Amazon has added a secured credit card to its suite of financial services offerings today, the latest effort to entice underbanked and low-income customers to shop with the e-tailing giant.

The credit card, known as Amazon Credit Builder, is the result of a partnership with Synchrony Financial and functions like a store card that can only be used for Amazon purchases. Customers are eligible to pay in equal installments, receive special financing and access to personal finance and credit-monitoring tools, while Amazon Prime members also get 5 percent cash back on purchases.

“The card enables those on a controlled budget to make purchases on Amazon.com up to their credit limit,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote in an email. “Continued and responsible use of the card can help customers build or rebuild their credit history.” Through regular payments, customers can upgrade to Amazon’s unsecured card over time.

Amazon was unavailable to comment before press time about the motivations for the card launch, but analysts say it’s a strategy to strengthen underbanked customers’ relationships with the brand and a means to gain loyalty from customers who are at the earliest stages of their financial lives. “There’s a huge opportunity here,” said Forrester principal analyst Alyson Clarke. “It’s not just underbanked customers but millennials looking to build credit.”

By growing the number of Credit Builder customers, the company can transition customers to its store card and encourage higher-volume purchases on Amazon. It’s part of a broader effort from Amazon to appeal to underbanked and lower-income customers, which includes Amazon Cash prepaid cards and discounted Prime membership for eligible customers on government assistance.

However, more credit also represents a risk for such customers because it commits them to spend more on Amazon and doesn’t prevent them from falling into debt if they’re unable to pay their bills. “The security deposit obviously is locked up and inaccessible, and you’re limited to Amazon,” said Scott Astrada, director of federal advocacy at the Center for Responsible Lending. “[Such customers] need to pay doctors and have other expenses and, by locking up a chunk of money, cash flow becomes an issue.”

Like most retailers’ cards, the APR for the Amazon Credit Builder card, at 28.24%, is higher than the rate most major card companies would charge (the average APR rate for most cards, according to creditcards.com, is 17.73%).

Despite these challenges, Amazon is getting into a product line that traditional banks haven’t been good at marketing to customers, explained Clarke. As was the case with Marcus by Goldman Sachs, it will help the company reach a customer base that isn’t well served by traditional financial institutions. “Something around this is missing in the market,” she said. “There are many