There was once a time when I did not trust myself to have a credit card. Granted, I had some good reasoning for this as I had already made plenty of mistakes in that area. As it turns out, according to recent studies, I was not alone in this as many Millennials report avoiding credit cards as well. That’s likely why a newly released app aims to help users treat credit cards more like debit cards.
Debx enables you to avoid racking up credit card debt and interest charges by making payments on your credit card right after you use it to make purchases. This is done by linking both your credit card and checking account to the app, allowing it to trigger transfers. As a result, customers can enjoy the benefits of credit cards — including cash back, fraud protection, and other offers — without worrying about building up a balance. At the same time, you can also set rules for payments to exclude larger purchases if you must.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance about the inspiration for Debx, Ben Psillas said, “Every time I used my debit card I had this negative reaction because I wasn’t getting any points or rewards. I love my credit card rewards, but I didn’t like paying off a large monthly bill. I knew there had to be a better way.” That better way did come with a couple of hurdles — one of them being monetization. For the record, Debx is free to use, although it does serve you recommendation ads much like other free financial services such as credit monitoring sites do.
Overall, the premise of Debx really interests me — even if I have managed to quit my credit card overspending ways. While it seems the main selling point of the app is that credit card reward aspect, it’s important to note that using credit cards instead of debit cads all the time can also help build credit. Because of this, I hope Debx helps to ease those who might still be a bit afraid of having a credit card into the world of good credit and cash back rewards.