Visa and point-of-sale lending technology startup ChargeAfter announced yesterday a pilot of their installment loan solution for select merchants in the United States.
“Our collaboration with Visa is a giant leap forward in bringing quick, convenient, accessible, and safe payments to consumers when and where they are ready to purchase — online or in-store,” said ChargeAfter CEO Meidad Sharon in a statement. “By combining ChargeAfter’s financing platform with Visa’s solutions, we have created a powerful network for multilender point-of-sale financing.”
The pilot between ChargeAfter and Visa is just the latest news from the rapidly growing field of point-of-sale lending. Just this week, Afterpay, which says it has more than 5 million customers in the U.S., announced it is launching in-store point-of-sale financing to add to its online solution.
ChargeAfter’s installment loan solution is available at 42nd Street Photo and Tire Agent to start. The startup is also working with Visa’s payments platform Cybersource to offer the solution to a global customer base. Available in more than 190 countries and territories, Cybersource processed $479 billion in payment volumes in 2018.
ChargeAfter, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., was founded in 2017. The company announced a partnership and an undisclosed investment from Visa in February. According to ChargeAfter, merchants using its solution approve up to 85% of applicants and see a 45% increase in average order volume. In addition to installment loans, the company offers open lines of credit and lease-to-own financing.
See also: MUFG partners with POS finance startup
Point-of-sale financing is becoming a crowded field, with consumer-facing fintechs and banks alike jockeying for a slice of the market. Stockholm-based Klarna’s payment solutions have reached 85 million consumers, according to the company, while San Francisco-based Affirm boasts 5.6 million customers. Banks like Citizens, BBVA and Citi are also moving into the space.
“We’ve seen the point-of-sale landscape continue to grow and evolve year over year,” Erica Novick, head of consumer lending for BBVA USA, previously told Bank Innovation. “[We] will definitely continue to invest in this space as we build around our core and potentially partner with others to go to market.”
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