Innovation

Visa brings installment payment options to the U.S.

Increased consumer demand for simpler and more flexible ways to pay is accelerating innovation

Graphic illustration - Visa in a circle in the center with radiating spokes labeled "Consumers", "Acquirers", "Merchants", "Financial Institutions", "Processors" and "Fintechs"

The millennial generation is like no other, especially when it comes to matters of the wallet. Sixty percent of millennials in the U.S. said that they are interested in point-of-sale financing for large online purchases[1]. A recent study found U.S. cardholders think installments are helpful for budgeting (74%) and alleviating the stress of making large purchases (70%)[2]. The option to buy now and pay later can be the difference between ‘hopefully one day’ and ‘how about now.’

Visa is helping meet consumer demand for installment payments in two ways: by building our own installment capabilities, and by aligning with partners around the world to help enable their customers to use installments as a payment option.

 

Visa’s installment solutions in the US

In June, we introduced our beta installment solution APIs that will help our clients and partners give consumers more control on how a purchase is paid. Through a pilot program, participating issuers and merchants can offer their customers an installment payment experience at checkout using a Visa card they already have in their wallet.

With Visa’s installment solutions, Visa cardholders will have the option to divide their total purchase amount into smaller, equal payments over a defined time period on qualifying purchases, before, during or after checkout, at the store and online or while traveling abroad[3].

 

Enabling fintechs to bring new installment capabilities to life

Beyond Visa-branded solutions, Visa is teaming up partners such as Australia-based AfterPay, to bring unique capabilities to their customers.

Through CyberSource, Visa’s global payment management platform, we are working with acquirers and fintech installment providers to enable this new way to pay for CyberSource’s merchant customers. In addition to helping bring Visa’s installment capabilities to market, the CyberSource platform offers and processes installments payments from a variety of partners. For example, Sezzle’s zero-interest ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) solution is now available to online businesses through the CyberSource platform. Sezzle’s offering can help sellers increase sales and grow basket sizes, with no credit risk to the merchant.

Globally, installments represented $1.2 trillion in payment volume in 2017 and have been growing 15 percent year-over-year, twice as fast as credit cards[4]. Visa’s broad installment strategy will help fuel growth in this exciting space for decades to come.

 

[1] Source: May 2017 Ipsos US nationwide survey conducted online, n = 2,000 adults ages 18 and over

[2] The Payments Report, Q1 2018. Installment Plans, Loans, and Balance Transfers. Auriemma Consulting Group. April 11, 2018

[3] Product is in development and availability will vary by country

[4] Euromonitor International, 2018.

Tag: Digital commerce Tag: Payment technology Tag: Payment trends

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