Consumer finance app BillEase aims to increase its net income by 50% this year as it seeks to further expand its customer base, according to an official statement.

BillEase recorded a net income of about P250 million in 2023, as reported by Chief Financial Officer Garret Go during an event recently.

In 2023, BillEase’s revenues doubled year on year, a performance driven primarily by repeat customers’ continued use of the app.

“About 90% of our business is from repeat customers. These are customers we’ve onboarded even before 2023, and the longer they stay with us, the better our customers may become, so they have a bigger credit limit. And of course, their default rates are better,”

said Garret.

The company onboarded 500,000 new users in 2023, reaching a total of 1.3 million customers by May 2024. BillEase aims to hit two million users by the end of this year, with current monthly active users numbering between 400,000 to 500,000.

Garret highlighted the growth potential, stating,

“We only have a million users today, and that’s out of a population of 110 million in the country. I’m sure there’s a lot who are still unserved or underserved. So, we want to really target them.”

BillEase also plans to grow its loan portfolio by 50% this year from around P4 billion currently.

“We continually improve our credit model to make sure we underwrite the right customers. We give customers who can afford installments the right credit limit… There’s a lot of people who want to borrow money, but we only want to give them enough so that it’s useful for them,”

said Garret.

Despite the high interest rate environment, the company has observed steady consumer demand as inflation is slowing down. BillEase’s nonperforming loan ratio is currently around 7-8%, with expectations of improved asset quality as inflation eases.

“I think we have one of the best collections among the players in the industry. Collections have been good. That’s also why we have been profitable,”

Garret noted.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has maintained its policy rate at a 17-year high of 6.5% since October 2023, following cumulative hikes worth 450 basis points to address elevated inflation. Headline inflation rose to 3.9% year on year in May, marking the sixth consecutive month within the BSP’s 2-4% target band.

The consumer price index averaged 3.5% from January to May, aligning with the central bank’s full-year forecast. BillEase recently secured US$5 million in fresh capital from Saison Investment Management Private Ltd. to expand its Helicap-led credit facility to US$40 million.

Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik