Cushion

In March 2020, Cushion launched a first-of-its-kind product that automatically negotiates with banks on behalf of consumers to get their fees refunded — overdraft fees, late fees, credit card interest charges, and some of the sneakiest penalties that you could imagine.

The product was an instant success! Over the next 12 months, we helped our customers get over $12 million in bank and credit card fee refunds.

But along the way, we uncovered a much deeper issue.

Consumers were most commonly getting hit with fees because of cash flow problems — especially when it came to paying their bills. They were juggling 8-15 bills each month, many of which were due on days that did not match up with when they got paid. It was way too easy to make expensive mistakes, get hit with fees, and damage their credit.

So what’s the big deal? Why are bills such a problem now?

In the 2000s, consumers managed a handful of basic bills, like rent, a car lease, credit card, phone bill, and so on. In the 2010s, subscriptions took over. Suddenly, consumers had to budget for Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Doordash, and Tinder in their growing list of monthly expenses.

Today, that list has expanded even further to include Buy Now Pay Later loans — or, as we like to call them, “the new bill on the block.” BNPL is a rapidly growing $100+ billion industry that allows consumers to buy now, fly now, care now, marry now and pay everything at a later date. What started as a simple solution for breaking up payments is now unmanageable. Pay this in 4, that in 12. Pay this monthly, that weekly. Pay interest on this, not on that. This has fees, that doesn’t. Mandatory autopay here, optional autopay there. As a result, consumers are feeling the pain, missing payments, and taking on more debt than they can afford.

The world of bills, which now includes Buy Now Pay Later, has evolved and become even more chaotic, but the tools necessary to help consumers pay those bills have not kept up.

Until now.

Cushion Bill Pay gives consumers more visibility and control over their bills than ever before.

With Cushion, consumers can now:

• Consolidate all of their bills and BNPL loans, due dates, and purchase details in one place

• Track the status of their bills and BNPL loans, and get notified when payments have successfully processed or are at risk of being overdue

• Plan for future months and budget accordingly by reviewing which bills are coming down the pike

• Avoid overdraft fees by temporarily pausing bill payments that might overdraft their account and resuming payments when they are in a better cash position

We are reimagining the way that bills get paid in America. Join us.