When Khaled Mazeedi, 34, walks into a high-end store in jeans and a shirt, he says that he’s almost always treated like any other customer by store staff. And that, claims Mazeedi, is just how he likes it.
“In the beginning, they [treat you] like you’re a regular customer,” Mazeedi says. But things take an unassuming turn once he’s at the register and drops his Swipemint Card — aka the Monarch Card— on the table, with its characteristic metallic clank, to complete his purchase.
The expression on the sales staff, along with the subsequent upgrade in treatment to ‘VIP Status’, is always the inevitable result. Once, upon completing a purchase at a fine jewelry store, Mazeedi was offered the chance to borrow a piece of jewelry for his then-girlfriend to try out for two weeks and return at his leisure. Another time, the salesperson offered a role as his personal shopper. Such is the power and influence of a custom metal credit card.
Mazeedi, a Youtube personality and tech entrepreneur, founded Swipemint, and is a user of the very credit cards his company manufactures. His own gold-coloured Swipemint Monarch Card has been in use for about two years. When pressed if his own card came off Swipemint’s standard production line of standard polished gold-plated cards, or as some have suggested, is instead hewn from a solid, monolithic block of the precious metal, Mazeedi simply smiles, returning the card back into a black alligator-skinned card holder, with custom-embossed gold ‘KM’ letters.
A consummate marketer, Mazeedi adds that the value of the cards lies in the intangible, and that the status symbol of the new generation no longer requires ‘old money’ to access. Mazeedi sees Swipemint as democratising access to social status, and is especially popular with a younger, aspirational generation.
“Having a Swipemint credit card does make you feel special, especially when no one else has what you have” he says.
Mazeedi launched Swipemint in 2019 and within a short two years, the credit card company achieved sales well over USD $1M. Mazeedi claims that custom and personalized credit cards are the best thing to happen to banking since the introduction of the credit card in 1958.
Mazeedi had little to do with credit cards when he was a college student. He studied a degree in engineering from Florida International university, going on to pursue a career in professional football with Le Havre AC in France.
Soon after began investing in bitcoin as an early adopter, Mazeedi began taking a deeper interest in currency and payment methods, and eventually, in custom credit cards.
Why Swipemint Credit Cards are worth every penny
Swipemint Credit Cards come with many luxury perks, including a personalized design that is laser engraved onto the metal card.
The process is simple. Customers send in their debit or credit card to be converted to a metal credit card by transplanting the EMV chip into their new metal card. Then, the digital contents of the card are securely transferred from the old card onto the new card, with the conversion performed at Swipemint’s secure – and secretive – facility in Dubai.
“You don’t have anything to worry about. Our processes rival, and even surpass, those of most traditional banks,” Mazeedi claims of the thousands of orders his company has already processed.
Similar to the American Express Black Card, the improved detail in design and higher quality of metal finish makes the card more prestigious and desirable. “Nobody on Earth does credit cards like we do,” Mazeedi says.
And it’s not just Mazeedi that prefers Swipemint credit cards over other premium bank cards offered by banks.
Famous celebrities and influencers have endorsed them. Mazeedi, with his large following on social media as well, with over 2.1 million followers on his Instagram handle @ten, understands the competitive leverage of social media to grow his personal businesses.
“As a popular social media personality focusing on Youtube and Instagram, I understood early on the importance of brand reach through social marketing, and decided to follow through on partnering with various influencers by offering VIP credit cards at a special partner price – along with their agreement to share an honest account of their experience with their audience of followers. The response was remarkable, everyone loved them – especially the social media personalities – and business really started to take off.”
His expertise in social marketing has served him well. His colorful youtube career includes accolades from various awards, including the MTV IMWBUZZ and Youtuber Awards.
Mazeedi recalls one customer that contacted him, recollecting a story of a fine dinner he was having in France, and that the restaurant waived the EUR 2,000 bill when he laid his custom metal credit card on the table to pay. “It happens quite often,” Mazeedi says. “The first thing they assume is that this must be a really important person.”
Influencers like Steve Currington, better known by his YouTube alias ‘Lambros’, says he loves his Swipemint credit card and uses it daily.
“They always make sure you’re taken care of so you feel like you’re getting more than you paid for,” Currington says.
Mazeedi’s advice to those interested in purchasing their own Swipemint card is that it is a no-brainer. Metal credit cards are far superior to their plastic counterparts issued by traditional banks.
“There are a lot of advantages to having a metal credit card,” Mazeedi says. “People see this card and assume it is linked to an ultra-exclusive bank account. We pride ourselves on making a product that is both exclusive and affordable.”
Mazeedi wants people to understand that owning a Swipemint card makes you more special than anyone else, but that when people see you use it, that’s probably what they will assume. And therein lies the power of the intangible, a personalised metal credit card that makes a statement, wherever you pay.
