Nickels

What Nickels does

Nickels is a B2B2C fintech company that provides white-label financial wellness products to US banks and credit unions, grounded in behavioral-science intervention design. Its platform delivers two core products: Credit Card Coach, which helps bank/credit union customers manage credit card debt through real-time guidance and surfaces refinancing opportunities that become new personal-loan originations for the deploying institution; and Student Debt Solution, which ingests Federal Student Aid data to guide borrowers on federal student loan repayment. Technically, the platform integrates with Plaid to securely aggregate third-party creditor account data — including balances, due dates, and payment history — that financial institutions otherwise cannot see, and exposes that data back to the institution as supplemental risk and underwriting inputs.

The business model is enterprise B2B2C SaaS: financial institutions license the white-label product, deployment is positioned as 'deploy in one day,' and the service is free to end consumers. Revenue mechanics are not publicly disclosed but follow a subscription/recurring structure tied to access to customer insights and the loan opportunities the platform surfaces. Customers served are US banks and credit unions, with the primary pain point being lack of visibility into customers' third-party credit card debt and the resulting inability to refinance that debt into higher-margin personal loans.

The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Delaware-incorporated as Nickels, Inc.), was founded by Joseph Gracia in 2018, and operates with 1–10 employees. It raised $4.0 million in seed funding in October 2022 led by Flyover Capital and Reseda Group, with participation from FIS Impact Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, and Michigan Rise. Subsequent traction signals include acceptance into the BECU Fintech Incubator in July 2023. Compliance posture references an Information Security Program aligned to the SOC 2 framework, supporting enterprise-readiness for regulated financial institution buyers.

Name

Nickels

Legal name

Nickels, Inc.

Website

https://asknickels.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Nickels is a B2B2C fintech that licenses white-label, behavioral-science-based financial wellness products — Credit Card Coach and Student Debt Solution — to US banks and credit unions, helping their customers manage debt while surfacing new loan opportunities for the institution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Wellness Software

NAICS

Credit Bureaus (561450), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)

akta.pro primary industry

Debt Management & Paydown (Student Loans, Credit Cards) (FSAGADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Credit Score Monitoring & Credit Building (FSAGADAE), Alternative Data & Credit Scoring (Cashflow, Telco, Utility, Open Banking) (FSAGAHAC), Account Aggregation & Connectivity (Multi-bank linking) (FSAGACAA)

Keywords

• Financial wellness platform
• Credit card debt management
• White-label fintech
• Behavioral science finance
• Student loan management

Headquarters

HQ city

Ann Arbor

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. B2B2C Licensing to Financial Institutions: Nickels provides white-label financial wellness products to banks and credit unions at no cost to consumers. Financial institutions pay for access to customer insights, debt refinancing opportunities, and enhanced customer engagement tools. The service is free to borrowers while generating value for banks through new loan opportunities and improved customer relationships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Nickels provides white-label financial wellness products to banks and credit unions, enabling their customers to manage credit card debt and federal student loans through behavioral science-based automated guidance. The platform aggregates creditor data via Plaid, delivers real-time coaching on usage and payments, and notifies customers of refinancing opportunities, while supplying partner banks with new data insights and personal loan origination leads.

Product overview

Nickels offers a white-label financial wellness platform that harnesses behavioral science to help banks and credit unions improve their customers' financial health. The platform consists of two core products: Credit Card Coach, which helps customers manage credit card debt through real-time guidance and refinancing notifications, and Student Debt Solution, which assists with federal student loan management. Both products integrate via Plaid to connect users' creditor accounts, providing banks with new data insights and loan opportunities while helping consumers reduce debt and improve credit scores.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Credit Card Coach White-label behavioral science-powered product that enables banks and credit unions to help their customers manage credit card debt. Customers securely link credit cards via Plaid, receive real-time guidance on usage and payments, and are notified when refinancing opportunities arise; the product also provides banks with supplemental data for better risk assessment and improved underwriting of personal loan portfolios.
• Student Debt Solution

Quantifiable outcome

• Utility companies saved enough energy to take all homes in Boston off the grid for 10 years through behavioral interventions designed by Nickels founder
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Plaid Technologies, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationPlaid is used by Nickels to verify and retrieve creditor account information. When customers connect their credit card accounts, Nickels uses Plaid's infrastructure to securely access account data including bill due dates, amounts, and payment history. Information shared with Plaid is treated in accordance with Plaid's privacy policy.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Credit Karma: Credit Karma is a major personal finance platform providing free credit score monitoring, credit card recommendations, and debt management guidance. It is directly comparable on the credit monitoring and consumer financial wellness dimensions Nickels addresses.
• Credit Sesame: Credit Sesame offers free credit score monitoring and financial wellness tools to consumers, helping them manage credit and find debt consolidation opportunities. It directly overlaps Nickels' credit monitoring and credit improvement value proposition for end users.
• MoneyLion: MoneyLion is a broader consumer fintech platform offering credit builder products, financial tracking, and lending. While not purely a credit card debt manager, it competes in the personal financial wellness space and partners with financial institutions similar to Nickels' B2B2C motion.

Direct peers

• Tally: Tally is a direct competitor that automates credit card debt management by extending a line of credit to pay off card balances and managing payments. It targets the same consumer pain point (high-interest revolving credit card debt) and competes for similar bank and lender partnerships.
• Happy Money (formerly Payoff): Happy Money offers personal loans specifically for credit card debt consolidation, using behavioral science to improve borrower repayment behavior. It overlaps Nickels on both the behavioral science thesis and the credit card refinance use case for both consumers and lender partners.

Emerging players

• Possible Finance: Possible Finance is a fintech lender using alternative data and behavioral insights to underwrite small-dollar credit. It shares Nickels' use of non-traditional data plus behavioral design to improve financial outcomes for underserved consumers.
• Albert: Albert is a financial wellness app combining budgeting, savings, and credit building features. It overlaps Nickels' PFM and behavioral nudging capabilities while serving consumers directly rather than via a white-label B2B2C distribution model.
• Dave Inc. Dave provides consumer banking, budgeting, and small-dollar lending aimed at improving financial health. It competes in the broader financial wellness category where Nickels operates, with overlapping credit-building and money management features.

Others

• MX Technologies: MX provides data aggregation and financial data connectivity to banks and fintechs, directly comparable to Nickels' use of Plaid for similar connectivity purposes. It is an infrastructure peer for the financial wellness platform layer.
• Plaid: Plaid is Nickels' core data aggregation and connectivity partner. While not a direct competitor in financial wellness, Plaid is the enabling layer on which Nickels' products are built and an obvious adjacent infrastructure provider in the space.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LoanGuidance

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors8 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nickels