The backbone of any thriving economy is its banking and finance operations. For an individual, being part of the banking system is imperative not just to store value or money but also to transact and more importantly, get access to credit. Since they do not have a formal account or credit history, their credit rating is non-existent.

In Latin America, over 50% of the population remains unbanked.

For anyone in a developed country, this may seem like an unbelievable statistic to digest, but for Latin America, it is their reality. Several efforts have been taken by various companies to solve this problem but the infrastructure is not quite there to support a sustainable inclusion plan for people living in the rural areas.

Having no affiliation with banks, they do not get regulated capital that can be used for personal or professional use. In such situations, they have to resort to obtaining capital from the local moneylenders and unregulated sources with exorbitant interest rates and fees. Such an exploitative practice prevails due to the helplessness of the poor to access capital at usual banking rates as they aren’t included in the system in the first place.

An important aspect of BitLumens’ mission is to promote financial inclusion to the unbanked population in Latin America through its platform. Our on-ground liaison officers ensure that they have the required information about each customer who leases the solar hardware. This takes care of the KYC of each customer transacting with BitLumens.

Once they are part of the system, they amortize the cost of the hardware by paying in micro-installments at recurring intervals to the agent. These tokens ensure that the hardware stops supplying electricity if the customer defaults on paying the installment. Such an occurrence is included on their profile and builds up their credit score if they have been regular with their installments, which subsequently can be accessed by any established third party considering a credit application from them.

The potential for changing their lives through building their credit score is enormous as it helps them obtain loans, save money and consequently open various financial possibilities from which they are currently alienated.