Cred.ai, a Philadelphia-based fintech, is the latest company to offer a credit-building product to the millennial and Gen Z age groups. cred.ai appeals to these groups with a card that's more than just your run-of-the-mill credit card. How is cred.ai differentiating its offering from some of the bigger names in the industry?
cred.ai's offering is called the Unicorn Card. It is more like a debit card than a credit card. There aren't any interest fees or rewards. cred.ai earns its revenue through merchant transactions, deposits, and potential infrastructure licensing deals. The card is also metal. All of these aspects should appeal to younger consumers. Consumers don't have to wait for the metal card to arrive before they can begin using it. They can set up their card with an Apple Wallet and begin using it immediately. However, the card won't be available to consumers until this Fall.
Using the Unicorn Card, payments will be sent to credit bureaus much faster than they are with traditional credit cards. This helps consumers with no credit, little credit, or even poor credit build their credit back up. It's not a secret that millennials and Gen Z don't like credit cards. Instead of incentivizing these groups with rewards, which are usually paid for with credit card interest, the Unicorn Card helps consumers build credit for longer-term goals, such as buying a home.
Some competitors in this space include Chime and the Apple Card. Both have similar offerings. Apple Card took heat when it first came out because of all the application declines, including some high profile rejections. It has since created Path to Apple Card to help consumers who were declined, improve their creditworthiness.
cred.ai has partnered with WSFS, a longtime Visa partner. It's also built its own underwriting infrastructure, which it plans to license out.
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