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We wanted to avoid the inelegance of a direct debit and make the payments easier. It just didn’t rime well with the year 2022.

David Öhlund, CEO GF Money Scandinavia

How did you handle payments before?

Most of the down payments are made with direct debit on a recurring basis (Swedish Autogiro), but for those wanting to settle their debt or pay off a larger amount, direct debit (Swedish Bankgiro) has been the only option.

What challenges did you face?

Direct debit is a cumbersome and awkward process, where the user is required to log in to their bank and copy and paste or manually enter the payment details. Attempts had been made to make it easier for users to copy and paste the payments details, but with 80% of users on mobile devices, it just was not enough.

Paying down on customers’ debt is of utmost importance for GF Money and its customers. When debt is paid back GF Money can use that to expand and offer more to its customers. By making it easier to pay, more people are likely to do so and the payment flows will increase and customers’ debt would decrease.

Why did you select Instant payments?

Other types of payments methods were investigated before deciding to go with Direct payments. Swedish mobile payments system, Swish, was one of them, but it lacked important functionality and added tedious extra administrative work. Also, a major turnoff was the user experience.

“Instant payments are easier to use than Swish. Swish requires a phone number, entering the Swish app and making a full callback. It takes more time.”

The team at GF Money also evaluated card payments as an option. However, the fees on card payments are considered too high and create issues on the receiving end. When the customer pays 1000 SEK on their debt, only 990 SEK are received, creating an unbalance and opens for misunderstandings. On top of that GF Money experience issues with cards being lost, stolen, or simply outdated.

“After the customer made their first Instant payments, the following payments are just click-click, then it’s all done.”

Direct debit via Bankgiro is still an option for those clients who might prefer that way. However, that’s not something David Öhlund at GF Money sees as a long-term option.

“In the future, no one will choose the traditional way.”

Additional integrations are coming up soon where customers will be able to settle debts or make payments through a link sent in SMS. It doesn’t end there, though. With the flexibility of initiating a payment with just a link, it could expand beyond text messaging.

“We can send the payment link anywhere we want and be where the client wants to be.”

Why did you choose Finshark as partner?

In an ocean full of open banking fish, GF Money selected Finshark as their Direct payment provider. This even though they have established another open banking partnership already.

“We selected Finshark because they were quickest on their feet. And we gained confidence for them immediately.”

The implementation itself was made by the technicians at GF Money, who found it to be simple, yet flexible. The questions and uncertainty that arose during the project was handled through a direct channel in Slack with Finshark’s developers.

“The implementation is uncomplicated, and the documentation is more than adequate. We didn’t feel the need for any other instructions.”

The future.

Additional integrations are coming up soon where customers will be able to settle debts or make payments through a link sent in SMS. It doesn’t end there, though. With the flexibility of initiating a payment with just a link, it could expand beyond text messaging.

“We can send the payment link anywhere we want and be where the client wants to be.”