Balikbayad expands to Cebu

A Manila-based digital lending company recently expanded operations in Cebu to provide financial help to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

First Digital Finance Corp. (FDFC) brought to Cebu last month Balikbayad, a digital lending platform where OFWs and seafarers can initiate personal loans online.

Balikbayad Cebu is located in Colon Development Corp. Building on Osmeña Blvd.

FDFC is a financial technology company pioneering an automated way for Filipinos to access loans online, established in 2015.

Georg Steiger, founder of FDFC, said the company democratizes access to financial services by simplifying the application process to one that is digitally automated.

FDFC leverages on data generated from loan transactions to understand Filipinos’ financial needs.

“We see a high customer traffic volume since we launched our platform in 2015. Everything has been going great since we launched Balikbayad and we are surprised by loan applications we are getting from the Visayas region. People value our financial product, and we need to ensure that we will be able to meet the demand,” said Steiger.

Balikbayad is a loan designed to cater to the needs of our OFW community and their families. Steiger said it eliminates intermediaries and removes the lengthy screening process and tedious paperwork common to banks and other lending companies.

“With paperless processing, there is less chance of a misplaced application or lost documents. We also provide a 24-hour turnaround to all application, once all the requirements have been met,” said Ritche Weekun, also co-founder of FDFC.

According to Steiger, recent trends in financial technology (fintech) and a surge in demand for affordable credit have given financial technology companies like them a major push for a specialized credit segment for OFWs. /