LemFi launches ‘Send Now Pay Later’ to address issues with limited credit history

LemFi, a London-based fintech platform, has launched a ‘Send Now Pay Later’ (SNPL) service on its platforms. The new offering is an attempt to address limited credit history for UK users planning to send money home to their families.

In a statement on Thursday, seen by Technext, the company explained that SNPL is a credit-powered remittance product that aims to provide service to customers who are new to the country and have a limited UK credit history. SNPL is an alternative to traditional remittance providers that typically require immediate payment.

For Lemfi, the new services look to address a situation where UK immigrants face inequality in their earnings and expenses. In such cases, immigrants need a rescue point in times of cross-border payment emergencies.

Providing more explanation, the Co-founder and CEO of LemFi, Ridwan Olalere, said that SNPL integrates credit directly into the remittance experience to alleviate the dependence of financial support on cash flow timing. He added that the development shows its AI-enabled financial ecosystem can address real-time, unique challenges.

“The rise of Buy Now, Pay Later means people across the world can buy products and stagger the payments depending on their cash flow. But this has never been possible before with remittance, despite it being such a core part of the immigrant financial experience,” he said in the statement.

Since its emergence in 2020, LemFi has witnessed increased growth propelled by its AI-based international payments platform. The platform helps diaspora communities in North America and Europe send money to emerging markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 

With 2 million active users, the fintech company utilises its multi-currency accounts to transfer money to friends and family in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, India, China, Pakistan, and 15 others.

LemFi’s vision is to reshape the future of how immigrants move their money globally and serve the world’s growing immigrant population. In the UK alone, net migration exceeded 700,000 people in 2022.

With the new SNPL offering, LemFi is making another statement. The product is set to streamline nearly £10 billion worth of payments, according to the company. The company is also using its Ensemble AI model, which combines multiple data sources to inform credit decisions and open banking data, for the SNPL’s operation.

Also Read: LemFi acquires Pillar to strengthen ‘Credit’ access offering for immigrants.

How to access Lemfi’s SNPL

LemFi noted that the service is currently available for all UK customers, including recent immigrants who might not possess an extensive credit history. 

Users of the platform are onboarded to LemFi Credit, giving users access to credit lines ranging from £300 to £1,000. The amount of credit lines accessible will depend on their credit profile and assessment, which is enabled by leveraging open banking technology to evaluate eligibility. 

Its AI-enabled platform gives LemFi access to recognise international credit histories and look beyond traditional UK financial records. The adoption allows LemFi to predict the affordability and repayment likelihood of users.

“This (credit history) is done through the company’s AI-driven decisioning engine that analyses a wide spectrum of data points, including open banking insights, bureau files, remittance history and patterns within LemFi, as well as international credit footprints,” it explained.

After the onboarding process, customers can access their credit limit to send money to any of the platform’s 30+ destination countries. Once a user chooses the SNPL option, LemFi processes the transfer to the recipient while creating a deferred payment obligation for the sender.

With the service, the company wants to solve the stack of five million individuals (a high share of immigrants) in the UK who are considered “credit invisible”. The company noted that SNPL will expand to customers in the United States, Canada, and Europe over the coming weeks.

In January 2025, LemFi secured $53 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to over $86 million. Two years earlier, the fintech platform recorded over $2 billion in annual transaction volume.

Recently, LemFi acquired Pillar, a UK-based fintech company focused on credit access for immigrants, in a move to transform financial services for immigrants.