cat credit

Ah, remember when credit cards were (mostly) straightforward? And you used them in shops, rather than a series of apps on your smartphone? A simpler time, certainly. But there’s no denying it was far less fun back then – no instantly recognisable neon orange rectangles, à la card of the moment Monzo, or the latest offering from fintech start-up Anna Money. Each time you make a contactless payment with your Anna card, a miaowing sound is emitted from your smartphone. Just... how? Why? Well, as with most bank cards now, there’s an associated app and, looking for a way to distance themselves from competitors, Anna decided to get creative. “We thought that, cats miaowing and the internet

– if you put those two things together, it would be incredible,” explained Daljit Singh, the company’s chief design officer. Can a financial company really expect to be taken seriously after a gimmick like this? It’s more than just a stunt, according to the head honchos at Anna, which stands for Absolutely No-nonsense Admin. In fact, they believe that Pickles – the name they’ve given to the miaower-in-chief – perfectly represents their customer base, which is mostly made up of freelancers and small businesses in creative industries. OK, their customers might think it’s fun the first time. Or the second, if they’re low on entertainment. But will the mewling really be fun for the 20th time? In a crowded shop where everyone turns to look, aghast, as they fear you’ve snuggled an errant stray off the street into your bag? Nobody needs that conversation while trying to buy their sourdough, surely. You may have a point there. But in the race for challenger banks to set themselves apart, Anna may well have devised the purr-fect stunt.