The process of building credit is often described as a catch-22, because you already need credit to get approved for credit products like a credit card. Some credit products provide consumers with a way to insert themselves into this cycle by extending credit to people with bad or no credit. However, even the best credit cards for bad credit can be expensive, with high APRs and annual fees.
Fizz offers an interesting alternative geared toward college students with a free credit-building debit card. It can help build credit while avoiding debt traps with high interest rates and fees.
Business Insider's personal finance team compared Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card to the best credit builder accounts and found it to be a strong offering with standout features like credit monitoring, financial literacy resources, and no ATM or foreign transaction fees.
Read on to see if Fizz is right for you.
Open an Account
None
- No interest or fees
- No credit checks
- Cash-back rewards for businesses around college campuses
- SafeFreeze and daily spend limits remove temptation to overspend
- Spend limits confine usage to smaller, daily purchases
- Earn cash back at partnered locations
- Sign up for free as a college student
- Fizz does not charge interest, late fees, or transfer fees
- No credit check or security deposit needed
- Has a daily AutoPay feature
Compare Fizz Credit Builder
15.51% to 15.92%
$25 to $150 monthly
N/A
$600 to $3,600
- Four different plans
- Customers eligible for Visa secured credit card
- No hard credit check
- Available in all 50 states
- Relatively high APRs for credit builder loan
- Only 24-month payment periods available
Self's credit builder loan is one of the few credit-builder loans available in all 50 states. Self offers four payment plans between $25 and $150 per month, all of which take 24 months to complete. Self doesn't perform a hard credit inquiry, and it reports to all three credit bureaus, but that's the bare minimum for a loan designed to build credit.
Self Credit Builder Account- No hard credit report pull
- Reports to all 3 bureaus
- Build credit AND savings
- Join over 1 million credit builders
- Unlock a Secured Credit Card after meeting eligibility criteria
- 24 months loan duration
$0
None
No Credit History, Poor
- No credit check required for approval
- No annual fee
- Build credit with responsible use
- No welcome bonus or rewards
- Requires a Chime checking account
- No ability to carry a balance
If you have a problematic credit history or none at all, the card offers a way to get the functionality of a credit card without having to undergo a standard credit check. The card can help you build credit by reporting activity on your account to the major credit bureaus. However, it doesn't earn rewards and can't be converted to an unsecured card, so it may not be your best option. The secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card is issued by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa credit cards are accepted. Please see the back of your card for its issuing bank.
Chime Credit Builder Secured Visa- No credit check required for approval
- No annual fee
- No welcome bonus or rewards
- Requires a Chime checking account
- No ability to carry a balance
$0-$6.95 monthly + optional $49.95 fee for retroactive reporting
- Rent reporting is free of charge
- Credit score monitoring
- $1M identity theft insurance
- Three-bureau rent reporting
- Utility and cell phone payments
- Doesn’t require landlord’s approval
- Poor customer service experience
- Cell phone and utility payments only reported to TransUnion
Self Rent Reporting reports your rent and other bills to the credit bureaus. This improves your payment history and as a result, your credit score, without needing to take on debt. One of the companies listed in our guide on the best rent reporting services, Self Rent Reporting stands out for offering several credit building perks under one competitive price.
Self Rent Reporting- Reports to all three credit bureaus
- Connects directly to your bank account
- Reports your rent, cell phone, electric, water and gas payments
- $49.95 optional fee for 24 months of retroactive rent and utilities reporting
- $6.95 per month
- Add two years of past payments
- Results vary. You may not receive an improved credit score. Not all lenders use scores impacted by rent/utility payments.
Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card Overview
Fizz is a credit-building debit card that launched in January 2023. However, Fizz isn't exactly a debit card. It doesn't draw money directly from your bank account when you use it. Instead, you actually borrow money with your Fizz card — banking services provided by Patriot Bank — that Fizz requires you to pay off daily. Fizz then reports these payments to the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
The Fizz Card is best for students and young adults who want to build credit without incurring debt, people with limited or no credit history who want an opportunity to establish positive credit history, and those who want to avoid credit card debt, since it provides a safer alternative to traditional credit cards.
How Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card Works
It's always hard to argue with free services, and Fizz is no exception. With no fees or interest rates, the Fizz debit card offers a cost-effective method for building or improving your credit score. Fizz's spend limits and SafeFreeze features also remove the risk that you may overspend and rack up debt, which can lower your credit score and defeat the entire purpose of using a credit-builder product.
Additionally, Fizz offers cash-back reward programs with businesses often found on college campuses, offering some benefits for college students. The mobile app also shows your VantageScore credit score based on Experian data.
However, the security this card offers comes at the cost of some freedom. Its daily spend limit, while great for preventing debt from piling up and budgeting, restricts its usage potential to the daily purchases you make here and there, like lunch or a coffee. While this card is great for people who are new to credit cards and building credit, its application beyond the college campus is limited.
Key Features of the Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card
The Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card debit card operates on the Mastercard's network. As long as a business accepts Mastercard, you can make a purchase at that business using your Fizz card like you would any other card. Fizz can even be added to your Apple wallet.
When you use Fizz to make a purchase at certain businesses, usually businesses you find around campus, you can earn points. Ten points equate to one dollar.
Fizz has a few unique features designed so that you don't overspend and rack up a large credit bill.
Spend Limits
For one, users are given a daily spend limit calculated based on their bank account balance. This ensures that consumers only spend what they can pay back. If your bank account balance gets too low, your card locks itself, so you can't spend additional money through Fizz.
SafeFreeze
Fizz also enforces daily payments through its SafeFreeze feature, which locks the card if you miss a daily payment. This way, you won't continue to incur additional debt if you can't pay off your current balance. Fizz encourages using its autopay feature, so you don't have to make these daily payments manually. Fizz reports your payment history to the major credit bureaus as you borrow money and make your daily payments.
By limiting the balance you can rack up, Fizz ensures you won't fall into a cycle of insurmountable debt. This saves you from hurting your credit as it limits the damage you can do to your credit utilization ratio. It also reduces the risk of adding a delinquency to your credit report.
Fizz Debit Card Pros and Cons
Pros
- No interest or late fees
- Cash-back rewards for businesses around college campuses
- SafeFreeze and daily spend limits remove the temptation to overspend
Cons
- Monthly subscription fee
- Spending limit might be restrictive for some users
Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card Costs and Fees
Fizz Debit Card has a subscription fee schedule with three options:
| Subscription Fee | Student | Non-Student |
| Annual | $59.99/year | $129.99/year |
| Quarterly | $14.99/quarter | $39.99/quarter |
| Monthly | $5.99/month | $15/month |
Annual subscription fees are billed annually at the beginning of the membership, quarterly fees are billed every three months at the beginning of the membership, and. monthly fees are billed monthly at the beginning of the membership
Fizz Debit Card does not charge interest, late fees, or transfer fees.
Fizz Debit Card Reviews and Ratings
Customer reviews of Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card are mostly positive. Trustpilot reviews average 4.6 stars out of five over 185 reviews. Its mobile app received an average of 4.7 stars on the Google Play store across 345 reviews and 4.6 stars on the Apple app store across 1,200 reviews.
If you have a good grip on budgeting and controlling your spending, a student credit card or a secured credit card may be a more practical option than Fizz. Not only do these cards offer greater freedom, but they also turn into regular credit cards after a certain period. However, the Fizz Credit Builder card fills the needs of a specific consumer and does so very well.
Fizz Debit Card Alternatives
There are alternatives to the Fizz card that you can consider. You may want to think about a secured credit card after comparing the benefits and drawbacks (like a security deposit) of secured cards for credit building. Student credit cards can be an option, but you might end up paying interest charges and fees. Like any traditional credit card, if you miss a payment, that late payment will be reported on your credit report — which would defeat the purpose.
Fizz Debit Card vs. Discover it® Secured Credit Card
The Discover it® Secured Credit Card is one of the best on the market. It allows users to earn rewards and there is no annual fee. You are required to put down a deposit that serves as your credit limit, but in every other way it operates like a regular credit card — meaning if you miss a payment, it's reported to the credit bureaus.
Fizz Debit Card may be a better option here because it does not require a security deposit, and with SafeFreeze, it is unlikely you will miss a payment that can be reported to the credit bureaus.
Read our Discover it® Secured Credit Card review.
Fizz Debit Card vs. Discover it® Student Cash Back
The Discover it® Student Cash Back is geared toward students with limited credit history, so it may be easier to qualify for than other unsecured credit cards.
This card has no annual fee, and you will not pay a late fee on your first late payment. This is an unsecured credit card, so any late payment will be reported to the credit bureaus.
Fizz is a debit card with a limit based on what is in your bank account and has SafeFreeze, which will lock your card if you miss a payment, which can help protect your credit. A student with a limited credit history or experience may need the built in safeguards that Fizz provides, making it the better choice.
Read our Discover it® Student Cash Back review.
Frequently Asked Questions About Fizz Debit Card
Fizz makes money through interchange fees charged to the vendor when you use your Fizz card. When you make a purchase using your credit card, a percentage goes to the card network used, in this case, Mastercard. Fizz takes a percentage of that money.
The Fizz Card does not have a credit limit. Instead, users are given a daily spending limit calculated based on their bank account balance. If the balance gets too low, the Fizz card will lock, and you cannot make any more purchases until there is a higher balance in the account.
Yes, you can use the Fizz Card internationally and without foreign transaction fees.
How to reach Fizz Customer Service
You can reach Fizz's customer service team via email at support@joinfizz.com. You can also message Fizz directly through the app.
Why You Should Trust Us: How we reviewed Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card
The most important factors in our rating are trustworthiness, the fee structure and affordability of the product, and features provided — specifically prioritizing the number of bureaus reported to.
With Fizz Credit Builder Debit Card we looked closely at its reviews and what the customer experienced when working with the company. We scored the product on the following factors:
- Trustworthiness
- Fee Structure and Affordability
- Features
- Flexibility
Availability
The fact that the product had built-in guard rails of spending limits and SafeFreeze to prevent overspending and missed payments was also positive.
Read the full methodology for how we rate credit products.
