Citi Adds Installment Loans and Lines of Credit Options to Retail POS

Citi Retail Services is adding new point-of-sale (POS) lending options to its embedded payment capabilities.

The new suite of Citi Pay products can integrate into retailers’ existing payment platforms and provide their customers with revolving lines of credit, installment loans and other payment options, Citi Retail Services said in a Wednesday (May 10) press release.

“This is our next step forward in the evolution of trusted payments solutions which puts customers in control of how they want to finance their purchases and offers merchants more opportunity to drive sales of greater value,” Kartik Mani, CEO of Citi Retail Services and global head of connected commerce, said in the release.

PYMNTS research has found that the number of payment options available to consumers has been increasing for years, and so has consumers’ willingness to employ many of these options.

While traditional forms of payment are still the most preferred methods, innovative payment methods have earned a place alongside established methods among the range of payment options that can be used at the checkout, according to “Digital Economy Payments: Payment Method Diversification.”

The first Citi Pay product is Citi Pay Credit, a digital-only credit card and dedicated line of credit that is separate from the Citi credit cards customers may already have, allows retailers to offer promotional pricing and provides a real-time credit and authorization decision within the checkout process, according to the press release.

A Citi Pay Installment Loan option will be added in the coming months, allowing customers to pay the full purchase amount in equal payments over a period specified by the retailer, ranging from six months to 60 months, the release said.

“We are thrilled to continue to provide customers and merchants with secure, flexible payment options and further our commitment to point-of-sale lending through the launch of our Citi Pay products,” Terry O’Neil, head of connected commerce and strategic growth initiatives at Citi Retail Services, said in the release. “We will expand our Citi Pay offerings over the next several years with new products and capabilities designed with the merchant community and customers in mind.”

Technology and commerce are undergoing a “generational shift,” Amit Agarwal and Debopama Sen, global co-heads of payments and receivables, Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) at Citi, wrote in the PYMNTS eBook, “2023 Payments New Year’s Resolutions.”

“As clients embrace business-to-consumers and business-to-business opportunities, the industry needs a different mindset that prioritizes a frictionless and straightforward payment experience and offers consumers or businesses the ability to use their payment method of choice,” Agarwal and Sen wrote.