Getting a first or second chance to build credit with a credit card has been easier in recent years because financial technology companies have created alternative options.
But while many of these relative newcomers can indeed help you build credit, it’s worth noting that the journey might sometimes be bumpy as the company behind the card continues to scale.All credit card companies, traditional and nontraditional, are allowed to make changes to your account terms, although depending on what exactly is changing, they must follow certain guidelines.
For example, a relatively new credit card company might rebrand, meaning any number of features may change. CreditStacks announced a namesake credit card in 2018, but by 2020, the company and card were going by the name Jasper, sending out redesigned cards and expanding the pool of applicants who might qualify. It later pivoted to being a cash-back card for people with good credit.Grow Credit launched a credit card in some states in 2019, eventually taking it nationwide in 2020.
Jamie Howard, an e-learning director based in Tennessee, was among those cardholders. He was told that he’d have to pay an $8 monthly charge or opt out and have his account closed. “A chronic problem with fintechs is the lack of human customer service,” Saunders says. “One of the ways they can make things more cheaply is by cutting out brick-and-mortar branches, cutting out live customer service, relying on chat and other automated or electronic channels. That works well until it doesn’t.”