Flywire And Volvo Pair Up On Cross-Border Vehicle Leasing

Volvo USA — in partnership with the international payments experts at Flywire — is announcing a new program that will, among other things, make it easier for international students studying abroad in the States to lease (and pay for) a new vehicle to drive.  The agreement between the firms will make it easier for the Volvo USA sale organization to support international receivables from said global students.

The International Student program will give foreign students who’ve chosen to attend school in the United States access to leasing a Volvo during their American educational tenure.  Flywire’s tech will make it possible for students to make their cross-border lease payments via whatever payment method and/or currency they prefer and for Volvo’s financial services department to track and reconcile those lease payments.

The program is intended to relieve some of the common friction points that plague international students when it comes to acquiring a car in the U.S. Lack of American credit history is often an issue — and purchasing a car can be undesirable if one has to sell it immediately upon graduating to return to one’s country of origin.  This program, according to Flywire and Volvo, is designed to make it easy for international students to make one simple, upfront payment and drive a brand new Volvo for the duration of their school term with all factory-scheduled maintenance and auto insurance built into that payment. At the end of the term, the driver simply drops the car off at the Volvo dealer.

“Our goal is to make life less complicated for our customers, and Flywire helps us do that for international students,” said Rick Bryant, Vice President of Sales Operations for Volvo Car USA, “Volvo’s new international student program reduces the risk of international transactions for Volvo’s retailers while providing a luxury vehicle on convenient terms for visiting students.”

Flywire processes billions of dollars each year in international payments. The firm’s main areas of focus include automotive, travel, luxury goods, publishing, import/export, business/professional services, and technology.

“As economies become more global, cross-border transactions are much more common. Yet, international wire and bank transfers are still very complex and costly,” said Jeff Althaus, executive vice president at Flywire responsible for the company’s business segment. “The lack of transparency makes cross-border transactions unnecessarily difficult for any enterprise or institution, and their customers – impacting operating costs, cash flow, customer satisfaction, and business growth.  We’re pleased to partner with Volvo to take these challenges out of the leasing payment experience and make it as smooth as possible for both their customers and their operations staff.”

As of today, international students make up a large and growing market of affluent shoppers.  As of last year, 1.2 million international students attended school in the U.S. — a 6.5 percent increase from the previous year.