Uber, Lyft To Roll Out Co-Branded Credit Cards

Uber Technologies and Lyft, the two ride-hailing startups, are reportedly getting into the payments markets with their own credit cards.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing Uber, the leading ride-hailing app company in the U.S. is launching a credit card for its customers with Barclaycard, a unit of Barclays, the credit card issuer.

“This partnership represents a unique opportunity for Barclaycard to work with a globally recognized disrupter,” a spokeswoman for Barclaycard said in the report.

The credit card is slated to be available in the fall, reported The Wall Street Journal. A person familiar with the deal told the paper that Visa is the likely network for the card, which is the first to come from a ridesharing company. By offering customers a credit card it could help enhance the relationship Uber has with customers at a time when Lyft, Uber’s rival, is raising new funding and expanding into new markets around the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Lyft is also working on launching a credit card. The paper cited people familiar with Lyft’s plans without providing more details.

A spokeswoman for Uber said the card will be co-branded with Barclays, but she declined to provide more details on the initiative.

Consumers will be able to make purchases on the credit card outside of Uber. It’s not clear if there will be a reward component to the new payment method.

Currently a handful of credit-card issuers include rewards that can be used for Uber rides. American Express, for example, added $200 worth of Uber rides a year to its rewards offering, noted The Wall Street Journal.  Barclaycard has been landing high-profile partners for co-branded cards in recent years, including JetBlue and American Airlines, noted the report.