A founder’s guide to the paths, tradeoffs, and decision points that matter There’s more than one way to launch a credit card. If you’re a fintech founder or early product lead exploring how to offer a credit product, you’ve likely discovered this already: there’s no single blueprint. Just a handful of viable paths each with their own infrastructure choices, regulatory implications, cost profiles, and long-term consequences. This post breaks down the core approaches, the real-

What operations infrastructure do you need beyond your LMS and LOS? Even “full-suite” LMSs and LOSs will leave some gaps. Adding to the confusion, many LMSs and LOSs partially cover some essential functions — for example, they might advertise payment acceptance, but can they handle mailed paper checks? They might have fraud features, but are they adequate for your product? Trust us: you want to address those gaps before launch, not discover them after. To build a compliant, s

Launching a credit card (or other lending product) can make you feel like you're spread pretty thin. There's a myriad of vendor, partner, and infrastructure decisions to make, and all of them are consequential. You're juggling a lot: Searching for a sponsor bank. Writing the credit policy that will define how your first loans are made (and how your first returns will look!) Convincing debt providers to take a chance on you. Contracts. So many contracts. Assembling the tech st

The Short Answer: Yes, and Don't Cut Corners When investors, debt providers, and sponsor banks ask to see your credit policy, it may seem like just another box to check. Can’t we just explain the model and include some example flows? Can I whip one up with some help from ChatGPT and a few templates? But while it might seem like a boring document, the credit policy is a terrible place to skimp. Those dozens of pages prove that you're a serious lending business ready to lend re