Stamford”™s Synchrony Financial has teamed with Amazon to create “Amazon Credit Builder,” a program offering a secured credit card for consumers who have no or bad credit.
It offers identical benefits to the Amazon.com Store Card but requires a refundable security deposit, which acts as the credit limit. Cardholders will be required to submit $100 to $1,000 as a refundable security deposit, with minimum payments due each month.
The new card, which has no annual fee and offers 5% back on eligible purchases, can only be used for purchases on Amazon.com or with third parties that offer Amazon Pay, the retailer’s online payments processing service.
Synchrony will evaluate Credit Builder accounts in as little as seven months after account opening to determine upgrade eligibility.
According to a survey by credit score firm FICO, more than 11 percent of the U.S. population had low credit and 4 percent had bad credit in 2018.
