Credit Cards

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 12.99% – 26.99%
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
With this digital-first card, you’re rewarded for prudent money-management. The initial 1% cash back rate increases to 1.5% cash back after twelve on-time monthly payments.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who wants a simple, no-fee credit card that’s digital-first, Petal 2 may be the card for you. With a clean, simple app interface and a focus on budgeting and money management, Petal 2 is a good choice for those who want to keep track of their finances, easily manage their interest payments and do it all through an easy-to-use app.

Bonus Points:
– Automatically earn up to 10% cash back with select merchants.

Fintech Pros :
– The Petal Card app allows you to manage and stick to a budget, monitor your credit score and visualize your spending habits all in one place.

Fintech Cons:
– None

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 19.99% – 29.49%
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
For the Petal 1 card, Petal gives you a “cash score” by looking at your bank account history, income and expenses. Petal can use this information to approve you for a Petal 1 card even if you have poor/no credit.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who wants a simple, no-fee credit card that’s digital-first and you have limited or no credit, then Petal 1 may be the card for you. With a clean, simple app interface and a focus on budgeting and money management, Petal 1 is a good choice for those who want to keep track of their finances, easily manage their interest payments and do it all through an easy-to-use app.

Bonus Points:
– Automatically earn up to 10% cash back with select merchants.

Fintech Pros :
– The Petal Card app allows you to manage and stick to a budget, monitor your credit score and visualize your spending habits all in one place.

Fintech Cons:
– None

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 6.99-29.99% variable
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
Upgrade Card is a credit card that functions like a personal loan, where the card user is issued with a personal line of credit, and pays it back in fixed repayments over an extended period of time.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who needs an extended period of time to pay off major expenses, and you want to put them on a credit card that gives you consistent, fixed payments over time than this may be the card for you. In contrast to regular credit cards that accrue high interest if the balance is not payed off by the end of the month, Upgrade Card is designed for higher priced purchases and offers a lower fixed rate of interest that is consistent  over time. Upgrade Card can also help your credit score for these type of purchases because your balance doesn’t get counted toward your debt utilization ratio. Additionally, monthly repayments can be debited directly from your bank account and the outstanding balance can be payed of at any time with no penalty.

Bonus points:
– There are zero fees of any kind.
– Users get access to free credit monitoring, alerts and credit education tools.
– $0 in fraud liability.

Fintech Pros :
– Upon being approved, you can get instant access to a virtual card without having to wait for your physical card to arrive.
– With the Upgrade App, you can get deep, detailed insights into your credit health – tracking your credit score progress over time, understanding the factors that influence your score and getting personalized tips to improve your score in the future.

Fintech Cons:
– None

• Annual Fee – $29-$59
• APR – 24.99% – 25.99% variable 
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
Avant is a digital-first credit card that my be accessible for those with poor credit scores that are likely to be rejected by many other credit cards. Avant uses certain alternative factors other than credit scores to determine eligibility which may appeal to certain low credit individuals who otherwise have strong financials.

Who is this card for:
Avant is a credit card aimed at those early in their credit journey that are looking to increase their credit score. With no cash back, no reward points and low credit limits however, this card offers little to those who can get approval for other credit cards.

Bonus points:
– No foreign transaction fees
– $0 in fraud liability

Fintech Pros :
– With the Avant App, you can track your credit card transactions and loan repayments along side your Avant personal loans to give you a more complete view of your finances in one place.

Fintech Cons:
– Avant doesn’t offer virtual cards or free credit tracking.

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 18.74% variable 
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
Deserve EDU is a credit card specifically aimed at international students new to the US, with no previous credit history or Social Security Number required to apply.

Who is this card for:
If you’re a student that has just recently moved to the US and are looking to start building a credit score, while simultaneously getting student-centric rewards as well as 1% cash back, this could be a great card for you. No Social Security Number is required for international students to apply, making this a hassle-free card, without some of the complications that come with getting a credit card as a non-citizen or green card holder.

Bonus points:
– Get 12 months of Amazon Prime Student for free after your first purchase.
– No International transaction fees.

Fintech Pros :
– As a digital-first credit card, Deserve’s app has all of the features you’d expect including digital tracking of payments, tracking of your credit journey and freezing/unfreezing your card within the app.
– Integration with Apple Wallet and Google Pay.

Fintech Cons:
– Deserve does not report credit ratings to Equifax

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 21.49% to 28.49% variable 
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
Earn 2 points per $1 spent on PayPal and eBay purchases.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who’s looking for a digital-first rewards credit card from an established established name in the fintech world, it’s hard to go wrong with the PayPal Extras Mastercard. If you’re one of the many people who already have a PayPal account, applying for this card is an easy way to get rewarded with points for all of your existing PayPal purchases as well as your day-to-day expenses.

Bonus Points:
– Earn 3 points per $1 spent on gas and restaurant purchases.

Fintech Pros :
– For those who already have a PayPal account, the simple integration of this card through the PayPal app makes this a seamless addition to your personal fintech setup.

Fintech Cons:
– There are minimum thresholds a cardholder must meet to redeem points earned using this card, which vary depending on the rewards category, with many users unlikely to hit some of these redemption thresholds.
– The point-to-dollar redemption rate is lower than many other rewards cards, and the travel redemption options can be limited.

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 19.99% – 26.99% variable
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
Earn 2% cash back on every purchase. This cash back  is redeemable directly from your PayPal balance at any time with no redemption threshold

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who’s looking for a digital-first cashback credit card from an established established name in the fintech world, it’s hard to go wrong with the PayPal Cashback Mastercard. If you’re one of the many people who already have a PayPal account, applying for this card is an easy way add the benefits of cash back and digital financial management with very little hassle.

Bonus Points:
– No limit on how much cash back you can earn, and no minimum threshold to redeem your cashback rewards.

Fintech Pros :
– For those who already have a PayPal account, the simple integration of this card through the PayPal app makes this a seamless addition to your personal fintech setup.

Fintech Cons:
– You can only redeem the cash back amount each month as a statement credit to your PayPal account, which you have to manually transfer over.

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 0% intro for 15 months, 15.49% – 25.49% variable after that
• Welcome Offer – Earn a one-time $150 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening

Unique Selling Point:
Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who doesn’t really value travel rewards, has moderate credit and doesn’t like annual fees, it’s hard to go wrong with the Capital One Quicksilver credit card. While Capital One started off as an old-school brick-and-mortar bank, they have long focused on a digital-first approach to banking which can is why we’ve included them in our list. Capital One strikes a good balance between the established name-recognition and customer support of old-school brick-and-mortar banks, and the digital offerings of newer, online-only neobanks.

Bonus Points:
– Access to Capital One exclusive events.

Fintech Pros :
– With the Capital One app, you can manage your Capital One credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts all in one place. You can also track your credit score, freeze/unfreeze your card and get a detailed breakdown of all of your transactions including push notification alerts for added security.

Fintech Cons:
– Capital One doesn’t offer virtual cards.

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 10.99% – 21.99% variable
• Welcome Offer – None

Unique Selling Point:
Get 2% daily cash back every time you pay with your iPhone or Apple Watch.

Who is this card for:
If you’re an Apple addict who makes a lot of purchases using Apple Pay, this may be the card for you. While overall the rewards of the Apple Card are relatively limited, especially when compared to some of the big players like Capital One, this card is still a decent choice for those who are already invested in the Apple ecosystem.

Bonus points:
– 3% discount on all Apple products through their online store.
– 3% discount on selected retailers and services including Nike, Exxon and Uber.

Fintech pros:
– For those already ingrained within the Apple ecosystem, the simple integration of this card through the wallet app and Apple Watch connectivity will likely be very appealing.
– The wallet app integration allows for a lot of novel features not often seen in a credit card. Automatic location-mapping of your purchases, direct in-app customer service and integration of bill scheduling with your Apple calendar are just a few of the fintech-first approach that make this card appealing.

Fintech cons:
– Those without an iPhone will find very little benefit from this card, as it has no Android integration.

• Annual Fee – $95
• APR – 17.24% – 24.49% variable
• Welcome Offer – Earn 50,000 bonus miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening and earn an additional 50,000 bonus miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening

Unique Selling Point:
Earn unlimited 2x miles per dollar on every purchase, every day.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who values travel rewards, has good credit and doesn’t mind a modest annual fee, it’s hard to go wrong with the Capital One Venture Rewards credit card. While Capital One started off as an old-school brick-and-mortar bank, they have long focused on a digital-first approach to banking which can is why we’ve included them in our list. Capital One strikes a good balance between the established name-recognition and customer support of old-school brick-and-mortar banks, and the digital offerings of newer, online-only neobanks.

Bonus points:
– No foreign transaction fees.
– Receive up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre®.

Fintech Pros :
– With the Capital One app, you can manage your Capital One credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts all in one place. You can also redeem your credit card rewards on the go, as well as track your credit score, freeze/unfreeze your card and get a detailed breakdown of all of your transactions including push notification alerts for added security.
– With Eno – Capital One’s digital assistant, you get help with your Capital One credit card 24/7 through the app, email and text. Eno also provides a browser extension where Capital One users can use temporary virtual cards linked to their credit cards for extra security when shopping online.

Fintech Cons:
– As Eno’s virtual cards work through a browser extension, they are only available when shopping online through your desktop and are currently unavailable on mobile.

• Annual Fee – $0
• APR – 15.49% – 25.49%
• Welcome Offer – Earn 25,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening

Unique Selling Point:
Earn unlimited 1.25X miles per dollar on every purchase, every day.

Who is this card for:
If you’re someone who values travel rewards, has moderate credit and doesn’t like annual fees, it’s hard to go wrong with the Capital One Venture One Rewards credit card. While Capital One started off as an old-school brick-and-mortar bank, they have long focused on a digital-first approach to banking which can is why we’ve included them in our list. Capital One strikes a good balance between the established name-recognition and customer support of old-school brick-and-mortar banks, and the digital offerings of newer, online-only neobanks.

Bonus points:
– No foreign transaction fees.
– $0 Fraud Liability
– Access to Capital One exclusive events.

Fintech Pros :
– With the Capital One app, you can manage your Capital One credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts all in one place. You can also redeem your credit card rewards on the go, as well as track your credit score, freeze/unfreeze your card and get a detailed breakdown of all of your transactions including push notification alerts for added security.
– With Eno – Capital One’s digital assistant, you get help with your Capital One credit card 24/7 through the app, email and text. Eno also provides a browser extension where Capital One users can use temporary virtual cards linked to their credit cards for extra security when shopping online.

Fintech Cons:
– As Eno’s virtual cards work through a browser extension, they are only available when shopping online through your desktop and are currently unavailable on mobile.