Galileo to power Pomelo’s ‘Remit Now, Pay Later’ credit card to boost financial access

By Edlyn Cardoza

Galileo Financial Technologies, LLC, one of the leading financial technology companies owned and operated independently by SoFi Technologies, Inc., recently announced that its API-enabled financial technology powers Pomelo, a new charge card that allows families in the U.S. to build and extend their credit access abroad without incurring expensive remittance fees.

“We pride ourselves on partnering with forward-thinking companies like Pomelo that share in our mission to help people build a better financial future,” said Derek White, CEO at Galileo. “Through our partnership, Galileo will support Pomelo’s rapid growth by powering their financial solutions with differentiation, automation, readiness and extensibility to create better connected ecosystems as they innovate money transfer through inclusive credit solutions.”

According to the World Bank, remittances to low- and middle-income countries will reach $630 billion in 2022. Despite a 4.2% increase from 2021, international money transfers continue to impose expensive transfer fees and exchange rate markups on senders. Pomelo launched to combat this challenge, is the first option that allows families to combine credit with money transfer to make it easier to offer credit to friends and family overseas.

This added flexibility and accessibility broadens financial inclusion for members of underserved communities who need it the most. It also helps new Americans establish and strengthen their credit profile as they start their financial journey in the US. Pomelo selected Galileo and its payment processing solution to deliver fast, secure, accurate, resilient, and PCI-compliant authorisation, reconciliation, and settlement processing.

“We set out to re-envision traditional international money transfers so our customers and their loved ones in emerging economies can benefit from access to modern financial instruments,” said Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, Founder and CEO at Pomelo. “We’ve made this possible through Galileo’s API technology and deep industry knowledge in delivering inclusive digital financial services that create seamless customer payments experiences.”

Galileo’s speed, precision, and reliability — from authorisation through settlement — will support Pomelo’s ability to authorise requests quickly, ensure post accuracy, and allow customers to move money and settle funds seamlessly across all ecosystem partners. In addition to instant access to funds, the newly expanded Galileo Payment Risk Platform will deliver powerful end-to-end fraud and risk management and chargeback protection, supporting provisioning/onboarding to protect clients against various payments fraud.

Pomelo currently allows cardholders to send money from the US to the Philippines, with India and Mexico scheduled next, and plans for further international expansion.