Lease-to-Own Retailer FlexShopper Debuts FlexWallet Virtual Card

Lease-to-own company FlexShopper has launched a digital credit card that offers its customers a way to make purchases without a traditional credit card or cash.

With the new FlexWallet, customers can instantly qualify for a spending limit of up to $2,500 at the company’s online or brick-and-mortar retail stores, finance their lease agreement and then pay over time for up to 52 weeks, FlexShopper said Monday (Oct. 31) in a press release.

“FlexShopper saw an increase in customers during and since the pandemic as many people were out of work, experienced layoffs and suffered due to the economy,” the company said in the release.

“These people still needed products, and with FlexShopper, they have the option to take an entire year to pay. In addition, for most items, there’s not even a down payment,” the company said.

Anyone can apply for FlexWallet. Good credit is not required, though not all customers with bad credit may be approved, according to the press release.

PYMNTS research has found that consumers are leaning more into lease-to-own options for reasons ranging from bad credit or thin files, to the installments-style flexibility it offers at a time of economic uncertainty.

Read more: ‘Big Ticket’ Retailers That Offer Lease-to-Own Financing Well Positioned to Help Stretched Consumers

In fact, nearly one-quarter of adult American consumers who purchased durable goods in the past 12 months reported that they were “very” interested in lease-to-own programs, according to “Finding Retail’s Invisibles: Leveraging Flexible Digital Payments to Reach New Durable Goods Customers,” a PYMNTS and Katapult collaboration.

For retailers, that translates into a market of up to 46 million consumers who might be drawn to a merchant by the availability of a lease-to-own option.