lead to a negative credit available balance (see below).
NEGATIVE CREDIT AVAILABLE
If your unpaid balance is greater than the maximum credit supported by your assets, you will see a negative credit available value. You will not be able to continue spending with your credit card until you have positive credit available. This was likely caused by price decreases in your Trade account, which decrease the total assets securing your credit and may also decrease your credit available.
What should I do if I have negative credit available?
There are two ways to get back to spending with your card:
Pay off your unpaid balance using cash in your account
Add more assets to your Save and Trade accounts, increasing your maximum credit available
What happens if I ignore having negative credit available?
You will not be able to spend with your card.
BILLING CYCLES
Billing cycles are one-month periods starting from when you first subscribe to Prestige.
During a billing cycle, you can spend up to your available credit. Within a billing cycle, you can also pay down the credit that you have spent within that cycle without any interest or financing charges. At the end of a cycle, you will receive a statement with your charges for the last month and the choice to pay or finance any expenses that you have not paid down yet.
PAYING OR FINANCING YOUR BALANCE
If you have an unpaid balance at the end of a billing cycle, there are two choices for how to handle it:
Pay it: use funds in your ARQ account to pay off your credit.
Finance it: Pay a fee of 0.7% (in Mexico, Colombia or Argentina) or 0.9% (in Brazil) of the amount you owe to finance your balance for one month. This will carry your expense balance over to your next billing cycle without decreasing the funds in your ARQ account, so assets in your Trade and Save account can keep earning as normal.
If no action is taken, your outstanding balance will automatically be financed.
When you finance your balance, you will not need to pay it down for another month, at which time you may either pay it down or finance it again. The financing fee will be paid from the cash in your account, and the unpaid balance will carry over into your next billing cycle. It will also continue to be secured by the assets in your Save and Trade account.
When you finance your balance, it will continue to count towards your available credit, and you will be able to continue spending up to your credit limit.
LEGAL NOTE
Prestige Card is a global credit card, issued by DolarApp Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (RFC DME210525LC7), pursuant to an agreement with MasterCard and subject to the applicable Terms and Conditions, MasterCard network rules and applicable laws.
Certain Prestige services could be provided by different ARQ entities. Please visit arqfinance.com for further details.