CRED Review: Is it safe?

This Article was fact checked and last updated for accuracy on August 11, 2022 by Mani Karthik

If you don’t know what CRED is, you’re a hermit living in the Himalayas.(Probably not a good example. They know.)

I came to know about CRED a few years ago when I came to know that one of my favorite artists Harish Sivaramakrishnan, was the dude who was behind the look and feel of the app.

Wait I’m making it look like some kind of fun app, but CRED is not. In this article, we will review CRED.

(Gawd, I love that black everywhere branding!!!!)

What is CRED

CRED is a mobile app that gives you a reason to pay your credit card bills (Yes, I’m looking at you man.)

We all pay credit card bills. We have to jump through fire, run a half marathon and sometimes almost kill a bank employee to.

CRED solves all of that.

It’s a nice little app (and a beautifully well designed one) that earns you points and rewards, while you pay your credit card bills.

Matlab, you are anyways paying your bills, so why not pay through CRED and get a gift voucher from Allen Solly or something?

Yes, CRED earns you points and rewards for paying credit card bills.

Why use CRED when you can pay your bills directly with the bank?

“I love my bank.”

Said nobody ever.

Boss, if you have been to a bank, you know that they don’t fucking care.

They’re usually just buying time from you. If you have to find a solution to your problems, you either have to lose your dignity and shout at the top of your voice.

Or use CRED.

You see, when I was in the US (yeah yeah), there were apps that’d let me manage my money. Read that line again.

Apps that would let me manage my money? Really.

It’s my money BC.

Why would you “LET” me manage it? I manage it.

Anyways, so when I used these apps, I was like, if only somebody rewarded me for all the bills I’m paying.

And when I returned to India in 2018, I met CRED (or soon after, I don’t remember.) And it’s been an amazing experience.

To be completely honest with you, it’s not the feature that I love CRED for (or Harish).

It’s the fucking branding man. Look at it.

All black (my favourite colour btw). So clean. So balanced.

I can see Harish’s visual music notes all over CRED’s design! <3

So, is CRED safe?

You mean, will they steal your money?

Probably not.

But I get your point.

Is your information safe? Well, as safe as you using Gmail to store all your emails and WhatsApp! Duh.

You see, CRED is a leverage. You can use your clunky bank portals and apps to try and pay your bills. (I might as well run a fucking marathon trying to do that.)

But CRED gives you an option. To pay the bills anyways. And while at it, eat an ice cream man.

I like ice creams FYI.

How does CRED work?

Step 1 – Add all your credits to CRED.

Step 2 – Pay all your credit card bills through CRED.

Step 3 – Earn “Coins”.

Earn CRED Coins

For example, if you pay a bill of 5300, you would get CRED coins worth 5300. There is no minimum value to earn CRED coins.

Step 4 – Buy stuff with CRED coins.

You can use CRED coins to redeem various gifts/vouchers for online and offline stores.

What can I buy with CRED coins?

CRED has some 60 odd partners across India from where you can buy stuff using CRED coins.

They got all cool folks like Myntra and stuff. Sweet deal!

Not all is great though.

In all honesty, not all is great with CRED.

When I tried it for the first time, it broke. Matlab, I wasn’t able to add my credit card and/or pay bills through it.

It didn’t recognize I had a credit card. Perhaps because I was fresh off the boat NRI, who just got a SBI Simply Click card.

But then it fixed it later and I’ve fallen in love. <3

Will you recommend CRED?

Yes, absolutely. Use it with Harish’s song playing in the background.

Just for the heck of it.