The Challenge

In 2019, financially underserved consumers in the U.S. — encompassing consumers who are unbanked or underbanked, credit challenged, or who have low-to-moderate and/or volatile income households — spent nearly $190 billion in fees and interest on financial products and services. Of these fees, nearly 55% came in the form of short-term and single-payment credit products such as installment loans, title loans, pawn and payday lending, and overdraft fees. This dependence on short-term, small-dollar credit products is driven by low income consumers’ inability to build sufficient savings to weather income fluctuations or small financial shocks, and is reinforced by the onerous fees and complicated repayment structures. The result is millions of underserved consumers trapped in debt spirals that render them unable to achieve financial stability and build wealth.

The Innovation

VIVA Finance extends affordable credit to an underserved subset of the population otherwise forced to rely on expensive, opaque, and predatory products which make saving – and therefore long-term wealth building – either difficult or impossible. By offering loans up to $10,000 in size, VIVA unlocks borrowers’ ability to access and finance more significant life expenses.