The American financial landscape has hit a staggering and “horrible” milestone: total credit card debt has reached an all-time high of $1.3 trillion, a figure that translates to more than $10,000 in high-interest debt for every family in the country. According to Renaud Laplanche, the veteran entrepreneur and CEO of the fintech unicorn Upgrade, this debt crisis is not merely an economic fluke but a direct result of a banking industry that has historically failed its customers.
Laplanche, who was also the co-founder of LendingClub before leading Upgrade to a $7.3 billion valuation, was unsparing in a recent interview with Fortune. The fintech sector itself, he claimed, “would not even exist if, frankly, banks had done a better job really delighting their customers with product innovation that moves the needle,” Laplanche said, arguing that the industry’s reliance on “nickel and dime” fees and “unpredictable” costs created the very void that he’s spent his whole career filling.
