Mastercard offers UK shoppers a pay by installments app for big ticket items
Mastercard has teamed up with payment terminal provider VeriFone to offer January sales shoppers a chance to spread their spending over a series of monthly installments, rather than cough up for everything in one go, with the launch of its Mastercard Installments app.
The point of sale tool will launch at select retailers in January prior to a nationwide roll out, enabling customers with a good credit history the option of selecting fixed installments at a specified rate of interest rather than paying their purchase off all at once when they enter their card details.
Speaking to Reuters Verifone vice president Nathan Gill said: “For the merchant it's an interesting value proposition because we're saying: 'we're going to give your customers a new way of financing their purchase that's private' - they don't need to talk to anybody or do any credit checks.”
Mastercard UK and Ireland president Mark Barnett added: “Verifone’s payment devices are used all over the country, so this is a big step forward. We believe consumers will welcome this new way to pay, by easily spreading the cost of expensive items.”
Where Mastercard leads others are likely to follow as Verifone’s ‘Commerce Platform’ technology can be utilised by other fintech firms to develop their own payment apps.
Mastercard recently updated its red and yellow overlapping circle logo to give it a more modern look.