Bringing it All Back Home
How an innovative financing solution in Indonesia provided a lifeline during the pandemic.
Homes are fulcrums for billions across the world. But never have they had to bear as much strain as they have during the global pandemic.
Like many countries around the world, with schools closed and work-from-home (WFH) becoming a new normal for millions, households across Indonesia have become multi-functional nerve centers. Homes now serve as a base for learning and work and a hub for entertainment and social interaction.
This largely involuntary shift has posed myriad financial and logistical questions.
There has been an urgent need for supporting devices such as laptops, monitors, and desks for WFH and home learning. At the same time, stretched consumers — many faced with a degree of financial uncertainty — are now forced to budget their spending even more carefully.
Throughout this challenging period, Home Credit Indonesia (Home Credit) has provided a lifeline for its approximately 5 million customers with its variety of financing solutions.
Access to some of these financial services has enabled home learning, built-out home working set-ups and has allowed clients to bolster their home inventory during a period where in-person shopping has been only sporadically possible.
It has also helped retail partners — from large retailers to conventional store owners — across the nation by ensuring cash flows can continue during this difficult period.
Aris, a Home Credit customer living in Semarang, Central Java, revealed how Home Credit’s financing had been a lifeline since needing to spend more time at home. “I applied for the Home Credit financing initially to buy a cell phone. Then I used it to buy a laptop and home furniture.”
Home Credit has provided invaluable support to millions of customers like Aris in need of flexible financing during the pandemic. Clients around the country have benefitted from the company’s generous fund limits, slick and speedy delivery, and an app-centric user interface that helps customers keep close track of their accounting as well as keep up to date with the latest retail and financing offers.
The way I can monitor all transactions on the My Home Credit application on my cell phone makes it very user-friendly.
Aris, a Home Credit customer living in Semarang, Central Java
On top of providing services to end consumers, Home Credit has been steering its network of more than 16,700 retail partners through uncertainty and digital transformation. With in-person shopping limited and often impossible, these businesses have been badly impacted by the lack of footfall. As customers benefit from financing, they have been able to stabilize cash flow at a time when business uncertainty is having a devastating effect on economic activity.
The pandemic period has been a busy one for Home Credit. But such demand creates challenges. Home Credit’s network covers branch offices and retail partners offline. Integrating such an extensive payment and disbursement system is not an easy task.
By integrating DBS IDEAL RAPID — a digital solution that leverages DBS’ application programming interface (API) capabilities — into its customer experience, Home Credit has managed to streamline transactions and disbursement while protecting against fraud.
DBS IDEAL RAPID that enables us to carry out all payment transactions with our partners quickly and securely without any disruption.
Andy Yonatan, Deputy Chief Financial Officer Home Credit Indonesia
“By using the system, we can process transactions with a higher limit and increase transaction frequency x 5 compared to what we could do before. The automated process for credit transfers minimizes the possibility of fraud, and we can monitor whether every transaction is successful,” says Andy Yonatan, Deputy Chief Financial Officer Home Credit Indonesia.
PT Home Credit Indonesia is registered and supervised by Financial Services Authority (OJK)
