Plend partners GoCardless for variable recurring payments solution
London-based ethical lendtech Plend has partnered with GoCardless to utilise variable recurring payments (VRP) via GoCardless’ Instant Bank Pay.
Plend taps GoCardless for VRPs
VRP APIs allow third-party providers (TPP) to initiate a series of payments at variable intervals, enabling the adoption of faster, more efficient and more secure payments.
Open banking-powered VRPs will allow Plend customers to change their payment schedule to suit their financial circumstances. VRPs also offer instant payment confirmation and move money quicker than direct debit, lowering the rate of late payments.
On the back-end, VRPs will also reduce the number of manual tasks for the operations team as more routine work becomes automated, such as creating new mandates when customers want to change their loan value or repayment period.
The automation means that Plend’s customers can make changes to their payments any time, utilising payment holidays and interest rate freezes.
Plend chief technology officer Jamie Pursaill says VRPs benefit customers by freeing up agents to handle customer issues or enquiries, as well as being able to pass on savings from efficiency gains in the form of lower APRs.
GoCardless provides VRPs through its account-to-account payment platform, which covers both direct debit and open banking payments.
In 2022, GoCardless became one of the first VRP providers for NatWest Group and launched a ‘non-sweeping’ VRP pilot with NatWest and Charity Right.
