Klarna Gets Set to Launch a New U.S. Credit Card ‘Over the Next Few Months’

The buy now, pay later specialist Klarna AB signaled its intention Wednesday to issue a new credit card in the U.S. market. The company said it has opened a waitlist for the product, which it calls a “new and improved Klarna Card.”

The new Visa card, which does not offer revolving credit, exists in both physical and virtual form, Klarna says, with the latter featuring compatibility with both Google Pay and Apple Pay.  The company also touts the card’s offer of 10% cash back when it is used in the Klarna app. Among its features, the app displays the user’s spending patterns. Klarna says the card is also integrated with the company’s AI assistant, which it says can help users find deals.

Klarna is positioning the card, which has been available for some time in Europe, as an antidote to what the company calls “high-cost credit cards that have hidden fees.”

Information was not immediately available concerning when the card will become widely available and how many cards the company expects to issue in the U.S. market. Klarna’s announcement simply says the card will be “rolling out over the next few months.” But the Stockholm-based company plainly sees the new product as a long-awaited opportunity at the company. “We’re finally bringing the new Klarna Card to the US market, a product that gives consumers more financial control to choose how they want to pay,” says Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and chief executive at Klarna, in a statement.

Interestingly, among the eligibility requirements for the card—besides being  a U.S. resident 18 years old or older—is that the user must have used Klarna previously and have repaid the company on time “at least once,” according to the company’s summary of eligibility requirements.

The new credit card comes as Klarna has been at pains to rebut notions that buy now, pay later credit can be predatory loan products. In April, the company launched Wikipink, an online site with information about how it offers BNPL, including repayment rates, late fees, and consumer demographics.