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Nubank, the credit card startup that’s beating Citibank in Brazil

In only four years, Nubank went on to become Brazil’s sixth largest credit-card issuer among financial companies. It has more cardholders than Citibank’s Brazilian unit or Banco Safra. And Goldman Sachs is now rewarding that track record.

Bloomberg News reports that Goldman increased its revolving credit line to 455 million reais ($144 million) for about two years, up from 375 million reais.

Here’s how it climbed up so fast in such a short time. It introduced two features that were unprecedented for the Brazilian market: Nubank charges no annual fee, regardless of the borrower’s history.

Its other customer-friendly trait is the zero paperwork. Any credit-card holder knows, and probably hates, the paper statements. Nubank communicates with its customers through its mobile app. That’s not only practical. If nothing else, it serves as psychological relief for clients who dislike reviewing their expenses.

Sometimes, technological disruption does work for the benefit of society.

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