ViaBill, a shortcut for small payments | Economy

Deferred payment systems flourish in all crises. In some cases, the offers are dangerous due to the lack of clarity in the conditions or the high interest rates that are applied. For a year now, buyers of consumer goods have had one more possibility to finance themselves: ViaBill, which claims not to seek to complicate the lives of customers, but to present a clear offer.

ViaBill is a new financial technology (known as fintech) specialized in deferral of payments. Market leader in your home country Denmark, your general director in Spain, Jaime de Wenetz, assures that he wants to “democratize the financing of purchases online”. According to its figures, “the company accepts 95% of financing requests, well above the market average, which does not reach 60%. The requirements for applicants are also lower than in other cases ”.

ViaBill asks for the DNI or NIE (in the case of foreigners), a mobile number and an email. With these data they consult the Asnef defaulter registry in minutes and, if it is not included, they accept the customer’s payment.

Buyers will come across the ViaBill logo when making an online purchase, before they have to pay for the product. They focus on small payments. What they offer the most are loans of up to 300 euros. If the purchase is higher, you cannot ask for credit to pay a part of the purchase. Either all or nothing is financed.

Return at 15 euros per month

For the customer, the credit is free, they must pay 15 euros a month to return the principal, and the ViaBill merchant charges 2.9% plus 0.35 euros. However, in weeks they will offer credits of up to 1,200 euros. The design is like a line of credit: the client uses the money he needs and pays 15 euros per month. If there are no defaults, the credit line is renewed.

It is a system similar to cards revolving, but Wenetz assures that the difference is that ViaBill maintains a dialogue with the client from the beginning if there are defaults and formulas are sought to prevent debts from growing like a snowball.

The firm begins by applying a 9% interest rate as a surcharge to defaulters “and 17% interest is never exceeded, far from usurious interest, which is from 20%. We negotiate because we want you to pay, to find a way out. What we do not do is be quiet to raise the interest rate suddenly when a time passes. That favors defaults; it is not our business ”, assures the CEO.

So far their clients ask for loans of 115 euros on average, although many young people do so for 40 euros. “There is a young generation that does not have many resources, but does not want to give up some whims that give them a certain quality of life,” says the head. They buy jewelry, clothing and technological accessories, among other things.

After a first year in business, Wenetz claims to be happy with the firm’s financial situation, although it does not mean its delinquency ratio. “It is confidential, but we have better data than the market and our competitors,” he says.

Wenetz assures that this type of loan increases sales and, therefore, it compensates them to pay interest to businesses. “With the integration of ViaBill in electronic commerce, we were able to increase the average size of the shopping cart by 18.5%.”

Aspire to 15 million turnover

And how does ViaBill obtain liquidity to lend? This firm carries out financing rounds between investors and goes to private credit institutions. So far they have about five million euros in loans with about 12,000 clients. Its aspiration is to reach 15 million euros in turnover, under current conditions, in one year.

After Denmark and the United States, the firm has settled in Spain because it considers it to be a country with great potential because it adapts well to these digital initiatives. “There is a clear potential for growth. In Spain, purchase now and pay later platforms represent less than 1% of the payment formulas used in electronic commerce, but in Germany it is already the third preferred means of transactions online”.

Its general director in Spain, Jaime de Wenetz, has been dedicated to innovation for more than 10 years, linked to the digital age. He defines himself as a “tireless entrepreneur” whose resume includes the creation of companies such as DeliverMe !, Shoppiday, PickaDeli or Unlock Management.

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