The Daily Signal - Coign: The Credit Card That Aligns With Conservative Values

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Americans love spending money. Imagine being able to do so and support conservative causes using your credit card. Now you can. Coign is seeking to fill a void in the credit card market by giving conservatives an alternative its competitors, many of which embrace left-wing causes. The credit card has all the features and benefits you’d expect, but it also donates a portion of every transaction to a conservative nonprofit. Rob Collins, founder and chief executive of Coign, tells The Daily Signal he created a credit card specifically for conservatives because other companies didn’t share his values and political views. After spending years working in conservative politics, Collins launched Coign two years ago. The company has already given away $150,000 to organizations with conservative beliefs, including The Heritage Foundation. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.) On today’s episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast,” Collins explains how Coign works and what the future holds for this conservative credit card. Our conversation has been edited for length. The full audio is available below. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm your host, Rob Lewy. On today's show, I chat with Rob Collins, the founder and CEO of Coin. That's C-O-I-G-N. And it's the first-ever credit card created by conservatives for conservatives. After spending years working in conservative politics, Collins embarked on the project of creating a credit card alternative for people who share his values and political views. That led to the creation of coin two years ago. The credit card has all the features in benefits.

benefits you'd expect, but it also takes a portion of each purchase to donate to a conservative nonprofit. And in the interest of full disclosure, the Heritage Foundation, home of the Daily Signal, received a donation from coin recently. Collins explains how it all works and how in just two years it puts coin at the top of the list of credit card companies that donate to conservative causes. Listen to our interview right after this. Virginia Allen here, I want to tell you all about a great way you can stay in the know on all the news the Daily Signal covers. Social media.

The Daily Signal has an active presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We are constantly posting news stories, clips from interviews, videos, and more across all our social platforms. Follow the Daily Signal on social media so you can get all the latest content from Reels on Instagram to video clips on Facebook and political commentary on Twitter. Rob Collins is the first. founder and CEO of coin, a credit card company for conservatives. We look forward to hearing more about it. Rob, welcome to The Daily Signal. Thank you. It's a pleasure. Long time, long time, first time on the show, though. Well, you and I've known each other for a number of years, and I'd like to get into your story in a few moments. But let's begin by talking about coin.

You know, Americans love to spend money. And obviously, there are a lot of options out there on the market, but yours is the first credit card design specifically for conservatives. So when did you realize that you needed a credit card that catered to this market. Sure. I was working at the National Republican Senatorial Committee right around the office there from Heritage. And I just started to see polling where conservatives and corporate America, their values were just diverging.

This is pre-Trump. This is before, you know, we really started to talk about it for the NFL. And so I started, it was kind of a kernel of an idea. And I thought maybe there's an application here because conservatives always, I'm I feel traditionally felt corporate America kind of rooted for America. And conservatives are starting to question that. And they're starting to question the values of corporate America and what they were saying. So during COVID, I had a very busy job.

And I was home with the family like everybody. But I just started spending an hour a day just trying to explore these ideas and concepts. And it went from clothing to food to something else. And then I landed on the credit card because when I asked conservatives what they wanted, they said, I don't have a lot of time. Don't ask for a lot of time for me. but give me a secure product that actually does conservative things and that is seamless in my life. And it kind of jumped off the page like we need to do a credit card.

They're not easy to build, but it's been a labor of love and it's really going great. Yeah. Can you talk about that process and maybe share a little bit of your background here? Because you obviously spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill working in conservative politics. It's not like you come from a background in the credit card industry. So what was it like navigating that career transition for you? I'm a lifelong learner and I always like to try new things. And so it was daunting at first.

And I was super blessed to partner up with two guys who are credit, like, ran some of the biggest credit cards in America. And they didn't know much about being a conservative, but I didn't know much about how to run a credit card. So it's been kind of a great partnership. I mean, it's the peanut butter and chocolate moment when I really understand. I'd like to say conservatives and what they're looking for. and the products and services and how to motivate them, how to talk with them, how to find them.

And my partners really understand credit cards, how to issue a credit card, how to lend a dollar and get it paid back. So it's been a great partnership. And the third piece of that is the customers who have been phenomenal, just tremendous. Well, let's talk about those customers, because obviously in a market where I feel like sometimes we're bombarded with different options and advertisements, how have you gone about appealing to these conservatives? and what's the differentiator that you've found has either led them to switch or at least add

coin as an option to their wallet? Sure. Everything I'm going to say, folks can go find at coin.com, C-O-I-G-N. There's a G in there. There's a silent g.com. And I think what you'll find is a credit card just like every other credit card you've ever had. It's a visa credit card. Our banks in the Midwest, they're a great bank.

It's in the Apple store. It's in the Google store. it's on the phone, any tap, click, swipe, whatever you want to do, it does it. You can pay online every modern community you could expect we built. The big difference is, you know, it's built by Conservatives for Conservatives, which a lot for a lot of folks, that's all they need. They're like, I'm good. However, not only do customers get unlimited cashback rewards, just like every other credit

card you have, we take a portion of the transaction at no cost to the customer. So coin sets aside a certain amount of the transaction. We put it in what we call the charity bucket. And then every quarter we pick four charities and we put it to a vote. We say to our customers, here are four charities we think are doing great conservative work. And we try to time it around Labor Day. We had back to school, you know, folks who were trying to train teachers and parents on homeschooling and building a conservative curriculum.

We had a veterans group that was helping the children of veterans who died in active service go to college. So we try to tailor it for the moment. and our customers vote. And if that charity gets 40% of our customers vote, they get 40% of the charity bucket. We gave more money to conservative charities last year than the top 10 credit cards combined.

And we were proud to partner with Heritage as one of our charities. We dropped the check off last week. Some of my coworkers met with the Heritage team and gave them the check. And they were kind enough to take a photo and we put it up online because, you know, I think conservatives want to see that what we're saying is actually happening.

But also that they're swiping. They're going about their everyday business using the card, and it's actually helping build up this country in a really positive way. It's a really novel idea. And our good friends at Alliance Defending Freedom were the winner of the fourth quarter. And so congratulations to them. It's not insignificant. I mean, a sizable donation that you're making to them. What is the process like because you do involve cardholders in making the decision on which charity ultimately prevails?

So how does that process work? We solicit our members. We still listen to anyone. Anyone listening or watching this podcast, please, it's real simple. Rob C. That's my last name, Collins, R-O-B-C at C-O-I-G-N.com. Send me an email. I won't kid you. It's not as easy as you think to give away money sometimes. There's a lot of great charities we want to partner with and they hear the conservative word and they get a little anxious, all nervous. And I'm always saying, you know, we're endorsing you. You don't have to endorse us. Like if we're, you know, I have Democratic board members. We just want to help. We think you're doing a great job. And we may be, you through a conservative lens and maybe you don't. So we're always looking for charities. We screened really for two criteria. Well, three, are they solving America's problems? We generally, not generally, we exclusively stay focused on the U.S.

Two, are they actually solving America's problems with conservative means, conservative ideology? Are they talking like heritage, smaller, smarter government, constitutional principles, first principle. And then three, are they really providing an ROI? We have to always make our customers feel like all that commerce that they're supporting, is going to conservatives that if we give them a dollar, they're putting that dollar to work to do what they say they're doing. So that's kind of our criteria. We really work hard to include the broad spectrum of things conservatives care about

and try to fit it in. It's not always easy, but we try and find good charities. How much have you been away so far? We're over $150,000 in our first year, in our first year of doing it. And every quarter, it's gotten bigger because we just have add more and more customers, and they spend, and as the spending goes up, the charitable contributions. You know, this could be what, you know, they talk about the March of Diamies, but we're, you know, we're looking in two, three years.

This could be $10, $20, $30 million of charitable money going to great causes. And it's all publicly available. I mean, the big banks, the big credit card companies, they get a lot of way in charities, and our charities do not get into $0. Let's mean, let me be very clear. Zero money goes to them. But if you're Acorn, the Clinton Foundation, La Raza, Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, they get billions.

Let me put that very clearly. Billions. It's all publicly available. You can find it. And that's part of what we're trying to do is align our customers' values with the values of the charities we support. And that's really gone gangbusters. Let's talk about that a little bit more deeply.

I also notice on your website you have a marketplace where you're recommending other businesses that are aligned with these conservative values. do you find, as you talk to customers of coin, that they are frustrated and fed up with other companies that they may have done business with in the past because of the political agenda? Or are they just wanting to make sure that their money goes to the causes that they support and believe in? I mean, anyone who's been around conservatives know, like, we're not an angry bunch. Usually we're kind of going along, get along. And we put up with a lot and we put up a lot with corporate America. But if you give conservatives a choice and say all things being equal, these folks support kind of your worldview, they'll go there.

And that's what the marketplace is for. We're not trying to compete and be, you know, in Amazon for the right. There's other folks doing a great job of that. But our customers kept calling us saying, hey, you want me to use this car? Where do I go? So we just started to populate it a little bit and just some companies we like, you know, but there are, you know, plenty of places to spend. And I joke with our customers, you know, sometimes when you're coming off the beach and the kids want. ice cream and it's hot and there's only a Bennery's in front of you. Even then, you're still

helping out. It's just, you know, eat by buying. And that's kind of how we think about it. So, yeah, I mean, and if anyone has any recommendations for businesses, they want to add to our freedom center is what we call us a shopping center. Rob see at coin.com again. We're always looking for good conservative companies. It's not our core business, but it's just a way to help our customers really develop a habit of supporting conservative industry and commerce. Yeah, no, absolutely. And certainly there are others out there who are trying to aggregate this information as well. What do you think the future holds when it comes to not only the growth that you expect and hope for coin,

but this marketplace in general. Is it an opportunity that conservatives should be tapping into? Or do you think that perhaps the competition, which is on its heels in some cases, will smarten up and maybe not be as so political in their donations or the maybe values that the companies, I'm thinking now ESG or DEI that they embrace? They can't know. They can't help themselves. I mean, our major corporations are the product of their upbringing and they have been indoctrinated through 50 years of liberal college. and advanced degree education, that it really weeds out. And so it'll, DDI, all these things are just going to reemerge as a,

they'll have new words, new titles. I mean, you know, everyone's always trying to teach us in America what our values should be. And I always kind of, as many of us do point out and say, you know, there's a manual. That's about 5,000 years old that kind of goes through how we should treat, you know, each other. I don't know why we're constantly reinventing other than maybe someone's taking advantage of, this new classification. So, you know, we're always going to have these challenges. And I think, you know, it's, this is a very new industry. It's kind of a while, while west. And, you know, there's going to be a lot of folks who succeed, a lot of folks who don't make it. But I think the

people who make it are going to be putting out a great product and, you know, able to secure the funding. And we started to see that, you know, public square, IPOed and had a tremendous, you know, over $100 million of the value. You know, you're seeing true social, you know, that stock's up over 40 or the SPAC stock is up over $40. So you're starting to see mainstream investors say, you know, there's something going on here and there's a real opportunity here. And so it's really changing quickly, which has been great because in order to grow big business, you need access to capital.

And that's really where conservative businesses the last three years have really struggled. You know, it's easy to get funded and get started. But, you know, when you make that jump to tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars, you know, that's really the challenge. but it's getting a lot freer. You're seeing, when you see the success of Chosen, some of the movies that have come out, the conservative media, you know,

that have been successfully growing businesses. Now it's starting to jump into other areas and you're seeing, you know, like I said, Public Square, and you're seeing a black rifle coffee. You're starting to see the expansion of this. You know, it's just out in Salt Lake City. And there's a big black rifle coffee store

and just right off the highway. And you're just like, wow, like we're building brick and mortar stuff. I mean, it's exciting. It's cool. It certainly is. I mean, we've seen the growth at the Daily Signal. Obviously, there's a strong appetite in the conservative media business, given the frustrations that people have with legacy and corporate media entities. Let me ask you this. What are some of the challenges that you face? Obviously, you want to continue to grow and add new cardholders. What are the ways that you think you might be held back? And how could our listeners at the Daily Signal podcast support your effort? Yeah, I mean, as I said, access to capital is crucial for all.

businesses. I mean, it shouldn't be lost on our listeners and our viewers that we do exclusively bank. Everything we do is in the Midwest. Like, coastal banks won't touch us, coastal funds. And that's kind of a statement on, you know, the polarization. You start to see it in business. Even though we have great customers, we have great, I mean, our customers are phenomenal. They pay their bills on the time. They're like, they're the cream of the credit crop. Yeah, you just have constant struggles. And I think when I talk to other conservative business, men and women, that's their big thing, too, is how hard it is to operate in the system. But, you know, we're knocking those walls down every day. And, you know, what's crazy is, and we go to our,

you know, as we try to grow, you know, we have our customer base. We're in every state, we're in District of Columbia, you know, we're national. But we have a wait list that's eight times our customer base. And it's just trying to find and find ways to grow. to continue the, you know, the movement. And we'll get there. It's just, I always joke that if we were, you know, a green credit card, you know, trying to do some kind of like carbon offset play, we have, you know, the most liberal, you know, VC showering us with cash.

But, you know, we're just a, you know, a business that has unbelievable customers who pay their bills and our recession proof. And we have to kind of fight every day to be in the system. But we do it. We do it and we're smart and we have a lot of help from friends and we're going to be fine. But I just look for that next evolution where people say, you know, there's a lot of money to be made in supporting conservative values. And used to be that way forever and we got away from it the last 50 years. Oh, we certainly have.

No. And thank you for providing an alternative in this particular market. I'm glad you brought up that last point and glad to hear about the profile of coins customers. you've probably seen news recently that delinquency on credit cards is reaching historic rates of late. Obviously, as somebody who's new to this business, what's your personal advice to cardholders who might find themselves in debt? Or how have you counseled others now that you have some exposure to the credit card market? Yeah, we're, you know, we're blessed to have a customer. We don't really have that problem.

our customers fit into a higher range, as you can imagine, and much more stable. So we haven't had other, we are so far below market delinquencies that a lot of people think it's a typo when I shovel them, but it's like, no, like conservatives. They're also emotionally attached to our cars. We talk to them and they really want us to succeed. So they have been great. However, when it comes to counseling folks on how to really keep an eye on their finances. You know, I think the basic lessons, you know, every parent tries to teach their kid is,

you know, buy what you need, you know, set aside the first person you should pay at the beginning of your paycheck period is yourself. And whether that's in a retirement account or you set stuff aside in the bank and, you know, pay your credit cards off. You know, that's really, you know, we have most of our, majority of our customers pay off their credit card bill every month. And that's the best way to use credit because you get all the advantages, the secure the, you know, you're not risking your own cash, it should you get hacked or anything, and you get the cashback rewards. And that's, you know, really the best way to, for a short-term credit. And then long-term is, like I said, don't, if you can buy a 10,000 square foot house,

ask yourself if you need a 10,000 square house, and stay flexible, stay liquid, stay, have the ability to weather storms or downturns or economic problems or health problems or whatever. And, you know, and if you're in debt, you know, figure out what you can live on and just put the rest towards getting that debt down. And that's, that's really the biggest thing. I mean, we don't get a lot of lessons from the federal government these days about debt and spending, but, you know, plenty of us have friends and family who could probably just tell you how they did it. And that's how I learned. That's great advice. And obviously something that the parents and grandparents who are listening to this show should convey to their kids. We do not.

want to find herself in a situation. Yeah, you don't use the word thrift enough in this country anymore. That's right. That's right. Rob, as we wrap up here, you know, a couple of final questions. Number one, if your customers want to suggest a charity, what's the best way to do it? Maybe share some information, again, about how to contact you? And then secondly, how does one sign up?

If they're really moved by this interview, how do they get the card? So if you have a great charity, you recommend it. Has to be a 5-1-C-3 charity. We don't, you know, we don't do politics or anything. But just send me an email. Rob C at coin.com. Coin is spelled c-o-ig-g-n.com. And if you want to learn more, same thing. Go to the website. www.c-o-ig-n.com. It should answer your questions. There's an application on there. We'll ask you a few simple questions. Within seven to ten days, you'll be spending right if all goes well. That's awesome. Rob Collins, thanks so much. Appreciate all of the work you're doing at Coin. And thanks again for dropping off that check at the Heritage Foundation. We certainly appreciate the support.

So proud to support you guys and all the work you do. It's amazing. Thank you, Rob. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. Be sure to check out our evening show right here in this podcast feed. We help you cut through the clutter and bring you the top news at 5 p.m. each day.

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