Ascend Money, the fintech arm of Ascend under CP Group, is jumping into micro-credit lending, offering loans of less than 10,000 baht to underserved customers who cannot access traditional loans, a market worth 5-10 billion baht.
The loans will be offered to 8.6 million of TrueMove H's postpaid customers, said Tanyapong Thamavaranukupt, co-president of Ascend Money.
Customers can apply for micro-lending with an ID card and no financial documents, as the loan approval and lending limit will be based on the applicants' monthly payment track record together with other customer information.
Mr Tanyapong said micro-credit can reach people who are not salaried such as freelancers, street merchants and those who lack documents to prove income.
The lending limit is four times the customer's monthly mobile bill, not exceeding 10,000 baht.
"The coronavirus crisis and the lockdown made people of all ages familiar with many applications on mobile phones," Mr Tanyapong said. "They have open minds on technology, while some of them need financial liquidity support."
Customers can apply for loans and verify themselves at True shops. They can make payments for the loans through the TrueMoney Wallet app with a choice of instalment payments for up to three months.
There are 8.6 million TrueMove H postpaid mobile customers. TrueMoney Wallet has more than 14 million active customers nationwide.
Mr Tanyapong said the product will expand to True Group's entire customer base of 30 million people.
True is offering 0% annual interest for a promotional period, after which the rate will rise to 24%.