LazyPay: When ‘Paying’ is just NOT Mood of the Day

Most of us are fortunate enough to have access to credit all the time. We own credit cards, leverage home loans, car loans etc. Apart from that, there are so many platforms in the market today that are ready to lend you money on the click of a button. However, the basic premise for borrowing money from these modes is the requirement. You simply borrow money because you need it and want a financial cushion of some sort. You pay back the financial institutions with some premium over the principal borrowed and that is how both parties remain happy.

But what if I told you that there is another reason behind borrowing money. As bizarre it may sound but it is your good old sin of sloth. Yes. You have the money in the bank, at least for purchasing your next meal online. But for some reason, you think, who will enter in the card details, OTP and what not. Instead, you chose someone else to pay on your behalf and then you two, settle it out later some day. Welcome, LazyPay. When this service first launched in 2017, this was the core proposition it came with. Although the entire product has evolved now, I still use it for it’s USP around being lazy.

Services offered by Lazypay:

The key feature of this fintech platform is the fastest access to credit. It is almost like seeking money from another person and getting it instantly. The services across the fintech platform are mainly divided into three categories as follows:

1. Shop Now, Pay Later:

This feature enables you to purchase anything online in a jiffy. No OTPs, no UPI PIN, simply one tap payment in it’s truest sense. There is no interest levied on the borrowed money, if it is paid back within 15 days. In case it is not, they charge you Rs. 10 per day for the delay. At this point, you might be thinking that this is a win win deal. However, in case you default on your payment or miss the deadline, Rs. 10 might seem to be a meagre amount but can probably mount to most expensive credits ever taken by you.

For example, you borrow Rs. 10,000 from Lazy Pay. At Rs. 10 per day, a 30 month delay will be Rs. 300. Which amounts to 3% per month i.e. 36% per year. This is in line with the credit card loans which are known to be the most expensive debt instruments in the industry. In this particular example, I considered your borrowed amount to be Rs. 10,000. Imagine what the interest rates would be if you had defaulted on a payment of Rs. 1000 only.

This option can be further enabled via multiple modes:

1.A Direct Shopping

Lazypay has partnered with 250+ merchants. These merchants list ‘LazyPay’ as a mode of payment while checking out. You can simply tap on Lazypay with your account and use this functionality. A few examples of merchants they have tied up with are Swiggy, Bookmyshow, IRCTC, Zomato, Dunzo.

1.B LazyPay UPI Scan and Pay

This is quirkiest feature of this application. You can actually make a UPI payment by scanning a barcode by using credit from lazypay. Cool right? This feature makes Lazypay a mainstream mode of payment. As soon as you register with the application, you are given your own unique lazpay UPI ID.

1.C LazyPay UPI Online

Just the way you would scan and pay, LazyPay UPI ID can also be used to make payments anywhere, online. You know the drill. Enter the UPI ID and punch in your 4 digit UPI PIN and voila! You just paid someone with borrowed money.

2. Personal Loan

LazyPay also offers a personal loan of up to 1L rupees. In this fast paced world, we hate to wait. The lending fintech companies know this very well. Lazypay touts the fact that their loans are processed at a fastest rate in the industry. The documentation required is minimal and requires no physical copy whatsoever.

You don’t even need a collateral to apply for a personal loan with them. What lazypay is offering here is essentially a line of credit rather than a loan per se. Think of it this way. They would allocate a kitty sum, worth your loan amount to you. As and when you withdraw money from that kitty, you will be charged interest.

The loan is given at a rate of interest from 18% – 25% which is again pretty high. A bank would lend you a cheaper loan. However, chances of Lazypay approving your loan would be much higher than a bank.

You can check the EMI and interest paid on the loan amount from their website here.

Conclusion:

With a splurge in fintech startup ecosystem in India, access to credit has never been simpler. However, one should conduct their due diligence before borrowing money. Easily available money is often the hardest to repay. Lazypay is another lending fintech packaged rather beautifully.

Have you availed any service from LazyPay in the past?

Got questions? Want to take it to the next level? Reach out to me using your preferred platform from the links below

Until next time..

This blogpost is in association with Blogchatter’s #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge. In this challenge, I write on a fintech platform DAILY for the month of April. You can check out the other articles of this series from here.