Designing Mercado Pago’s First Hybrid Card for Brazil
Summary
We designed Mercado Pago’s first hybrid card—a single card that worked as both debit and credit for a largely unbanked audience in Brazil. The challenge: create an experience that was secure, easy to understand, and debt-friendly in a market unfamiliar with hybrid and virtual cards.
Our strategy combined research and testing with a holistic product approach:
Introduced progressive credit activation to minimize risk.
Created transparent dashboards answering key questions: How much can I spend? How much do I owe? When do I need to pay?
Implemented debt-prevention reminders, aligned with the business decision not to profit from late fees.
Designed for security and speed with nameless cards, enabling faster delivery and safer usage.
Results
Achieved strong user satisfaction (NPS +80)
Payment flow complaints dropped to 0.15%
System supported compliance goals: over 90% of users repaid their credit lines on time
Mercado Libre
2019
Timeline 9-12 months
