What

Green Dot Corporation is an Austin-based fintech and bank holding company, and is the world’s largest prepaid debit card corporation by market cap. It’s been publicly listed since 2010, and offers a suite of co-branded and standalone products through major partners like Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, Apple, Wealthfront, and others. In January 2021, Green Dot launched GO2Bank, which is designed for Green Dot’s unbanked and underbanked customers to help them develop a financial foundation and gain access to banking services. 

Why

GO2Bank was the result of longstanding partnerships and relationships between Green Dot and its users, says Abhijit Chaudhary, Green Dot’s Chief Product Officer. Before the launch of GO2Bank, Green Dot engaged in a six-month survey and analysis to understand the needs of its unbanked and underbanked customers. This user research told Green Dot that customers have easy access to free credit scores, but don’t have educational or informational resources that tell them how to improve their financial health. Customers also reported living paycheck to paycheck, making a higher credit score all the more important to gain access to lower insurance payments, loan terms, and other expenditures. 

How

Green Dot leveraged its partnerships with major credit bureaus and regulators to build its product. To help customers develop a credit profile and improve their score, Green Dot integrated Experian Boost into its mobile app, which lets customers improve their score by paying their bills. “It shows you right there that you're paying this bill on time, and you're able to get your FICO score upgrade right there,” Chaudhary said. GO2Bank also lets customers have the ability to lock and unlock their credit report. “Customers don't always know how to do that, so we wanted to provide that within the mobile mobile app ecosystem,” Chaudhary added. 

GO2Bank’s research suggests that within six months of using its product, which includes the use of secured credit cards, customers are able to improve their FICO credit score by 47 points. 

Green Dot is also able to leverage its existing retail partnerships to create a Green Dot product ecosystem. To Chaudhary, following a user’s journey—starting with low or no credit, using prepaid cards, and over time graduating to other products such as those offered by GO2Bank—lets Green Dot provide its customers the full range of financial solutions they require in the face of their specific needs. 

Beyond those partnerships, GO2Bank also offers early deposit access, overdraft protection up to $200, and has eliminated monthly fees. “There is nothing stopping us from providing [our customers] all of those services,” Chaudhary said.