Building a credit history is critical—whether you’re buying a house, leasing an apartment, even signing a cell phone contract.
Enter Self Financial (“Self”), an Austin, Texas-based issuer fintech working with DPS to offer consumers a compelling service: a credit card secured in installments, offering the convenience, reliability and security of digital payments, but with the added bonus of strengthening their creditworthiness as a by-product of their day-to-day usage.
Self launched its secured credit program with DPS in September 2019. Self’s existing Credit Builder Account allows clients to build credit and set money aside for savings to achieve their long-term financial goals. Cardholders can get into the habit of making small dollar amount payments every month on their credit builder loan, which can do double duty as a way to build the security deposit for a credit line. Cardholders can also use the secured credit card for day-to-day transactions and have the option of increasing their credit limit as they continue to make monthly installment payments on their Credit Builder Account. Self’s card portfolio reached approximately 200,000 cards in its first year and continues to grow rapidly.1
As a Visa brand client, Self chose DPS to leverage the Visa network with simplified and expedited integration, building a consumer mobile app as well as administrative tools to manage their program, all leveraging DPS APIs.
“Working with Self has been tremendous,” according to Michelle Dawson, “They bring deep expertise, creativity and passion to their work every day and it shows in their results.”
At the heart of Self’s success story are their people and mission. Self was recognized in 2020 as being one of the Best Places to Work in Financial Technology in the US. “The key to our success comes down to our mission; we are driven to increase financial inclusion and health by enabling people to access and responsibly build credit. This common goal forms the basis of our company culture, uniting us in a common purpose,” said James Garvey, Self Financial CEO.2