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Comment by patrickmro | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for sharing! What we meant is that we are the first debit card with meaningful rewards that are comparable to those of a credit card.

Re security: We allow you to have full control over the card for enhanced security: Ex: You can set daily spending limits, turn ATM withdraws on/off, and get instant notifications every time your card is swiped.

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  rewards that are comparable to those of a credit card

But who pays for those rewards?

With a credit card, my rewards are a partial kickback of the fees charged to the merchant. Those aren't present in a debit transaction, which may have just a small per-transaction fee that doesn't vary with purchase amount.

Where does that money come from? Is the plan based on selling demographic or purchase history data to third parties?

We do a partial kick off of interchange fees as well, since we are partnered with a smaller bank this allows us to have a larger merchant fee.

Not saying it's not secure, I just enjoy a firewall between the card I use and my cash balances. I pay off the balance each month so it works well for me. I understand it doesn't work for everyone and that only using a debit card helps some people live within their means, kudos for trying to build a good product for that market.

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