Financial inclusion in the Philippines lags behind that of other Southeast Asian (SEA) countries.
As of 2022, only 3% of the population has a credit card, while about 78% of the population has access to financial services. The lack of sufficient credit data and a reliable cashless payment infrastructure have prolonged this problem.
Mocasa, a credit payment app with a unique Pay Later Anywhere feature, decided to launch in the Philippines to help close this gap. In addition, no other fintech company offers a credit line with zero interest.
“We had a simple goal when we entered this market: to offer a unique app to address the cashless payment and credit opportunity issues for Filipinos who are still not well-served by traditional banks,” Mocasa CEO Robin Wong.
Only 3% of Filipinos can access bank products with reasonable interest rates. The current tools can be cumbersome, even for those with access to financial products. E-wallets, for instance, aren’t linked automatically to users’ bank accounts, so users must manually add funds before making purchases.
“As we delved deeper, we learned that more Filipinos also need flexible credit payment options that would give them the chance to extend their financial capabilities,” Wong continued. “And that is exactly what we have enabled through the Mocasa app,” which he also described as the country’s first credit payment app.
Wong bases his optimism on the country’s high rate of mobile internet penetration (currently at 73%) and its projected leadership in GDP growth rates among Southeast Asian countries (5.6% in 2021 and 7.6% in 2022). This year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas aims to process 50% of all payments electronically.
Mocasa has gotten a head start by capitalizing on these innovations to provide its users with a digital, convenient, inexpensive alternative payment solution—a flexible credit option. It’s easy to shop and pay because no interest or down payment is required for 50 days.
Mocasa enables credit card payments at over a million brick-and-mortar and online businesses in another innovative step. Thanks to its forward-thinking cooperation with Mastercard, this is now a reality.
Mocasa, which can be downloaded from the Google Playstore and the App Store, is a cutting-edge financial channel for consumers protected by a solid anti-fraud solution and supported by round-the-clock chat support to address any concerns users may have. They have also partnered with the Philippine government’s QRPH QR code payment network promotion to facilitate speedy connections between businesses and customers.
Clients interested in applying for a Mocasa credit line should have their government-issued ID, mobile phone number, and three months’ worth of pay stubs, a year’s worth of bank statements, or two years’ worth of social insurance records ready. Customers who meet the criteria can open either a Standard Account, with a credit limit that can be adjusted based on their income, or a Constructive Account, which requires a holdout deposit but can be used to establish a credit history from scratch.
Mocasa plans to acquire over 3 million credit accounts and add 10 million new users by 2024. By then, merchant payments will account for 70% of monthly retail payments in the country.
