I thought there was a topic on this - but can’t find it.
Anyway, ‘Wave’ credit card have just announced they’re going.
We’re getting in touch to tell you that we’ll be closing your account on 02/01/2024.
Why is this happening?
We’ve taken the difficult decision to close all Wave credit card accounts. This is purely a business decision and is not because of the way you’ve used your account.
This is quite sad, some of my friends have these cards. Wonder why they’re going away.
Have never heard of Wave. What was the USP?
I vaguely remember these folks but then again there are so many of these fringe cards maybe not.
Anyway looking at their website I think I’ve identified the problem, they don’t have a USP.
They’re a credit builder if I remember correctly, introduced by a bank named Chetwood Financial, founded in Wrexham 
(hometown).
Driven by technology, offering a bunch of banking products (no current account), with a sense of reward (better rates) if your credit score improved.
Those links are 3 different products (card, savings, then loan).
Hmmm - interesting marketing plan from Chetwood then.
Having each product as a separate brand so it’ll make it difficult to cross sale? I wasn’t aware of any savings or loans offers that were from the same company.
If I remember rightly - I think when I got the card originally it was an ‘exclusive’ offer through Clearscore - you could only apply through them and it wasn’t something you could apply for direct.
I notice also on the Chetwood page - they announced a new Group Chair in Sept so I wonder if he took a look at how the business was doing and realised the Credit Card wasn’t working and decided to just scrap it.
I can’t imagine one person could make that choice, more likely coincidence and the fact it’s already a crowded market with little chance to make significant headway in, meaning the risk reward profile wasn’t strong enough to continue it.
With the possible exception of yonder (and AMEX/Bigger players obvs) I think all the other little credit card firms have all gone the same way
Actually - taking a look at the Chetwood website, all of their lending products - the Credit Card and the 2 different Loans they offer, all have a statement on their website that they’ve been paused for new applications.
I wonder if they’re about to wind down, or their mortgage launch is imminent,
They were terrible. When I originally signed up with them, their backend (oo-err missus) systems was constantly broken and it took them nearly a year to fix all the issues I was having with the account (inability to set-up a direct debit, pay directly inside the app - you know, basic stuff). Support was long and drawn out (but friendly, at least).