Fintech Startup CRED Launches Scan And Pay Feature For More Secured UPI Payments

On October 1, credit card payment platform CRED announced that it will expand its current service by enabling its community of people with high credit scores to use UPI for making payments through the app. Users will now be able to scan and pay UPI transactions. The business, which is financed by Tiger Global and Falcon Edge Capital (Alpha Wave), said that in addition to offers on brands and rebates on purchases, it will also offer 2x rewards in cases when payments are made to its partner merchants.

A company spokesperson told the media in advance of the announcement that the cashback will be deposited to each user's CRED Balance rather than their bank account. Additionally, the rewards will be offered as CRED Coins or CRED Gems. Customers are anticipated to utilise their awards for in-app purchases in the future, which is expected to further boost in- app transactions.

CRED's founder, Kunal Shah, stated, "CRED was built with the creditworthy in mind. The country's top 1 per cent have set the stage for how India consumes and we believe they deserve an experience that celebrates their contribution. India has been leading digital payments adoption with revolutionary made-in-India products and UPI is delta-4 enabling infrastructure for innovation at scale. The CRED pay experience builds on top of this with privacy-first features, personalisation and other member exclusives."

Users will be able to create an alias UPI ID, which will help them conceal sensitive information like mobile numbers and provide greater privacy when making payments, according to CRED. Payments will automatically be made using members' alias UPI IDs once Custom Virtual Payment Addresses (VPA) are activated.

When payments are delayed, CRED will advise members to start a new transaction with the assurance that they would receive credit back if the payment has been deducted but has not yet reached the intended recipient and is later determined to have been successful. Members can also add accessories to their payment screen by exchanging their CRED money for accessories. For people with a credit score of over 750, access to scan and pay using UPI will be available, just like with all of CRED's offers.

To help India's most creditworthy people pay their credit card bills and earn points, serial entrepreneur Shah founded CRED in 2018. Since then, it has grown to include lending, e- commerce payments, brand advertising, short-term credit, and peer-to-peer lending.

Shah has also stepped up CRED's commerce efforts by bringing on a number of consumer brands that only exist online. It recently launched a platform for onboarding Cred stores with zero costs, exempting all brand partners from listing fees and commissions on all sales. It is still unclear how CRED will successfully cross-sell, upsell, and monetize each of these engines despite its quick expansion into payments, lending, investing, and commerce.