Dwolla has taken its first step to move beyond support for cash with the launch of Dwolla Credit. The service is being launched in partnership with Alliance Data Systems (ADS), a
Dwolla takes aim at credit market
provider of branded credit card programs, but Dwolla expects there to be other partners of a similar nature in the future.
ADS’s Retail Services business will provide a cardless, private label credit product through Dwolla’s network as a part of the new, multi-year agreement between the two companies.
As the name implies, the service is about extending credit to consumers that they can then tap into when shopping online by selecting a new Dwolla funding source at the time of checkout. At launch, 40 merchants who already accept Dwolla on their sites have announced support for Dwolla Credit, and more will be added in time as the service moves from beta to its public release.
ADS will handle approving and providing consumers with the credit. Consumers will still be evaluated for their credit risk and ADS will also manage the other tasks associated with providing credit, including disputes, customer support, setting the APR, credit limits and more. But now this credit, which has previously been available through traditional bank cards and the like, is now available through Dwolla’s online service itself.
Dwolla Credit merchants can choose to integrate the option into their e-commerce sites using shopping cart plug-ins that offer Dwolla as a checkout option like Spree, Shopify, Magento, or 3D Cart, for example, or they can opt for a custom integration using the APIs the company provides, as before with the cash-based Dwolla checkout option.
The service, now in beta, will initially allow a small number of beta testers in to provide early feedback while the various kinks are being worked out. The company is rolling the invites as the week goes on, so it could be 500 users or it could be 5,000 who are allowed in, we’re told. Dwolla Credit will launch to the public in Q1 2014.
The post Dwolla stakes claim with launch of Dwolla Credit appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.
