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Hot trends tend to spin off related innovations, and now it looks like buy now, pay later is no exception. The London-based fintech Curve OS Ltd. on Thursday unveiled Curve Flex, a service that lets users convert any Curve transaction into an installment plan with the swipe of a button on the Curve app. The new service applies not only to current transactions but also to those made within the past year, Curve said.
Curve, which entered the U.S. market in February last year with a Brooklyn, N.Y., office, allows users to consolidate Visa, Mastercard, and Discover cards onto one card or app. The service is live so far in the U.K. and the European Economic Area.
Curve Flex has been undergoing tests since September with some 1,600 beta users, Curve said. So far, these users have converted about 7,000 transactions into installments totaling more than 1 million pounds, or $1.38 million.
The ability to convert previous transactions into installments relies on a technology Curve calls Go Back in Time. The payments can carry interest in some cases.
“Curve is giving customers the unprecedented ability to convert transactions made up to a year ago into free or low-interest installment loans,” said Paul Harrald, head of Curve Credit, in a statement. “Being able to Go Back in Time and pay later is going to forever change how U.K. customers think about managing their personal finances and cashflow.”
Curve’s plans for the U.S. market include hiring some 185 persons by 2024, according to information it released when it opened the Brooklyn office. The company launched in Europe in 2018, and made news a year later when it integrated Samsung Pay, a mobile wallet from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
