Questions, answered

7Later is the technology layer behind salary-secured consumer credit. Licensed financial institutions use the platform to issue credit that is repaid from salary — through an employer guarantee, a payroll deduction, or a salary account held at the lender. 7Later supplies the platform, the product design and the operating model. The partner supplies the licence, the capital and the customer relationship.

No. 7Later is a technology provider. Credit is issued by the licensed financial institution that partners with us, on its own licence and balance sheet. We never hold, disburse or own credit funds.

Consumer credit whose repayment is attached to a salary rather than predicted from a credit score. Repayment is intercepted at a point in the money flow before the borrower's discretionary spending — behind payroll, inside payroll, or at the account the salary lands in. The salary is the collateral; the configurations differ only in where the lender attaches to it.

A licensed lender extends a credit limit to an employee. The employee spends it at merchants or on utilities, and merchants are paid immediately. Repayment is taken from net pay across a fixed short schedule — either deducted by the employer before pay is released, or collected from the salary account on the day the salary arrives. Because repayment precedes discretionary spending, arrears are structurally rare rather than actively managed.

Scoring produces a probability, and a probability has a floor it cannot go below when the underlying data is sparse. In markets with thin bureau coverage and informal income records, that floor keeps loss rates — and therefore pricing — high enough to limit the product to small, short, high-margin lending. Salary-secured credit changes where repayment happens instead of trying to predict it more accurately.

Earned wage access advances wages the employee has already earned within the current pay period, and is usually funded or facilitated by the employer. 7Later supports credit issued by a licensed lender, over fixed short terms, repaid from future salary. The regulatory treatment, the funding source and the counterparty are all different.

A salary advance is an employer paying its own employee early from its own cash. The liability sits on the employer's balance sheet and consumes the employer's working capital. Under 7Later the financing comes from a licensed lender, the receivable sits on the lender's balance sheet, and the employer contributes no capital in any configuration.

Point-of-sale instalment products underwrite the transaction, price the merchant and rely on collections to recover. Salary-secured credit underwrites the income stream and recovers structurally, before the borrower spends. The user experience may look similar; the security behind it is not comparable.

No, and that is the point. It operates at national scale in several economies and has for decades — crédito consignado in Brazil, crédito de nómina in Mexico, libranza in Colombia, check-off lending across East and Southern Africa, and salary domiciliation lending across francophone Africa and the Gulf. What most markets lack is not the model but the operating infrastructure.

The lender does, supported by the security in whichever configuration is in use. 7Later takes no credit exposure and does not share in credit losses.

No. 7Later is not a party to the credit agreement, does not co-lend, does not provide a first-loss guarantee and does not share in credit losses. Our revenue comes from the platform relationship, not from the performance of the book. That separation is deliberate: it keeps the regulatory position clean and keeps our incentives on volume and reliability rather than on risk-taking.

Legally it is usually unsecured consumer credit, since no asset is pledged. Economically it behaves quite differently, because repayment is intercepted in the payment order rather than requested after the fact. Lenders generally classify it as unsecured but treat its loss experience as a separate category.

The limit is suspended immediately and the outstanding balance is settled from final pay to the extent local law permits. Any residual is handled according to the configuration in use: under an employer guarantee it falls to the employer, under a deduction-only arrangement it becomes an ordinary receivable of the lender, and under salary domiciliation it is recovered from the account, which typically continues to receive the new employer's salary.

Loss performance depends on the configuration, the employer mix and the market, so a single figure would be misleading, and we do not publish portfolio numbers from other partners' books. What can be said structurally is that the configurations differ in a predictable order: an employer guarantee is the strongest, payroll deduction next, salary domiciliation the lightest. Partners receive real performance data under NDA during evaluation.

Three caps apply simultaneously, and the lowest of them governs: the lender's affordability policy as a fixed share of net monthly pay, the legally assignable share of wages in the jurisdiction, and a short tenor, typically one to four instalments. 7Later configures the legal cap per jurisdiction as a hard constraint, because getting it wrong invalidates the deduction.

Short schedules, typically one to four instalments, do three things at once: they keep the total cost of credit low in absolute terms, they keep the book self-liquidating, and they turn deployed capital several times a year — which raises return on capital without raising the rate charged.

They cannot. The limit is capped by three constraints applied simultaneously: the lender's affordability policy as a share of net pay, the legally deductible share of wages in the jurisdiction, and a short maximum tenor. Credit is also issued as spending capacity within a defined merchant and utility network rather than as cash.

Employer guarantee, in which the company stands behind its employees' obligations. Payroll deduction, in which the company deducts from net pay but guarantees nothing. And salary domiciliation, in which the employee receives their salary at the partner lender and the lender collects at the account, with no employer involvement at all. All three secure the same thing — the salary — at a different point.

No. Only one of the three configurations uses an employer guarantee. In the payroll deduction model the employer authorises a deduction but takes no credit exposure, and in the salary domiciliation model the employer is not a party at all — the employee simply receives their salary at the partner bank.

Yes. Salary domiciliation requires no employer agreement. The employee opens a salary account with the lending partner, directs their pay to it, and the lender collects on the day the salary arrives. Employers in this model are only a distribution channel, if they are involved at all.

It is consumer credit secured by the arrival of a salary into an account held at the lending institution. The lender observes the regular inflow, sizes a limit against it, and collects the instalment on the credit date before the borrower spends it. It is long-established practice for banks across Africa, South Asia and the Gulf; 7Later supplies the digital origination, spending network and servicing around it.

It depends on what the partner already has. A lender with strong corporate banking relationships can move fastest with payroll deduction, because the employers are already clients. A lender whose priority is growing low-cost retail deposits usually starts with salary domiciliation, since every borrower becomes a payroll account holder.

Yes, and most eventually do. The three share a single platform, a single ledger and a single set of operating procedures, so adding a configuration is a policy change rather than a new deployment. A common sequence is to open a market with salary domiciliation, then convert the employers behind those salary accounts into deduction or guarantee relationships once the volume is visible.

Yes, and it is a useful middle position. The company allows the lender to present the programme to staff and to communicate internally, but signs nothing, guarantees nothing and deducts nothing. Employees enrol under salary domiciliation. This gives the distribution of an employer partnership with the legal simplicity of a direct relationship.

In most cases no — the product is consumer credit issued under an existing lending licence. What matters is whether your licence category's pricing ceiling accommodates the economics. That is the first thing we assess.

In most jurisdictions no, because 7Later does not lend, does not hold or disburse credit funds and is not a party to the credit agreement. Where a market regulates technology service providers to lenders — India's lending service provider framework, for example — 7Later operates inside that framework, with the regulated lender retaining full accountability for compliance.

Yes, provided it is designed for the ceiling rather than adjusted to it afterwards. Three rules govern: the ceiling attaches to the licence category rather than the institution, every charge that is a condition of obtaining credit counts inside the all-in rate regardless of who receives it, and the rate must be calculated actuarially on the real amortisation schedule. Charges borne by a party other than the borrower — a merchant, for instance — generally fall outside it.

Because most regulators set ceilings by the category of institution they supervise, not by product. In the West African monetary union the ceiling for banks sits far below the ceiling for microfinance institutions. The identical product at the identical price can be lawful for one institution and unlawful for its competitor across the street. A bank cannot lend at a microfinance rate simply by choosing to.

Generally yes, wherever the ceiling is defined as an all-in cost of credit. If a charge is a condition of obtaining the credit, it belongs inside the calculation regardless of which entity receives it. Splitting a fee between lender and technology provider does not move it outside. Making it nominally optional does not either, where the service is structurally required to access the credit.

The maximum portion of an employee's pay that may lawfully be assigned or deducted for a third party's benefit. It appears in employment law, civil procedure rules or wage protection legislation depending on the jurisdiction, and is often a progressive scale rather than a flat percentage. Getting it wrong can invalidate the deduction, so 7Later configures it per market as a hard constraint.

India's framework is a good fit for the structure. A technology provider acts as a lending service provider to a regulated lender that retains full compliance accountability — which is exactly how 7Later operates. The fund-flow rules, which prohibit third-party pass-through accounts and require disbursement to the borrower or, for specific end uses, directly to the end beneficiary, require India-specific product structuring. We do that with the partner and Indian counsel before anything is built.

The commercial mechanics — a fixed fee, a fixed short schedule, a defined goods-and-services perimeter and no interest accrual on delay — map onto murabaha-style structuring. We work with the partner's Sharia advisory on the specific contract form.

Data residency and personal data handling are configured to the partner's jurisdiction. The database sits inside an internal perimeter that is not directly reachable from outside, with architectural separation between the external API layer, the internal application layer and the data layer. 7Later holds certification with the Senegalese data protection authority and aligns to local requirements in each market of operation.

The lender does, as the regulated entity. The platform produces the underlying data — portfolio position, arrears ageing, cost-of-credit disclosures, transaction records — in formats shaped for the partner's reporting obligations.

No. Financing comes entirely from a licensed financial institution. The employer contributes no capital in any configuration, and no receivable appears on the employer's balance sheet.

Only if it chooses to. Of the three configurations, one uses an employer guarantee and two do not. In the payroll deduction configuration the employer executes a deduction but takes no exposure, and in the salary domiciliation configuration the employer is not a party to the arrangement at all.

No. There is no fee to the employer in any configuration. The lender's revenue comes from the credit product and its merchant network. The only real cost to an employer is payroll team time, and only in the deduction configuration — one reconciliation file per pay cycle, produced from data the company already holds.

No. Credit is issued by a licensed lender to the employee directly. The employer is either a payroll administrator, a guarantor, or nothing at all, depending on the configuration — none of which constitutes lending.

In the deduction configuration, one file per pay cycle drawn from data you already hold, plus joiner and leaver notifications. In the salary domiciliation configuration, none — the employer simply pays salaries to the accounts employees nominate, as it already does.

Yes. Eligibility rules can be set by tenure, contract type, grade or any field present in your payroll data, and the lender applies its own affordability policy on top.

Most internal schemes are funded from working capital, approved case by case, and reconciled irregularly, which puts a growing receivable on the employer's balance sheet and an unbudgeted administrative load on finance and HR. Moving the same benefit onto a licensed lender's balance sheet removes the capital, the exposure and the discretion, and replaces them with uniform terms applied by policy.

No. Enrolment and transactions run through WhatsApp or mobile web. Native apps are available where a partner wants them, but app installation is the largest single drop-off point in emerging-market consumer finance, and the platform is designed to work without it.

No. Credit funds remain under the lending partner's control. 7Later processes transaction instructions, records operations in its own ledger and transmits operation data to the lender, typically by webhook. It has no authority to dispose of credit funds.

A defined perimeter covering transaction instruction, operation notification, settlement and reporting. 7Later does not connect to internal fund management or bookkeeping systems beyond that agreed scope.

Yes. Borrowers can pay at merchants that have not onboarded to the platform, which makes the network usable from launch. Merchants that do integrate receive instant settlement, a merchant portal and access to promotional tools.

Yes. It is deployed under the partner's brand. The borrower is the lender's customer, on the lender's paper.

Mobile money and e-money issuers, bank transfer and local clearing, card networks, and utility and biller integrations. Rails are configured per market against whatever is dominant locally rather than assumed.

Partnerships are structured as revenue share, agreed per market. We make no capital contribution and expect none from a partner beyond its own lending book. Exact terms depend on market, volume, exclusivity and the division of local operating responsibility. We do not publish a rate card, because a product priced against a local cost-of-credit ceiling and a local cost of funds cannot be priced on a website.

A partner deployment typically runs from signature to first live employer in a matter of weeks rather than quarters, because the platform, the product logic and the operating procedures already exist.

A named executive sponsor, access to the partner's corporate banking relationships or retail acquisition channel as an initial pipeline, a clear internal position on the regulatory pathway, and a pilot commitment sized to prove the model. Projects that live inside an innovation department without a business owner do not reach production, and we would rather establish that at the start.

It can be, within a defined market and for a defined period, in exchange for volume commitments. We do not grant open-ended exclusivity, because an exclusive nobody is executing on closes a market for everyone.

You do. The borrower is your customer, on your paper, with your brand where you choose. The platform can be deployed white-label.

Any licensed lender able to commit a defined retail book and to field a small dedicated operating team. Balance-sheet size matters less than clarity of mandate.

Yes, and it is a common route. If you have a banking relationship already, the fastest path is usually to introduce us to that bank; you become the first employer of a programme your own bank runs. Where no suitable partner exists locally, we can approach institutions ourselves, though that adds time.

7Later is a technology provider rather than a lender, so the platform is deployed wherever a licensed partner operates. Our current focus is Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. Rather than a fixed country list, we assess four conditions: a formal payroll base, a genuine consumer credit gap, enough headroom under the local cost-of-credit ceiling for the partner's licence category, and phone-first distribution.

The underlying conditions are strong: a very large formal payroll base, no fixed rate ceiling for non-banking financial companies, and the world's highest messenger penetration. India also has a well-defined regulatory framework for exactly this kind of partnership, in which a technology provider acts as a lending service provider to a regulated lender that retains full accountability. Fund-flow rules require product structuring specific to India, which we do with the partner and Indian counsel before anything is built.

No. The platform was first built and operated in West Africa, which is why our earliest references are there, but nothing in the model is region-specific. Payroll-deducted consumer credit operates at national scale in Latin America, across East and Southern Africa and in parts of Asia.

Three things, most often. A cost-of-credit ceiling too low for the partner's licence category to carry the product. An employment base that is largely informal or paid in cash. And a legal framework that does not permit assignment or deduction of wages for third-party credit.