The Avant credit card is issued and owned by WebBank, a Utah-chartered industrial bank with FDIC membership. Avant, LLC is the Chicago-based financial technology company that services the account, but it is not the lender. When you carry a balance, you owe that money to WebBank. The cardholder agreement states it directly: “This product is issued by WebBank and serviced by Avant, LLC.”1Avant. AvantCard Cardmember Agreement
WebBank Is the Lender
WebBank is headquartered in Salt Lake City and holds a Utah industrial bank charter.2WebBank. About Us – WebBank It partners with a range of fintech platforms, and it publicly identifies itself as the issuer and lender for the Avant credit card.3WebBank. Brand Partners As the bank on the account, WebBank provides the capital, extends the credit line, and holds the debt on its books.
The Utah charter is the reason the Avant card can carry an APR of nearly 36% no matter where you live. Section 27 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act lets an insured state bank apply the interest rate allowed by its home state to borrowers nationwide.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1831d – State-Chartered Insured Depository Institutions and Insured Branches of Foreign Banks Utah has no general usury cap, so the rate ceiling you might expect from your own state’s law does not apply. The cardholder agreement confirms that federal law and Utah law govern the account.1Avant. AvantCard Cardmember Agreement
WebBank also carries the regulatory burden that comes with being a bank. It must comply with federal lending laws, maintain capital reserves against the credit lines it extends, and submit to FDIC examination.
What Avant Does Instead
Avant, LLC was founded in 2012 and runs the card program day to day.5Avant. About Our Company It builds the mobile app, operates the website where you manage the account, answers customer service calls, and handles marketing. The automated underwriting system that evaluates your application, the payment processing, the account history, and collections on delinquent balances all run through Avant.
If you call the number on the back of the card, you reach an Avant employee, not someone at WebBank. The split is common in fintech lending: the bank provides the charter, the capital, and legal ownership of the debt; the fintech provides the technology and the customer experience. PayPal, Affirm, and Klarna use similar structures with their own bank partners.
How the Account Appears on Your Credit Report
Avant reports the account to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each month.6Avant Support. Credit Reporting for Credit Card The tradeline usually shows up under “Avant” or “AvantCard” rather than WebBank, because Avant handles reporting as the servicer. That can create confusion if a mortgage underwriter or another lender asks who the creditor is. The answer is WebBank; Avant is the name on the statement because Avant runs the servicing side.
If something on the report is wrong, you can dispute it with the bureaus directly, and you would also contact Avant’s support team to open a billing dispute, since Avant handles that function on WebBank’s behalf.
Who Owns Avant the Company
Avant, LLC is privately held and does not trade on any stock exchange. It has raised capital through multiple funding rounds. The $325 million Series E round in 2016 was led by General Atlantic, with participation from J.P. Morgan, Balyasny Asset Management, Tiger Global Management, and August Capital.7Avant. Avant Closes 325 Million Dollar Series E Funding Round Led by General Atlantic QED Investors, which has also backed Credit Karma and SoFi, is an Avant investor as well.8QED Investors. Nigel Morris – Co-Founder and Managing Partner at QED
Those investors own equity in Avant the company. They do not own your card balance. If Avant were ever sold or wound down, your debt would still sit on WebBank’s books and your cardholder agreement would still govern the account. The servicer can change; the bank behind the card is the party you owe.
What This Means for Your Protections
Because an FDIC-insured bank issues the card, the full federal consumer protections for open-end credit apply. Under Regulation Z, your maximum liability for unauthorized charges on a credit card is $50, and most issuers waive even that.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation Z Section 1026.12 – Special Credit Card Provisions The Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act’s dispute procedures, and the usual billing-error protections all apply the same way they would with any bank-issued card. You report fraud and billing disputes through Avant, but the legal obligations run against WebBank as the creditor.
The True Lender Question
Bank-fintech partnerships like this one have been challenged under what is called the “true lender” theory, with some state regulators arguing the fintech partner is the real lender in disguise and should be subject to state licensing and usury limits. If a court agreed, rates on cards like Avant’s could be tested against state law instead of Utah law.
The theory has not succeeded to date. The FDIC’s “valid-when-made” rule establishes that a loan’s interest rate is set at origination and is not disturbed by a later sale or transfer.10eCFR. 12 CFR 331.4 A 2026 California court decision reinforced the point, finding that when a bank independently underwrites and funds the loans, the fintech partner’s servicing role does not make the fintech the true lender. For an Avant cardholder, the practical answer stays the same: WebBank is the lender, the rate on your account is the rate that controls, and the arrangement sits on solid legal ground under current law.