London-based FinTech Zilch has officially launched its new feature Snooze, giving users the ability to delay repayment on an instalment, or an entire payment plan by between four to seven days.
The idea is that Snooze will empower users to keep better track of their cashflow. Moreover, will also Zilch use soft credit checks to ensure it has a clear updated idea of whether or not customers can afford the purchase.
If Zilch is alerted to an impact on customer earnings, it will proactively suggest Snooze if it determines this is the best course of action to improve a customers cashflow position.
“At Zilch, we build every new feature with the customer front of mind,” said Philip Belamant, founder and CEO at Zilch. “We understand 2020 has been a year like no other – people have lost their jobs, changed roles or been furloughed through no fault of their own and, as a result, their income has been affected with little warning.
“It’s more important now than ever to provide our customers with a proactive way to inform us that they need more time to complete a payment or need to tweak the repayments schedule. Snooze is a quick, simple and free way to do this without having to spend time on the phone/chat/email to a support team.
“Ultimately, giving our customers this option not only increases their control over cash flow, but also significantly reduces the chances of missed payments, removing any credit-related anxiety and increasing financial wellness.”
The news comes on the back of Zilch exiting stealth in September 2020 as it also announced the close of a $10m investment round.
The buy now pay later has been heating up lately. In September, Klarna was named Europe’s most valuable privately-owned FinTech company in after it raised a $650m round.
Since then, payments giant PayPal, small business lender iwoca and Danish neobank Lunar have launched instalment products of their own.
Moreover, this summer saw payment-splitting companies Split and Tabby both enjoy new investments.
In August, Australian Afterpay also announced that it would enter the south of Europe via its acquisition of payments company Pagantis.
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