Financial Inclusion

Alternative Credit
Social Finance Snags $4B Valuation
August 20, 2015

Online lender Social Finance has raked in around $1 billion from its collective investors, bringing the startup’s value to roughly $4 billion. The San Francisco-based firm raised that equity round in the last several weeks, according to Wall Street Journal reporting. If that valuation pencils out right,...

Exclusive Series
Can Governments Ignite Financial Inclusion Programs?
August 18, 2015

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”159517″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d”][vc_column_text] The PYMNTS.com Financial Inclusion TrackerTM provides the organizing framework for evaluating and examining the players that provide digital financial inclusion services to the billions of underbanked and unbanked around the world. [/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_text_separator title=”Overview” title_align=”separator_align_left”][vc_column_text] Is bitcoin relevant in developing markets? Apparently some...

Financial Inclusion
Auto Loans Top $1 Trillion For The First Time In US History
August 14, 2015

With the Great Recession officially a memory for most consumers, Americans are both buying and financing cars. A lot , as it turns out, as auto loan debt has tipped over the $1 trillion mark for the first time in U.S. history. That figure comes...

Who Users Friend On Facebook Could Affect Their Credit Someday
August 07, 2015

Most Facebook users have a friends list that is composed of a motley crew of various people they met in high school and college, coworkers, friends they made on vacation, the six or seven friends they’ve made in the last 10 years and a whole...

Alternative Credit
The CFPB’s War On Car Loans
August 04, 2015

Most Americans need a car. Some have recently opined that this trend may be coming to its end, pushed by the 80 million or so who reportedly prefer living in urban areas. According to Nielsen, 62 percent indicate they prefer to live in the type of mixed-use...

Taking Real (Local) Action In X-Border Commerce
July 23, 2015

The not-so-secret secret to success in cross-border commerce is to focus on local needs. But that’s just a concept; how can merchants truly make it a strategy? Larry Illg, CEO of PayU, shared his thoughts on turning a theory into a reality with MPD CEO...

Treasury Taking A Closer Look At Online Lending
July 17, 2015

The U.S. Treasury Department has started studying the online lenders of the nation in an attempt to make sure the regulations on the books are relevant to the industry as it exists today. Small banks’ position in the lending market has diminished to the point...

Max Levchin’s Lending Startup Affirm Casts Its Interest Toward Student Loans
July 15, 2015

So what is the next frontier in lending? According to PayPal cofounder Max Levchin, it might just be finding better ways to handle student debt for those who want to go into coding. Levchin’s latest startup — lending-focused Affirm — has set its sights on student...

Softgate Systems To Be Acquired By TIO
July 14, 2015

North American cloud-based payments processor TIO has announced that it will be acquiring Softgate Systems, Inc. — a New Jersey firm that specializes in providing consumers with retail bill payment solutions. All in, the deal will be worth $31 million divided between $5 million in...