CardsFTW #194: Time for a New Wardrobe

Catch Me, Elsewhere - Live!

Marqeta Webinar

I have an exciting Spring season coming up. First, a webinar with Marqeta on Thursday, March 19, at 11 a.m. Pacific. I’ll be joining Rachel Huber, Market Intelligence Lead at Marqeta, and Ahmed Siddiqui, Chief Payments Officer at Branch, to discuss research we (Totavi) conducted for Marqeta on multi-vendor complexity and payments infrastructure. 

Fintech Meetup

I’ll be headed back to Vegas, but not the Venetian, as Fintech Meetup shifts to Mandalay Bay for 2026. Catch me on the panel “Are institutions losing balance in an open banking world?” on Monday, March 30, at 12:30 p.m. If you’re headed to Vegas, let’s … meet up.

Cardcon 2026

I’m excited to attend CardCon 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. My colleague Jessica Marquez, Principal at Totavi, will be moderating the panel “The Rise of HELOC Cards: With Refinancing Off the Table, a New Credit Product Emerges” on Thursday, April 23, at 10:45 a.m. with folks from Trovy, Better, and Homelight.

Closing the Apparel Rewards Gap

Gap, Inc., owner of brands including Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta, announced a revamped rewards program, “Encore,” and a new co-brand credit card in partnership with Barclaycard. 

The new Gap Encore Mastercard® (also available in World and World Elite levels) is a no-annual-fee offering that rewards loyal Gap buyers with 5 points per dollar at the Gap family of brands, and also 3 points per dollar at other apparel stores. 

Rewarding folks for purchases in your category, but outside your brand, is a rare move and one I applaud. It’s foolish to believe that your loyal users are so loyal that they exclude other brands. Sure, you may love Banana Republic. But you may also like J. Crew! With this card, when you shop at a competitive brand, you earn points that you can only spend at Gap stores, which rewards you and brings you back for an encore, shall we say.

The terms on this card are confusing, because I understand that Encore points are not worth much. Base earnings are 5 points per dollar for the Mastercard, 10 points for World or World Elite. Non-Gap Apparel is 15 points for every dollar spent (US only), and Gap purchases are 25 points per dollar. I really had to dig through the terms on this one. I prefer a 1 point is equal to about $0.01 structure, but the 3x/5x boosts generally apply, although if you’re a World/World Elite cardholder, it’s more like 1.5x and 2.5x. Weird. Complicated. Fan of the category boost. Not a fan of the complexity. I find it to be a gap in the product design. (ok, now I’m done.)

Capital One Discover Network Credit Cards

In CardsFTW #181: Discover Network Challenges, I discussed that Capital One was starting the migration of its debit card portfolio from Mastercard to Discover. Well, new online benefits guides (tip of the hat to the Reddit crowd) list all the big Capital One consumer cards on the Discover Network:

• Venture on Discover Network
• VentureOne on Discover Network
• Savor on Discover Network
• SavorOne on Discover Network
• Quicksilver on Discover Network
• QuicksilverOne on Discover Network

In a statement to financial news site The Street, Capital One said:

We have started originating select Capital One credit card accounts on Capital One’s Discover Network. This is an important step forward in our journey to continue offering compelling products to customers, while accelerating scale and investment in the Discover Network and enhancing competition in the global payments industry. As we continue to integrate Discover with Capital One, we remain focused on delivering long-term value to consumers, merchants, and small businesses.

I think Capital One will continue to issue cards on Visa and Mastercard, as it currently does, but will expand into Discover as much as possible. Why not? The economics and control are compelling. With Capital One’s backing, there is no reason that Discover Network won’t grow its market share. Acceptance in the U.S. is on par with the other networks, and this shift will encourage further merchant engagement.

United® Mileageplus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard Launches

Last week, just as  CardsFTW #193: United Demands Your Loyalty was published, Neo Financial, the fast-growing Canadian fintech card issuer, announced the launch of United Airlines' new co-brand credit card for Canadian residents, aligning with their focus on cards for U.S. customers.

Details are sparse on specific rewards, but the new card has a waitlist with a 5,000-point bonus, promises accelerated spend on United and Star Alliance airlines, and will launch next month. I’ll be on the lookout, although I won’t be able to apply. (Maybe I can convince my Canadian cousins to try it.)

What stands out to me about this launch is the continued expansion of fintech companies into larger and larger cobrand partners. Here in the U.S., companies like Cardless and Imprint have scored wins with foreign airlines. Now, Neo is scoring a similar win with a foreign (to them) airline for a non-bank sponsored program. Along with Canadian fintech Brim, which issues the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®, Canada now has two fintech issuers standing where traditional banks used to win.

Brim operates programs in the U.S. as well, and I expect Neo may come here at some point. It is harder here in the U.S., where fintech programs need a sponsoring partner bank and cannot be direct network members.

Either way, it’s another win for fast-moving and innovative fintech providers. As these companies grow, we will see programs move away from traditional banks in search of better experiences.

CardsFTW

CardsFTW, released weekly on Wednesdays, offers insights and analysis on new credit and debit card industry products for consumers and providers. CardsFTW is authored and published by Matthew Goldman and the team at Totavi, a boutique consulting firm specializing in fintech product management & marketing. We bring real operational experience that varies from the earliest days of a startup to high-growth phases and public company leadership. Visit www.totavi.com to learn more.

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