Mastercard reinvents instalments to give consumers more payment choices

By Edlyn Cardoza

Mastercard Installments BNPL program to come to market in the US, Australia, and the UK; enables consumers to access this increasingly popular form of payment across its vast global acceptance network.

New Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) program gives consumers a flexible, ubiquitous way to pay online and in-store through equal, interest-free instalments – an additional choice to debit, credit, or prepaid cards.

• Mastercard Installments enables banks, lenders, FinTechs and wallets to offer BNPL experiences at merchants with flexibility across the entire acceptance network.
• Seamless integration into Mastercard’s trusted network enables merchants to quickly offer secure BNPL solutions backed by the security and peace of mind that comes with Mastercard.
• Mastercard Installments offers comprehensive consumer protections with respect to responsible data use and fee transparency.
• Mastercard to work with Barclays US, Fifth Third, FIS, Galileo, Huntington, Marqeta, SoFi, and Synchrony in the US, and with Qantas Loyalty and Latitude in Australia on the BNPL program.

To meet growing consumer demand for flexible, digital-first payment options, Mastercard recently unveiled Mastercard Installments, a unique and innovative Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) program that delivers greater choice at checkout, both in-store and online.

Mastercard Installments uses the power of the company’s trusted network to make BNPL available to millions of consumers and merchants worldwide. It enables banks, lenders, FinTechs, and wallets to offer a variety of flexible instalment options to consumers – including a 0% interest, pay-in-four model – without onerous integration into the merchant infrastructure, allowing them to quickly offer secure and competitive BNPL experiences at scale.

Mastercard Installments enables consumers to digitally access BNPL offers, either pre-approved through their lender’s mobile banking app or instant approval during checkout. Pre-approved instalments can be used directly on a merchant’s website and stored in digital wallets, including Click-to-Pay, to be used online or in-store wherever Mastercard is accepted. Instant approvals during checkout will be available through Click-to-Pay shortly after launch. Consumers will have complete transparency on lender practices up-front during the approval process. Unlike most current BNPL offerings, consumers will continue to benefit from zero liability fraud protection, the ability to challenge unrecognized charges, and the peace of mind that comes with Mastercard’s acceptance footprint.

“At the heart of it, payments come down to choice – and people want more from their money with greater flexibility and control in how they pay and where they shop,” said Craig Vosburg, Chief Product Officer, Mastercard. “Mastercard Installments has been built on our guiding principles to protect consumers and enable choice without sacrificing trust and security. It is a digital-focused way to pay today and tomorrow, delivered through consumer’s most trusted relationships with their banks and other lenders, at merchants of their choice.”

Mastercard Installments builds on Mastercard’s investments in open banking that help deliver a simple and convenient experience for consumers, merchants, and lenders. As an elective option for lenders, with consumer consent, account-level transaction histories can be considered part of the underwriting process, enabling credit to be safely extended to a greater number of shoppers. Open banking technology also facilitates the consumer’s preferred repayment method, which may be their checking or savings account, a Mastercard debit card, or another payment product.

Fueled by changing consumer spending habits during the pandemic, BNPL adoption continues to accelerate globally. In addition to consumer demand, the momentum is being driven by issuer and merchant desire to deliver new, complementary ways for consumers to shop both in-store and online.

Mastercard Installments will also provide access and support to a new suite of APIs to power each step of the BNPL journey, from instalment calculation to multiple repayment options, all delivered securely and at a global scale through the Mastercard multi-rail network.

IBS Intelligence, recently reported that RBL Bank and Mastercard announced the launch of a new festive campaign, #UseBefikar, which rewards existing cardholders with exciting shopping offers and rewards.