Continental Finance CFC Mobile Access App

CFC Mobile Access App Overview

Continental Finance is a subprime credit card issuer and in August 2021, they reached a milestone of having one million cardholders. In 2017, they launched their Continental Finance Mobile App for both Android and IOS. The app is called the CFC Mobile Access. Since their launch, they have been updating their app quite frequently and have added features like Biometrics and Face ID. I would say that it is a good and decent app that allows you to (for the most part) manage your Continental Finance credit card. You can check your balance, view recent transactions, set up alerts and pay your bills straight from the mobile app. All Continental Finance credit cards can be managed from this app.

In this review, we will go over what the CFC Mobile Access App can do and what it lacks and cannot do and give you our overall impression.

What CFC Mobile Access App Allows You To Do

Here is an overview of what the CFC Mobile Access App can do.

Home Page

The Home Page of the CFC Mobile Access App lets you see the most important data at a glance. You can see your minimum balance, Payment due date, statement balance and recent activities (see the screenshot below).

View Recent Transactions

Most of you would be viewing your recent transactions a lot whenever you make a purchase. Some users have said that the "recent transactions" does not show up immediately and the workaround is to log out and log back into the app again to refresh.

Making Payments from the app

Like most credit card mobile apps, you can pay your bills from the app. You do have to use your checking account to pay. You cannot use your debit card to pay even if it is linked to your checking account. If you want to pay with your debit card, you have to "pay over the phone". You can choose to pay the whole balance, minimum balance or any amount you choose (that is more than the minimum balance). To make the process easier, you should set up your bank account and save it in the app or online portal before you make the payment. You have to save your bank account and routing number and give your bank a name in the app. If you do not set up or save your bank account details, you will have to key in the information every time you make a payment from your app.

Biometrics and Face ID

The Continental Finance App now has biometrics and Face ID login. Some of you might on occasion face issues when the app upgrades to a new version or you change your phones. Just remember you can always fall back on logging in the old fashion way.

What the App Cannot Do

Cannot set up autopay on mobile app - At this moment, you cannot set up autopay on your CFC app. You do instead having to set it up on your desktop online access account.

Cannot use debit card to pay on mobile app - I have mentioned this earlier but just to reiterate, you cannot use your debit card to pay from your mobile app. If you insist on using your debit card, you have to pay over the phone.

Cannot show 2 cards on the same app - Continental Finance has several credit cards and cardholders can have more than one card. So I am very surprised to learn that the app only allows you to manage one card with one login. If you have two CF cards, you need to set up two logins (both for desktop online access and the app). Let's hope this will be fixed by their software developers.

Cannot freeze card from mobile app - At this moment, you cannot freeze your card on the CFC app if you think you might have misplaced the card.

No Live Chat or direct call to customer service from app - You cannot live chat from the app. The customer service number also will not activate when you tap on the number. These are issues which Continental Finance has to eventually fix as this will greatly improve customer service.

Cannot order replacement card from app - If you lose your CF credit card, you cannot order a replacement from the app. Instead, you have to call their customer service.

Alerts and Notifications

You can set up various alert notifications on your CFC Mobile Access App. These include:

• statement available
• credit card payment due date
• payment post to account
• credit limit reached or exceeded
• balance exceeds threshold
• balance is within a specified amount of your credit limit

Our Take: A Decent App with Room for Improvements

The Continental Finance CFC Mobile Access App has come a long way since its launch in 2017. They have made steady improvements over time and new features will doubted be added as well. I think this app is better than many apps of subprime credit cards though they still have room for improvement. The one thing I would say is that while you can use your app to pay your bills, I suggest you set up autopay instead so that you do not have to worry about missing your bill deadline. This is especially important since all new Continental Finance credit cards will double your initial credit line after 6 months if you pay your bills on time.