For Ben Psillas, using a credit card seemed like a double-edged sword. Sure, the rewards and points perks that come with using them are great, but it was too easy to forget to pay off those purchases each month.
That's where his new product, Debx, comes in.
"Every time I used my debit card, at point of sale I always had this sort of negative reinforcement," Psillas said. "I'm not getting any points or rewards with this debit card. I'm not building credit. I'm not getting the consumer protections that you receive from a credit card. On the flip side, I primarily love my credit cards for the rewards."
Here's how Debx works: Users connect both their debt cards and credit cards to the Debx app. Each time they use their credit card, Debx will automatically pay off the transaction using the user's debit card. This way, someone could still get all the rewards of a credit card without having to worry about paying off their cards or risking a high card balance.
"What I was trying to do with Debx is blend the best of both credit and debit in a mobile app," Psillas said. "So now you can use your credit card like a debit card."
Given that the app launched in late 2017, the Bethesda, Md.-based startup isn't bringing in revenue yet. To date, Debx has raised $1.5 million from Psillas' own funds and investors who came along from Psillas' past ventures.
Psillas said when it's ready, he plans to monetize the platform through advertising partnerships with financial products. If Debx sees that someone is spending $500 a month on groceries, then the app can push them to the right partnered credit card to get the most rewards. The target markets for Debx are young millennials looking to use credit cards in ways to build credit and young professional families looking to earn rewards and points for family needs.
Initial users have been found by going where they think their users are. The app has partnered with social media influencers in the personal finance space, although they didn't name who exactly, and have a referral program in the works.
“Do one thing really well before moving on.”
And this isn't Psillas' first time in the financial tech entrepreneurship space. His wife would describe him as "serial, uphill runner," Psillas said, which is just a fun way of saying he's a serial entrepreneur. For 14 years until 2014, Psillas ran a company he founded called Allpoint Network. Later acquired by Houston-based Cardtronics in 2006, Allpoint Network created a network of 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs across North America, Europe and Australia.
"The last [startup] was B2B2C, where this is B2C, so direct to consumer, which has its own differences and challenges and opportunities," he said. "Another is, we're building the technology from scratch. Whereas in the last, you just had to plug stuff in and you just went out and sold it."
Debx's founding team is comprised of four people and a team of "off-shore" developers. Psillas says they only have one true direct competitor, an app called Debitize. Yet rather than paying off credit card transactions each day, Debitize pulls money from a user's account each day and waits until the end of the month to apply it all to a credit card bill.
That wait time doesn't float well with Psillas.
"We don't require a Social Security number or a new bank account to be open or date of birth. These are all things that Debitize asks for," he said. "I think the UI and the UX is a lot simpler on the Debx side."
Moving forward, Debx is focusing on perfecting its platform for users. It fits Psillas' leadership mindset: Keep it simple and take everything one step at a time.
"Do one thing really well before moving on," he said. "We're focusing on the payments right now."
