Super.com Offers Innovative Products to Help Consumers Save and Earn Money While Building Credit

In a Nutshell: Earning cash back on purchases positions consumers to save money. Super.com helps consumers save by offering 1% cash back on everyday purchases and 10% cash back on eligible travel expenses. Super.com develops products to meet the needs of underserved communities. The Super Card’s unique structure empowers cardholders to build credit. Super.com also offers members cash advances and access to surcharge-free ATMs.

People adapt to meet the challenges of their environments and lifestyles. Today’s average young adult is approximately 5% taller than the average young adult of 100 years ago. 

Companies may also adapt to their environments and evolve to suit market conditions and provide better products and services for their customers. Amazon was an online bookseller before it evolved to offer vast product lines and services.

Super.com began as a company focused on helping the low-income, subprime demographic access last-minute hotel and travel deals. Super’s leaders noticed that many of the company’s customers paid their travel expenses using either debit or prepaid cards. 

Super.com surveyed its customers and learned they sought credit products that suited their needs. The company then set to work revamping its product offerings to develop the solutions its customers desired. We spoke with Rick Galasieski, Super.com’s General Manager of Payments and Fintech Innovation, to learn more about the company’s innovative products.

“In talking with our customers, we realized that there’s more we could be doing for the underbanked population than just helping them save money on hotels,” Galasieski said. “That’s where the whole Super App concept came to life. We built the app for the underserved community.”

Galasieski said that, while the company has evolved, its mission of helping the underbanked to earn and save money has remained constant.

“We try to keep it simple and promote ways to not only help our customers save money but build credit in the process,” Galasieski said. “If we identify ways we can better meet the needs of the underserved community, then we’ll take advantage of those opportunities.”

The Super App is free to download. Galasieski said consumers who download the app can start earning money immediately by participating in surveys and games the company has sourced from various outlets.

Super+ is a membership program with a monthly fee. Galasieski said members enjoy deeper discounts and additional savings opportunities. 

Super+ members who make reservations with participating hotels will receive 10% cash back on their purchase at the time of booking. Super+ members can also access discounts on everyday products, including mobile phone plans.

The Super Card is a secure charge card. Galasieski said the card can help individuals increase their credit score while mitigating their credit risk.

Super Card cardholders receive a monthly statement of their transactions. Cardholders are encouraged to pay off their balance in full each month.

“Cardholders who don’t pay off their monthly balance won’t be able to continue to make transactions with the card,” Galasieski explained. “That’s a safeguard we included to protect cardholders.”

Galasieski said the Super Card is different from traditional secured cards on the market.

“We call our card a dynamic secured card,” Galasieski said. “We’ve inserted ourselves into the authorization flow of members’ transactions.”

Members who make a purchase using their Super Card have their purchase routed back to Super.com for approval. Super.com checks to see if the cardholder has the necessary funds in linked accounts to cover the purchase. If the member has adequate funds, Super.com secures those monies from the cardholder’s account and routes approval for the purchase back to the point of sale. 

“The process allows cardholders to have the funds for their transactions set aside, which enables them to be able to pay their monthly balances,” Galasieski said. “To help our members build their credit, we furnish data to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. I’m very proud that the bureaus are on our side and understand our product. They actually see that it’s very useful.”

Members can use their Super Card anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Galasieski said Super.com encourages cardholders to include their card credentials in the Google or Apple Wallet, allowing cardholders to use the card on the first day they have access to it.

Super.com verifies that cardholders have a funding source to cover their transactions. Cardholders can link an external bank account to their Super Card. Galasieski said that Super.com can execute an Automatic Funds Transfer when an external bank account is linked. Cardholders specify the amount they want Super.com to transfer to their Super Deposit Account.

Cardholders who attempt to make a purchase but don’t have enough funds in their account to cover the transaction may benefit from Super.com’s unique underwriting practices.

“We’ve built our own underwriting model because there was nothing out there that we could leverage to achieve what we were looking to do,” Galasieski said. “Our model, which we call cash flow underwriting, tries to predict people’s future cash flows and financial situations. Just because a member doesn’t have sufficient cash in their account today, that doesn’t mean they won’t have enough money in their account to cover that purchase sometime in the future.”

Super.com uses a predictive tool to assess a member’s future financial standing, allowing members to purchase items they may not have been able to buy otherwise.

“If a person doesn’t have adequate funds in their Super Deposit Account, our model can predict the likelihood that they will have the necessary funds by the time their Super Card payment is due,” Galasieski said. “If we predict they will have those funds, then we’ll approve their transaction.” 

In addition to receiving 10% cash back on eligible travel purchases, Super+ members enjoy 1% cash back on all other purchases. There is no cap on the amount members can earn in cash back. 

Super+ members receive a discount of 30 cents per gallon on their first gasoline purchase made using their Super Card and a discount of five cents per gallon on subsequent gas purchases.

Super.com offers members access to cash advances of up to $200. Super.com does not charge late fees or interest expenses on cash advances. Accepting a cash advance from Super.com does not impact a borrower’s credit score, and the company does not conduct a credit check before issuing cash advances.

Galasieski said cardholders approved for a cash advance will have their advanced funds deposited into their Super Deposit Account. Cardholders can withdraw cash advance monies from an ATM using their Super Card. 

“The product is connected with the Moneypass surcharge-free ATM network,” Galasieski said. “There are no fees for those who use the Moneypass network. We want our customers to have the ability to get their money without incurring any additional charges.”

Galasieski said Super.com is planning product enhancements that will position members to earn and save more money. The company can enable members to earn more money by expanding its rewards program.

“What our team is doing right now is focusing on understanding where people are truly spending their money,” Galasieski detailed. “Once we’ve collected and analyzed that information further, we can offer cash back boosts that give our customers opportunities to earn more. We’ll invite customers to opt-in to promotions that will offer them increased cash back percentages for purchases made within specific spend categories over a defined period of time.”