Prominent IT company F1 Soft has launched a phone loan service that allows subscribers to pay for their purchases in installments. Previously, such facility was limited to credit cardholders but now anyone with a Salary Account in a member bank could avail of this convenient payment feature.

F1 Soft’s Buy Now Pay Later allows the consumers to take a phone loan and pay for their purchases and pay off to the bank in installments.

To avail of the service, a user has to choose an option of installment payment while performing a transaction via QR scan.  

The service is available via FonePay, a prominent Payment Service Operator.

This is the company’s improved offering upon the previous Phone Loan service which allowed the loan for just a month. Now, the QR-based payment allows a longer pay-off timeframe. The company had launched its first phone loan service in coordination with Kumari Bank last year.

Subash Sharma, Director of F1 Soft Group says, the phone loan with a longer payback option will ease the users. He also hoped more people will subscribe to the phone loan service in the coming days.

In Buy Now Pay Later scheme, the banks will provide loans at the existing interest rate. Sharma says this kind of payment solution has steadily risen in prominence in foreign markets recently and will gain traction in Nepal too.

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From Deposit to Loan-Based Economy

Buy Now Pay Later will transform mass consumers’ deposit drive to loan based economy. F1 Soft says the product will bring a due service to the middle-class public to buy their daily essentials.

Buy Now Pay Later will operate via the FonePay network. That means any merchant with the QR Code will also have this facility by default.

Sharma says, “If you get a restaurant bill of Rs.20,000, paying the whole could derail you monthly get going. But now a user can choose the option to choose in installments as per their liking.” He added, “A user doesn’t have to pay all, rather one can choose to fulfill the payment by paying 5 thousand in 4 monthly installments.”

The respective bank where the user has a salary account created will register the sum as a loan. The restaurant bill though will be paid instantly via a scan.

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F1 Soft Buy Now Pay Later Banks

The improved phone loan Buy Now Pay Later is currently available from Kumari Bank at the moment.

The 1 monthly loan service is a company available from Laxmi, Mega, Citizens Bank, etc. Prabhu, Everest, Nepal Bangladesh, Machhapuchchhre Banks will soon join the service as per the company.  

Meanwhile, Kumari Bank’s Digital Banking Chief Anish Tamrakar says the service of this kind is though not novel. He dubbed it an extension of the credit card service.

“We offer loans as per the customer’s financial potentials. It only seems that Buy Now Pay Later will displace it”, he added.

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How to Use Buy Now Pay Later?

Sharma says uses can use their mobile banking app to avail of this service. Anyone with eligibility as per the financial status will be eligible to use the feature via FonePay. While Kumari Bank is the sole partner for it, more banks will join the ecosystem soon.  

Uses will receive the payment service as per the criteria set by their respective banks.

After a QR scan, the Buy Now Pay Later option shows up below Confirm. After clicking on it, customers can select the loan amount and installment months among 1/3/6/9/12. The monthly interest liability to the bank will also display on the screen as per Sharma.

If you have a bank account at Kumari Bank, you will get options of paying instantly or paying in installments.

Customers can pay through EMI as well. As for the merchants, Kumari Bank will allow them instant transactions while consumers will have the option of payment in installments.

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Only the customers with Salary Account at Kumari Bank can avail of this trend-setting service. But the bank will span the service across all types of account holders.

The bank has set Rs.15,00 minimum for Buy Now Pay Later service. The amount of installment payment is to be fixed by the bank itself. Meanwhile, Nepal Rastra Bank will determine the maximum amount for the service and currently, it has set Rs.2 lakh for digital transactions at maximum value.

Buy Now Pay Later will be handy to middle-class economy who make their ends meet on salary. Although resembling Credit Card service, it will be more easily available for being a QR-based system on smartphones. Once it reaches mass consumers; it could set a new trend of loan-based consumerism in the market.