Fintech startup Uni has introduced ‘India’s longest interest-free credit product’ – a card that lets consumers pay their monthly spends in three parts over three months for no extra charge.
According to Uni, Pay 1/3rd aims to solve the problem of short-term liquidity without burdening consumers with high-interest fees. Customers can also pay in full if they prefer not to pay in parts and will enjoy a one per cent cashback reward in return.
Targeted at the ‘mobile generation’ aged between 25 and 60 years, Pay 1/3rd piloted in June 2021 and, in under two months, attracted 10,000 customers. Uni has ambitions to target one million customers across India in the coming year.
Backed by Lightspeed Ventures and Accel India, Uni secured $18.5million in a seed round in October 2020, while still in stealth mode. Its co-founding team includes fintech experts Nitin Gupta, Prateek Jindal and Laxmikant Vyas, who have previously built paylater and credit products at PayU, Ola Financial Services and Bajaj Finserv.
Nitin Gupta, founder and CEO, Uni said: “Long term credit period is a felt need. We moved from debit to credit cards as the 40 to 50 day extension seemed like a smarter solution to our payment needs. However, we believe extending this to three months is anything but natural if we want to make credit products more accessible and democratic. We aim to make Pay 1/3rd a lifestyle choice for our consumers. We want to provide utmost convenience and flexibility, and be maniacally focused on making the customer experience richer.”
With Uni, a customer is instantly onboarded and there is currently no joining fee nor annual charges. Customers can track their spending in real-time, get a breakup of the spends made across categories and receive repayment alerts. Powered by Visa, Pay 1/3rd card is accepted at online and offline merchants across India.
In the next two months, Uni is also expected to launch a direct bank transfer feature, enabling consumers in India to pay their rent and school fees of their children. Consumers will also be able to choose monthly installment plans if they need longer repayment tenures ranging from six, nine, 12 to 18+ months. An in-app lifestyle store to redeem reward points is also in development.
