PayJoy Announces Global Access to Lock API To Enable Finance for the Next Billion

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20 Feb, 2019, 18:06 GMT

Patented Lock Technology Enables Partners Worldwide to use Smartphones to Secure Loan for Unbanked Customers

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PayJoy, the leading enabler of pay-as-you-go smartphone financing, announced today global availability of its patented Lock API. The API allows PayJoy's lending partners to secure financing with compatible smartphones. This global expansion, alongside expanded compatibility through its recently announced partnership with Qualcomm, propels PayJoy from successful deployments in 10 strategic markets such as Indonesia, India, and Nigeria to a path to provide access to financing to the next billion.

"The fundamental challenge in extending credit in emerging markets -- whether for a loan or a phone -- is the lack of collateral and underwriting data. By introducing a way for consumers to pledge their smartphone as collateral virtually, we give finance companies a tool to approve a lot more people with the comfort that it has a proven history of cutting defaults in half," said Mark Heynen, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at PayJoy. "With affordability being top of mind, we created a technology that empowers lenders to better leverage pay-as-you-go smartphone loans with fewer defaults."

Currently, PayJoy has deployed over the past three years the lock technology successfully with tier one partners in the following markets:

Tanzania
Zambia
Kenya
Mexico
Honduras
Argentina
Indonesia
Guatemala
India
Nigeria
Panama

PayJoy's Lock API is very easy for partners to implement within days. Once set up, finance companies can turn the lock on and off programmatically. PayJoy offers a 14-day free trial on payjoy.com for partners interested in growing their financing programs. Instead of late charges and fees, PayJoy encourages on-time payments with its patented Lock technology that blocks access to apps when payments are not made. The phone immediately unlocks when payments resume. The "pay as you go" approach is widely understood in emerging markets and offers a demographic of financial beginners corrective behavior without locking them into a spiral of fees.

Learn more and sign up for a free trial from anywhere in the world at www.payjoy.com.

About PayJoy:
PayJoy, the lead technology company powering smartphone financing worldwide, offers proprietary, patented solutions to underwrite financing smartphones for consumers in the emerging markets. PayJoy's mission is to make smartphones accessible to the underbanked customers. PayJoy's technology empowers people who lack credit to create their first financial identities, purchase their first smartphone, and build credit simultaneously. PayJoy's secure locking technology and proprietary products offer affordable weekly or monthly installments representative of the common billing habits of the underbanked. PayJoy maintains the goal of reaching 1 billion people in emerging markets. PayJoy is a team of 75 people with premier tech and lending experience from Stanford, MIT, Wharton, Google, Facebook, Samsung, Amazon, PIMCO, McKinsey, Prosper, and Merrill Lynch. Founded in San Francisco in 2015, PayJoy raised over $50 million in equity and debt capital from top fintech investors including Union Square Ventures.

For more information, visit www.payjoy.com. Join the smartphone financing conversation by visiting the PayJoy blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Media Inquiries:
Jessica Rees
Upright Comms
Tel: 415-889-7444
Email: Jess@uprightcomms.com

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