Pathward vs Cross River Bank
Pathward and Cross River Bank compete in the same bracket: coverage, certifications and integration time-to-market decide it. On compliance Cross River Bank documents more certifications (2 vs 0). In our editorial rating Cross River Bank leads (4.4 vs 3.1). For a serious B2B comparison request custom pricing from both: public terms are only the starting point.
| Pathward | Cross River Bank | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | C | A |
| Rating | ★ 3.1 | ★ 4.4 |
| Service type | Card issuing / BaaS | Card issuing / BaaS |
| Pricing model | Not disclosed | Interchange share |
| Spread | 0 bps | — |
| Per-card fee | $0.00 virtual · $0.00 physical | — |
| Card networks | Visa, Mastercard | Visa, Mastercard |
| Card types | prepaid, debit, virtual, physical | debit, credit, prepaid |
| Fiat rails | ACH, Wire | ACH, Wire |
| Fund custody | Self-custody (funds in your control) | Self-custody (funds in your control) |
| KYC | Full | Full |
| Supported countries | US · 1+ countries | US · 1+ countries |
| Regulator | OCC/FDIC | FDIC / NJ Dept. of Banking and Insurance |
| OAM Italy registration | No | No |
| Segment | B2B | B2B |
| Stablecoins | — | USDC |
| Certifications | — | SOC2-T2, PCI-DSS-L1 |
| SDK | — | curl, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go |
| Past incidents | — | 2023 FDIC consent order for unsafe lending practices |
| Regions | US | US |
| Licences & safety | National Bank Charter | Bank Charter |
Frequently asked questions
Pathward vs Cross River Bank: which is better?
Pathward and Cross River Bank compete in the same bracket: coverage, certifications and integration time-to-market decide it. On compliance Cross River Bank documents more certifications (2 vs 0). In our editorial rating Cross River Bank leads (4.4 vs 3.1). For a serious B2B comparison request custom pricing from both: public terms are only the starting point.
Is Pathward custodial or self-custody?
Pathward is self-custody: you keep the keys, while Cross River Bank is self-custody.