Coronavirus: CRED's new product will allow users to pay rent using credit cards

Even as the coronavirus pandemic leads to job losses and pay cuts, landlords continue to ask for rent. And now fintech startup CRED has a fix for you. 

Sources say that to help individuals use their credit cards to pay rent.

Using this, a credit card holder can pay their rent after registering their landlord’s UPI number on the CRED app.

The startup has reportedly roped in one banking partner for this product already. The credit line is instant, flexible and fully digital. CRED members can avail the credit in three steps, and select their repayment period. Interest on this will be less than a third of typical credit card interest charges.

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Cred, which claims to have 10 lakh users, believes that at a time when there is a dire need for liquidity, a product like this is the need of the hour. 

This product will be offered at a very low transaction rate of 1.75 percent on monthly rental. 

CRED’s product’s pilot will be available to several thousand users in a week's time. The startup was founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah – who had earlier founded Freecharge, which was acquired by Snapdeal in 2015.

So far, CRED has raised a total of $175.5 million across four rounds of funding. 

According to the RBI, there are more than 50 million credit cards in India. 

A KPMG report says that innovation and technology have brought about a radical change in traditional financial services. The world has seen the emergence of more than 12,000 startups and massive global investment of $19 billion in the fintech space. 

These innovators are utilising tech tools to bring in seamless and innovative financial services for the banked and unbanked population. Additionally, the global fintech software and services sector is expected to boom and be a $45 billion opportunity by 2020, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.1 per cent as per NASSCOM.