In a move that could shake up the co-branded credit card landscape, Fidem Financial has teamed up with Transformco and Shop Your Way® (SYW) to launch the Shop Your Way® 5321 Visa® Credit Card—a card that puts real-life spending at the center of its value proposition.

Fidem, a rising player in credit card asset management and loyalty platforms, is using this launch to debut its new co-brand issuance model, designed to streamline how brands bring credit products to market and how cardholders earn meaningful rewards.

The card, set to open for applications in mid-November, aims squarely at consumers who want simpler, more generous, and more predictable rewards—and fewer hoops to jump through.

The “Real-Life” 5-3-2-1 Rewards Structure

The 5321 Visa® stands out for its refreshingly intuitive rewards system:

• 5% back in Shop Your Way® Points on gas, EV charging, and everyday transportation (think rideshare, parking, tolls, and public transit).
• 3% back on dining, groceries, and travel.
• 2% back across the Shop Your Way® merchant network.
• 1% back on all other purchases, everywhere Visa® is accepted.

Unlike many reward programs that bury consumers under rotating categories, limits, or redemption rules, the 5321 keeps it simple and steady.

“Consumers are tired of rewards programs that make them work harder for less value,” said B.J. Naedele, President and Chief Commercial Officer at Transformco. “Our 5-3-2-1 program offers one of the industry’s most generous returns on real, everyday spending—with no caps to track.”

Beyond the core rewards, cardholders also tap into SYW’s expansive ecosystem, where members have already redeemed over $3.3 billion in rewards since the program’s 2009 debut. That means instant redemptions, broad merchant coverage, and growing cross-brand benefits—an increasingly rare combination in the rewards space.

Fidem’s Co-Brand Model: Faster, Leaner, Smarter

This card isn’t just a new product—it’s a proof of concept for Fidem Financial’s reimagined co-brand partnership model. Traditional credit card co-branding often requires complex partnerships between banks, brands, and loyalty providers, leading to slow rollouts and diluted rewards.

Fidem’s model collapses that structure. By integrating SYW’s loyalty platform directly into its own servicing and issuance framework, Fidem enables:

• Faster time to market for brand partners
• Lower operating and issuance costs
• More value passed directly to consumers rather than intermediaries

“Our new co-brand partnership model represents a truly novel structure in credit card issuance,” said Sanji Gunawardena, President and CEO of Fidem Financial. “By pairing Fidem’s financial structure with Shop Your Way’s® loyalty ecosystem, we’re delivering greater value to consumers and more efficient economics to our brand partners.”

The company hinted that several additional co-brand partnerships are already in development, extending the same framework to other loyalty-driven consumer brands in the coming months.

A Refresh in a Crowded Rewards Market

While the credit card rewards sector has seen a wave of innovation from fintechs like SoFi, Upgrade, and Apple Card, most incumbents have struggled to balance simplicity, transparency, and meaningful value. Fidem’s partnership with Transformco suggests a shift toward co-branded ecosystems that reward everyday behavior rather than aspirational spending.

For Shop Your Way, the relaunch of the 5321 Visa® reinforces its evolution from a retailer-linked rewards program into a broader lifestyle loyalty network that integrates fuel, grocery, dining, and travel—core categories that have rebounded sharply post-pandemic.

As the fintech and loyalty industries converge, this collaboration could serve as a template for a new kind of co-brand partnership: one that delivers more flexible, data-driven, and customer-first experiences without sacrificing profitability.

Applications for the new Shop Your Way® 5321 Visa® Credit Card open mid-November at shopyourway.com and via the Shop Your Way® app. Approved users will receive instant digital access for wallet-based payments through all major platforms.