EXCLUSIVE– Fintech startup CreditStacks will be launching a new credit card in about two weeks that will cater to high-earning immigrants in the U.S, CEO Elnor Rozenrot said during a Plug and Play event yesterday in NYC.
The product aims to provide a credit card to “premium, new-to-credit customers,” Rozenrot said.
Rozenrot noted that the card, which is set to hit the market in less than two weeks, will be focused on serving high-earning immigrants: a group who, despite having high-earning potential or sponsored jobs already lined up, find it difficult to gain access to a U.S. bank account or line of credit.
The idea was inspired by Rozenrot’s own experiences, he noted.
“I sold a successful company and I couldn’t get a credit card, and I’m not the only one. Every year, three million new-to-credit, prime customers are mistreated by the banks just because they’re new to credit,” Rozenrot said at the event.
The CreditStacks card will be powered by Mastercard, and issued by First Century Bank. It will have no annual fees and a credit limit of $5,000, he said.
All applicants that fit the company’s underwiting criteria are welcome, according to Rozenrot, but for now the startup is set on marketing towards those premium immigrant customers who lack a credit history within the United States.
While there has been a glut of new credit cards hitting or set to hit the market in recent weeks, few of those credit cards are focused on underbanked or thin-file customers with little or no credit history.
For those immigrants just entering the country, such a barrier could prevent them from renting an apartment, buying a house or even buying a phone, as well as barring them from access to bank accounts, Rozenrot said.
Such applicants can also apply for the card before they have entered the United States, “before they have a Social Security number,” Rozenrot said.