EXCELCREDIT

In 2013 a group of young entrepreneurs decided to establish ExcelCredit. A Colombian Fintech that offers consumer loans to those unattended by the banks.

The company started just like some of the biggest technology companies around the world: in a small house located in a small neighborhood in Bogota called Quinta Camacho. During this time, the founders managed to establish the loan origination operation in order to provide these consumer loans, the first clients were happily attended, and then they focused on growing the team in order to expand ExcelCredit nationwide. This was even worked on from the garage at that small house. The growing demand forced the team to move to a larger house that became the first official headquarters of the company. This was a big step for those that were part of the start-up, all the hard work and efforts was paying off and the company was progressively strengthening every day. The team was very motivated to see its dream become a reality.

At the very beginning, the Company faced significant challenges: i) starting operations in a market with important, large players, ii) the mistrust of government institutions in non- banking companies, and iii) the lack of knowledge from potential clients about Fintechs. Nevertheless, these obstacles motivated the founders to move forward and consolidate the company as a reliable alternative to the people in need of payroll loans.

ExcelCredit’s first headquarters

Current ExcelCredit´s headquarters The team’s entrepreneurial spirit was critical to ensure the sustainability of the business. The long-term approach and the conviction of the leaders allowed them to recruit a highly prepared team with plenty of years of experience in loans management and sales of financial services.

The leading team that was conformed back then is still part of the company today, demonstrating that more than colleagues, they are a family that shares the same vision: to become the most innovative Fintech, reliable and inclusive, that makes the clients’ dreams come true and meets the stakeholders’ needs with quality, effectiveness, transparency, professionalism with excellent customer service, all while leveraging on the latest technology.

The leading team’s vision has made it possible to overcome the obstacles that might be faced when a company is growing. This provides the foundation for the process of continuous improvement, growing investments in technology and the consolidation of the operations to reach more potential customers.

Thanks to this, the company has expanded its presence across the different regions of the country. Its commercial strategy allows them to attend clients in branches located in both the main cities and in near-by cities through business advisors, virtual advisors and the mobile branch, a truck that offers all the necessary facilities to attend clients in small towns. Currently, the company has 24 branches, and it is planned to have 30 by the end of 2021.

The Company is growing and there is yet a long way to go and many challenges to overcome. However, the business results have showed that the efforts and the hard work have paid off and that becoming an important player in a competitive market is possible, even for a group of young entrepreneurs that are willing to contribute to the development of the country, creating opportunities to those who need them.

Since the beginning, the company´s purpose was to offer consumer loans using the payroll lending model while bearing always in mind that achieving a long-term relationship with the clients is paramount. This means offering fair and transparent conditions to improve their living standards.

The company decided to focus on attending clients with bad credit scores, thus giving a second opportunity to those who, for several reasons, have failed to make payments of their loans and need to improve their financial situation. This is how, to date, more than 45,000 Colombians have received their loans. Most of the clients are pensioners that have not been served by other financial institutions due to their other outstanding debts.

Due to the granted loans, the company alleviates the customers financial situation, giving them back tranquility and thus preventing them to seek the pay day lenders or “gota a gota” lenders. Therefore, the company promotes financial inclusion and gives a hand to a market segment of the population that faces problems trying to get loans in the formal financial ecosystem. Currently, ExcelCredit has more than 300 business agreements with government institutions at both the national and regional levels, through which pensioners, teachers, police officers, and government employees can apply for a consumer loan with competitive interest rates. In addition, the customer receives a pre-approved on the loan request only after 48-hours, on average; that said, the goal is to do it in a matter of minutes.

These clients are the best allies of the company because through them and their good experience, the company is getting more and more customers. In addition, the clients currently make part of the referral program, becoming ‘brand ambassadors’ and getting multiple benefits for it.

During the seven years in business, several client testimonials have showed that the customers see ExcelCredit like a helping hand, a trustworthy alternative to improve their financial situation and like a door that is open when others are closed. This is because the company serves not only people with a poor credit history but also people with no history at all. This is the result of the development of a credit methodology to attend customers without any previous credit record.

Therefore, ExcelCredit offers payroll loans to these market segments that face problems in finding backing by the traditional banking system. The company is willing to understand and is prepared to accompany these clients in their reintegration process into the formal financial system, always in compliance with the regulation.

Most of the clients belong to both the lowmiddle-income and the low-income brackets of population and the average loan is US$ 3.000. However, it is possible to find clients from all socioeconomic segments as they are as well served by ExcelCredit. According to the surveys made by the company, the most frequent uses of loans are home improvements, tuition payments for grandsons and other relatives, and the creation of small businesses that act as a second source of income.

In order to offer additional benefits to the clients, in 2008 the company implemented a financial education program aimed at generating digital content about personal finances. The videos are published in the company’s YouTube channel and are available free of charge to all the people interested in these matters. This information is complemented with a weekly blog that can be found on the website and the topics are related to loans applications, legal loan aspects, and basic concepts and terminology on finance, among others.

Also, in these communication channels it is common to find clients that shared their experience with ExcelCredit. Their stories inspired others that just like them, are looking for a second opportunity to be granted a loan. This is how many other potential clients know about ExcelCredit and learn how they can use the company’s services and see positive changes in their quality of life. Through these testimonials it is possible to observe the company’s commitment to social responsibility.

In 2019, the company decided to offer personal accidents insurance specially designed to satisfy the most critical needs of the clients. This insurance includes home health care services, toll-free hotline for medical orientation, handyman services and provides monetary aid in case of loss of ID documents.

ExcelCredit works every day to improve its products and services to the benefit of those people that have been rejected by other financial institutions given their poor credit record, who base their dreams and projects on the chance of a new loan. In this sense, ExcelCredit supports them to make their dreams come true and achieve their goals.

Contrary to common perception, for the leading team of this Fintech, the main asset is not the data, technology, or the loan portfolio. For ExcelCredit, the team members are the most valuable asset. Currently, more than 300 people

are part of this family and most of them are young, dedicated employees, specialized in their fields and that are led by people with wide experience in the financial system.

In ExcelCredit the management seeks to have a working environment full of opportunities and challenges where the teamwork is enduring. Therefore, the staff has access to ongoing training programs through in-house platforms that allow them to broaden and update their knowledge about risks, internal credit management, arrears control, leadership, among others, on a regular basis.

The purpose of these programs is to foster curiosity and highlight the importance of learning by sharing. In addition, the company aims at developing analytical skills that can be applied to the analysis and understanding of several company’s processes. Thus, each employee will be able to contribute to different subjects with a positive attitude, allowing to achieve the goal of making the company the best place to work and the best Fintech for those that need to apply for a consumer loan via the payroll loan model.

To have happy, satisfied employees, ExcelCredit offers flexible working hours, has implemented home office for some of the workers, and recently adopted a casual dress code to make them more comfortable at work. In addition, each employee has access to several benefits that motivate them and contribute to an adequate work-life balance. The company is led by millennials which is a competitive edge as it allows them to better understand the interests and motivations of the new generations. This is an advantage to ensure a challenging work environment to bring in new talents and to enhance the staff´s sense of belonging and their commitment to the company’s mission: to have an efficient and transparent corporative culture aimed at offering convenient financial services, focused on customer satisfaction and on delivering the financial results.

It is a fact that having well trained employees with the necessary skills to perform their job is important. However, in ExcelCredit the most valuable characteristic of all the members of the team is to live the corporate values and share them. It is expected that they will act ethically and professionally, because only in this way can they guarantee an excellent customer service and be recognized by the clients as a reliable financial solution.

Innovation is always present in every step the company takes. Therefore, permanent investments in technology are made and the operation is continuously assessed in order to improve the customer’s experience and be more effective in delivering our services. Thanks to the support of the in-house digital laboratory and its skilled engineers, the company has managed to increase productivity while also meeting its goals.

ExcelCredit has created it’s in house technology that enables it to promptly respond to market changes and easily adapt to the customers’ characteristics. This has allowed the Company to have sustained growth with excellent portfolio quality, arrears control and satisfactory results.

It is worth mentioning that the Company has developed its own underwriting capabilities that feeds the core system with different data sources, allowing to determine the customers’ payment capacity while considering the risk assessment of the clients’ judicial processes. Therefore, it is possible to serve clients that the competition is used to reject.

The Company’s credit policies are based on the objective of providing support to the potential customers to make it through to the loans’ approval process. This means that ExcelCredit digs deeper into the client’s financial conditions understanding to offer a taylor-made solution, which is in line with the Company´s slogan: “who really knows you, knows what you need”.

Given the process of continuous improvement that the Company has, the web page was renovated las year adding a new online banking portal for the clients where they are able to get information about the status of their loan application as well as place loans certifications requests, request a new loan enhancing the customer experience. Besides, there is a new virtual assistant chatbot named Sara that solves most of the clients doubts. This service is complemented by a virtual Kiosk, which is located in the main branches and offers remote assistance to clients.

On the other hand, a robust cloud-based CRM solution was implemented to support the business results and improve the efficiency and effectiveness in customer service. This new tool strengthens the personalized relationship with clients and helps the firm to improve the telephone sales because the information from social media and the website can be processed easily.

To complement the services portfolio, the Online Credit App will be launched this year. With this new product, clients will be able to apply for a loan, and the approval and disbursement will be 100% online. This means that customers will save time and money because they will get a loan easily and comfortably from home.

This is how ExcelCredit will extend its services to remote areas where there are Colombians that need a second opportunity. It is worth noting that this new app will not generate additional costs to clients given that its purpose is to enable access to people in different regions of the country while supporting financial inclusion.

That being said, it is important to mention that the ExcelCredit’s management still struggles to get support from the government entities with which they have payroll loans agreements as they do not update their internal processes. This is an obstacle to allow more of their employees to benefit from the Company´s services.

In the next months, ExcelCredit will add insurances to its online services portfolio. The main goal behind this project is to offer complementary services with very special conditions to the clients that they are currently attending.

ExcelCredit is a Fintech that is conscious that broadening credit access has a real impact in the quality of life to those Colombians that, for one reason or another, do not have enough savings or access to credit to satisfy their needs. Hence, the loans are one of the most efficient ways to redistribute resources among the population and give opportunities to the ones that need them.

The Company aims to become a leader in the non-banking financial sector and fulfill its value proposition of providing peace of mind to people by giving them access to an easy and timely financial solution. The leading team identified a need in the market, and they are doing their best to accomplish this goal.

Everything began just like an idea, and the hard and constant work, the tenacity and effort of a group of young entrepreneurs made possible that the Colombian financial system now counts on a Company that, with transparency and fair conditions, has created a sustainable business that promotes financial inclusion based on high quality standards.