[VrindaGupta]

Hi, I'm Vrinda Gupta. I worked at Visa Inc. for years, launching popular credit cards. But when I applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve (the credit card I helped develop), I was rejected! I'm now the CEO and Co-Founder of Sequin, a debit card that builds credit for women risk-free with no credit history required. My co-founder, Mark Thomas, spent over a decade at PayPal leading ACH products in various EM roles.

I was rejected from the credit card I helped launch because, despite having a high income, I lacked credit history. I had been using my debit card and was an authorized user on my dad's card - neither of which was building my personal credit history.

I saw in Visa data that 70% of women's spend (concentrated around young women), was similarly on debit or cards in other people's names. As a result, women were disproportionately being rejected by credit cards or getting lower limits and higher interested rates - even though we are shown to be better to lend to. Young women have the largest spending power of any demographic in history, yet there is a clear gender gap in financial services. We're leveling the playing field.

Our first product, the Sequin Card is the first debit card that builds credit for women. Unlike traditional debit cards (which do not build credit), Sequin fronts the money for purchases in the background and repays ourselves automatically from a linked bank account daily. We then report repayment history to credit bureaus - and voila, you're building credit.

Sequin users are primarily young women who are new to the workforce, and are looking to establish or build credit more effectively (towards a higher value credit card). Soon, we'll launch our own suite of credit cards geared towards women with smarter underwriting, targeted rewards, and safer repayment options.

Anyone can apply for Sequin - we designed the product to center women's financial needs (for the first time in history - women could be denied a credit card without a male co-signer until 1974)!

Looking forward to your comments!

[binarymax]

Really cool! What's the biggest differentiator between Sequin and a secured credit card? Me and my wife used the latter as the first step to help build our credit history...but admittedly the limit was small.

[VrindaGupta]

Secured cards have high deposits ($200+) and can still get you into debt if you don't pay back / pay min / pay late - affects women more than men.

[mike_d]

> can still get you into debt if you don't pay back / pay min / pay late

How exactly is your card different? Is there no obligation to make payments? If so, how many cards can I open?

[VrindaGupta]

We connect to your existing bank account and make the payments automatically to build credit. Traditional debit cards do not do this.

[mike_d]

That is exactly what debit cards do. When you make a purchase the money is withdrawn from your account.

The only novel thing here is you are deceiving the processing networks by claiming your debit card is a credit card. My credit union tried to do the same thing many years ago (as a way to build credit for students) and it eventually got caught by the processing networks and recategorized. Within a month or two it dropped off everyone's credit reports and they were back to square one.

[VrindaGupta]

Sequin fronts the money to the merchant and pays ourselves back automatically from a connected bank account (unlike traditional debit cards).

We are an official Visa partner and deal directly with credit bureaus.

[prawn]

From my reading, you're spending your own money, but to the credit tracking side, it looks like you're spending on credit and paying it back without incurring a fee. Clever idea, as long as the credit system continues to work like this.

[fataliss]

Love the mission! It's also such a glaring light on how broken and stupid the credit system is.

[sillysaurusx]

> I was rejected from the credit card I helped launch because, despite having a high income, I lacked credit history.

This happened to me. I got a job in Petaluma, CA where I was rejected for internet service because my credit history was "Unknown risk", i.e. I had no credit history. I was in my early 20's.

It was kind of a bummer to hear that this product is only for women, but seeing as it was a bummer to be a woman for most of history, I can hardly complain. :)

Best of luck! Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[VrindaGupta]

Thanks for sharing your experience! We designed Sequin with women in mind but it's open to anyone to sign up.

[candu]

Another use case where this is potentially useful: relocation. I've been rejected for financial things before after international moves, since I have no credit history _in that place_. Income? Doesn't matter. Previous history elsewhere? Doesn't matter.

This is _also_ an issue for self-employed people, contract workers, or...well, basically anyone who doesn't fit the "I stayed in one place and work full-time" mould.

[samstave]

Well gee... there should be a passport depository box for workers who go to a foreign country to work but are robbed of their passports and forced into slave labor.

[VrindaGupta]

Yes! Great point.

[hpagey]

Me and most of my friends had credit cards when we were in grad school. Amex had that student blue card issued. Most of my cohort used that card to build credit and move on to better cards. Universities also have a student union which issues credit card to students. Is this not the target market for this card?

[VrindaGupta]

Young women are less likely to sign up for those products or be pre-approved (b/c lowest financial literacy levels and thus,lower awareness of products). Target market is young professional woman who missed these opportunities to build credit early.

[Geekette]

Congrats on launching. Seems the differentiating utility of your product is moreso about being marketed to vs built for young women? I.e. there isn't necessarily any product feature specific to female users but crucial effort is required to build effective channels to reach them.

So, I assume your sales/market building process will be more front loaded with an info campaign, due to many being unaware of how they're underserved/under-rewarded relative to their spending power and also per lower levels of financial literacy and product awareness that you cited below.

[VrindaGupta]

Awareness is a key piece, yes - however, they product is designed for women in a few key ways: 1) women are putting 70% of spend on debit cards which don't build credit, this is a debit card that gives them the same control, but builds credit.; 2) women are more likely to make avoidable credit mistakes - this is a risk free, interest free product;3) credit scoring - we don't report credit utilization which disproportionately impacts women's credit histories.

[ryanisnan]

This is wild! I had no idea such discrimination existed, though on reflection, my partner has had quite a hard time building her credit for not too dissimilar reasons. Congratulations on the launch.

[VrindaGupta]

Thanks! The opportunity to evangelize the mission with Sequin is one of the coolest (and most challenging) bits.

[danpalmer]

Congratulations! This sounds very exciting. I've heard about the inequality in financial products but didn't really understand why, thanks for the explanation of this particular bit.

I could imagine that this is a problem that women may not realise until it's "too late" – when they get to opening that credit card or applying for a mortgage. While Sequin would help address that situation if used in advance, is there anything that can be done at the point that it's already too late?

[VrindaGupta]

That's exactly what we're trying to solve here with Sequin. We're targeting young professional women / new grads to address the problem at the source.

[mritchie712]

When you report, what are you saying the credit limit is? Utilization is a huge factor in your credit score and you technically don't have a credit limit for this product.

[VrindaGupta]

We actively decided not to report credit utilization, as it was hurting women's credit more than helping (lower limits = higher utilization).

[hn_user82179]

I wouldn’t have expected a need for a “gendered” debit card - it’s pretty crazy that young women are so disproportionately “behind” in building their credit. I will admit I fell in that category a few years ago (didn’t get a credit card until a few months before I graduated college) and I’m still regretting waiting so long to start building credit. I hope you can help other young women not make my mistake!

[VrindaGupta]

That's the hope!

[zinodaur]

What a great idea!

Why aren't debit cards normally hooked into the credit history system?

[VrindaGupta]

We built a credit reporting engine on top of a traditional debit card. Traditional debit cards are meant to access your checking account directly.

[simtel20]

I'm the case of identity theft/card #theft, credit cards provide limited liability, while debit cards do not, at least in the USA. How do you plan on protecting your customers if they want to use the card for on-line purchases and are therefore exposed to this risk? Or can you even us debit cards for online purchases?

[VrindaGupta]

You can use Sequin anywhere Visa is accepted (online, offline, etc). A cool feature is, you can actually set your daily limit on the card which protects against fraud - over traditional debit and even credit.

[deburo]

>I saw in Visa data that 70% of women's spend (concentrated around young women), was similarly on debit or cards in other people's names

That's so odd. Studies on this outcome would be interesting.

[ashishk]

Love this idea! Have felt the problem myself and have seen my mother/MIL/wife struggle with the same thing.

It's clear that you both have extensive experience in the space, too.

How can I help / get involved? :-)

[VrindaGupta]

Spread the word, www.sequincard.com!

[cpach]

Cool startup! I like the name. In my locale, “sekin” is slang for money.

[VrindaGupta]

That was the origin of the name!

[raman162]

Congrats on launching. I appreciate the mission you're on and bonus points for keeping it open to everyone!

[bredren]

Would you please contextualize your product against Apple Card Family?

[EMM_386]

> Our first product, the Sequin Card is the first debit card that builds credit for women

Serious question ... why only women?

I know you list reasons such as "women were disproportionately being rejected by credit cards", but at the end of the day isn't this something that can help out anyone?

I'm curious why you are throwing out 50% of your potential customer base. I don't fully understand what a "credit card for women" is ... are you going to come up with clone targeted under a different name towards males?

[VrindaGupta]

I'll answer here. :)

Banks spend 13x more advertising to men than women. Young women have the largest spending power of any demographic ever - this is a seismic shift in the market.

Credit card rewards target where men are spending 60% more of the time, versus where women are spending 60% more (and control 85% of GDP).

[avarun]

Wow, those numbers are fascinating. I'd love to see the sources if you have them, so I can read up on the topic more.

[sillysaurusx]

I had the same thought, but (a) it’s open to everyone, (b) no one minds when Axe makes a deodorant specifically for men, and (c) it’s better to focus on a small group of customers that love you than a large group that might mildly like you.

[ecf]

Because this product doesn’t seem to be doing anything different and the only way they can get buyers it is to try to proclaim that the service is made specifically for “insert underserved group here”.

It’s a common trend with startups being accepted into YC nowadays.

[sillysaurusx]

I don’t usually downvote comments, but this one is a combination of hubris (what are the chances you know better than YC plus the founders?) and snark (“common trend with YC startups…”).

The trouble is, you might be right! Maybe it is a trend. But if you phrase it as a question, it has a higher chance of being a substantive observation rather than a middlebrow dismissal.

I used to do the same thing. Habits can change; I found it worthwhile to try.

All that matters is whether the startup can grow. If these tactics lead to growth, can they be called mistaken?