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FinHealth Standards for Credit Cards: Designing for Young Adults

Explore the FinHealth Standards for evidence-based recommendations on designing credit cards that help young adults build stability and resilience.

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By Hannah Gdalman, Angele Noel, Elvis Diaz, Carmina Lass

Category:

Credit, Financial Services, Payments, Product, Standards
Tags:

Gen Z

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

FinHealth Standards for Credit Cards: Designing for Young Adults

The Challenge

Helping Young Adults Build a Financially Healthy Start

For many young adults, opening a credit card marks their first step into the credit system.¹ When designed well, credit cards help consumers build credit history, manage short-term liquidity, and establish habits that will build the foundation for financial health. Yet many young adults start their credit journeys with limited experience, and unmanageable credit balances can create a financial burden for years to come.

As consumer debt balances reach record highs, the need for clear and accessible credit card standards is all the more urgent.² How can providers design credit cards to address challenges, foster positive experiences, and bolster long-term financial health outcomes?

Who Should Use This Toolkit?

The FinHealth Standards for Credit Products are designed for financial institutions that issue credit cards, and the partners that deliver them who are ready to embrace their role as architects of customer financial health. Product teams, marketers, and organizational leaders at these institutions can use the standards in a variety of ways—whether they’re improving an existing product or innovating a solution from the ground up.

A large institution may embed dynamic repayment recommendations into its credit card experience, helping cardholders better understand their options.

A regional bank or credit union that partners with a third-party credit card issuer may work with that partner to activate existing features or advocate for roadmap changes aligned with these standards.

A consumer advocate might use this toolkit to inform research, engage in strategic conversations with partners, and support industry adoption of the standards.

Key Insights

Explore the full toolkit to learn how providers can design credit cards that help young adults build healthy financial habits and strengthen credit outcomes, setting a higher standard for the market as a whole. While framed by the financial health implications of credit cards for young adults, the insights and standards are broadly applicable.

Young adults face unique borrowing challenges. Limited credit histories, income volatility, and first-time product experiences create both distinct risks and meaningful opportunities for product design.

The market needs stronger standards for accessible credit card standards. As debt balances reach record highs, well-designed products can foster high-quality credit experiences and boost better long-term outcomes.

Designing for young adults also benefits a broader population. Features that serve young adults may also boost outcomes for other credit-thin consumers, including immigrants, low- and moderate-income consumers, or people rebuilding credit.

About the FinHealth Standards

This toolkit is part of the FinHealth Standards, a Financial Health Network initiative built on our two decades of expertise in shaping industry practices to support consumers’ financial lives. Grounded in rigorous research and deep collaboration, FinHealth Standards offer evidence-based guidance on building financial health solutions that improve outcomes across the key aspects of financial health: spending, saving, borrowing, and planning.

Learn About the Initiative

Get Help Putting the Standards Into Practice

Join the FinHealth Standards Leadership Program to gain strategic guidance, resources, and peer support to implement the FinHealth Standards within your organization. Organizations will gain one-on-one access to financial health experts, collaborate with other leaders committed to driving financial health, and learn how other providers are adopting the Standards.

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Endnotes

“Who are the credit invisibles?,” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, December 2016.
“Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, February 2026.

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