With so much choice in the BNPL market it can be overwhelming for shoppers. Find out why customers are opting for humm.
In recent years, buy now, pay later (BNPL) has become extremely popular with consumers, with the number of open accounts in Australia standing at over 6.1 million in June 2019 – that’s almost 30% of the adult population. And that figure is expected to rise over the course of the pandemic.
As a result, a plethora of new players have burst onto the market in recent years, creating a competitive landscape, but equally overwhelming consumers.
Humm has the advantage of being Australasia’s original fintech company, with decades of experience in financial services.
William Schmidt, general manager BNPL at humm, said humm’s key point of difference is its ability to help customers with the big things in life.
“Unlike almost any competitor out there, at least in the tier one buy now, pay later space, we give customers the ability to spend up to $30,000,” Schmidt said.
For the most part, humm customers are spending in the range of between $2000-$10,000, but they have the option to spend more if and when needed, Schmidt explained.
“The value is in helping you get the things you want for your family or for yourself, because it makes you happy, or you need it,” he said.
“We make getting those things easier, and we try to fit that into your life in a very seamless way, both through digital experiences and affordability.”
One of the most popular categories on humm is Bills, with customers using the platform to manage these payments, but more expensive items in the areas of Home and Health are also proving popular.
“Dental is our fastest growing industry and now one of our largest categories,” Schmidt said.
Designed to help you better manage your money
Most of humm’s terms are either self chosen or chosen in partnership with the seller instore, ensuring customers have all of the information to make an informed decision.
While different terms apply for small and large payments on humm, humm’s guarantee is zero interest.
“Everything’s always interest free … We also give customers extended terms,” Schmidt said.
Humm has been designed to support customers to better manage their money, with features that prompt customers to plan ahead.
“We’ll now notify you three business days ahead of when you have a direct debit that’s going to come out of your account to make sure that you have the time to go and put in money so that you don’t get hit with fees,” Schmidt said.
Customers also have the ability to make changes to their payment date on the humm app.
“You can push out your payment date to align to whatever financial situation you find you’re in and you can also pay it off early if you want.”
Transparency around fees
Schmidt is a strong believer in transparency and wants customers to have absolute clarity around repayments and fees to ensure they can better manage their money.
“We want every customer to have full transparency of every fee they could incur, both at origination and throughout repayment,” he said.
“We’ve been working really hard on creating more transparency, both through distribution, right through to sellers, but also through the app and the web touchpoints that we have.”
The ultimate goal is to ensure that customers are so well informed about upcoming payments and how to manage their money that they have zero late payment fees.
“We want to give customers as much notice about installments that are coming out as possible to give them the ability to manage their finances.”
Schmidt’s message to humm customers is to share any feedback to help improve the experience for everyone.
“We want customers to tell us where it’s working and not working, and we’ll do our best to keep making those changes that align to their expectations.”
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