Credit Sesame today introduced Sesame Cash, a free digital bank account. Early access to Sesame Cash is now available for existing customers and will soon be rolling out to the general public.
The new offering is part of a new digital banking service that is intended to help consumers grow their cash and credit in one place for free as they spend and save.
The challenge: More than half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
- The majority of Credit Sesame's customers rely solely on cash and credit to live and make daily spending decisions
- A recent member survey suggests that more than five million customers want a new banking service offering that integrates their cash and credit.
The offering: Sesame Cash marries Credit Sesame's deep focus on personal credit with digital banking.
- The new banking service will analyze consumers’ cash and their repayment ability against their credit to provide them with personalized recommendations.
- For example, with this new insight into consumers’ cashflows, Credit Sesame can even further optimize suggestions for relevant credit products from the hundreds of financial institutions it works with and pre-qualify consumers for approval.
- As part of its roadmap, the company aims at making access to credit and credit improvements one-click services.
- Credit Sesame is partnering with Community Federal Savings Bank, member FDIC for its debit card.
“Through the use of advanced machine learning and AI, we’ve helped millions of consumers improve and manage their credit. However, there has been a disconnect between consumers’ cash and credit. Their cashflow, how and when they use cash or pay for their credit and debt all have a major impact on their credit health,” said Adrian Nazari, Credit Sesame founder and CEO. “We are now bridging that gap and unlocking a whole new set of benefits and capabilities in a new product category.”
Account specs: Credit Sesame’s digital bank account offers similar features to other challenger banks, and it has some credit-centric features that differentiate it.
- Free, daily credit score refreshes: Customers will have access to daily score updates.
- Cash rewards tied to improving credit: A monthly incentive program rewards consumers with up to $100 as they improve their credit scores.
- $1 million credit and identity protection: A free credit and identity theft protection, which includes live access to identity restoration specialists.
Future features: Credit Sesame will also be rolling out a number of features and benefits in the coming months, including:
- A smart bill pay service that optimizes and manages consumers’ cash to improve consumers’ credit, lower interest payments on their credit balances, and pay down debt.
- Auto-savings roundup to the nearest dollar for transactions to help consumers pay down their debt or save to reach financial goals.
- Additional cash rewards programs for everyday purchases.
- Smart budgeting tools
Context: Credit Sesame follows in the footsteps of a growing number of brands moving deeper into financial services.
- Competitor Credit Karma launched its own savings account in 2019 and was acquired by Intuit in early 2020 for $7.1 billion.
- Being able to hold and move money creates an ecosystem around personal finance management and provides a new revenue stream.