Splitit, a payments company that divides purchases into installments on customers’ existing cards, announced a partnership with Visa last week. With the partnership, Splitit can remind Visa cardholders through their card statements that their Splitit payments are part of an installment plan. 

“[The partnership] provides a better customer experience to the cardholders and the merchants,” said Brad Paterson, CEO of Splitit. “It provides merchants and partners more confidence in the Splitit platform as the go-to provider.”  

With up-front messaging to remind consumers they are on a payment plan, Splitit is making an appeal to shoppers wary of unclear terms and hidden fees. If a customer is making five monthly payments on a $1,000 television, for example, the customer’s credit card statement will show a $200 charge and indicate which installment it constitutes on the payment plan. In the past, the statement would only show a $200 charge. 

See also: Installment payment platform Splitit partners with Stripe to attract merchant clients

While Splitit works similarly to point-of-sale lenders, the company doesn’t extend new credit to consumers. Instead, the company splits purchases using consumers’ existing cards. According to Splitit’s website, the company obtains authorization from a consumer’s card company for the total purchase amount of an item, then charges the installment payments and requests authorization for the balance of the purchase. 

Splitit makes money from fees charged to merchants using the technology. According to the company, it has 720 merchants using its platform and processed $110 million in payments last year. Paterson said the average purchase value for items is more than $800. Its merchants include Virgin Pure, Fashionette and Kogan. Splitit, which is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, announced a partnership with Stripe in January to speed up merchant onboarding. Although he didn’t give specifics, Paterson said Splitit will continue to work with Visa to launch new payment capabilities.  

Installment payments are a growing business with many competitors pressuring Splitit, including Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay and Bread, which all offer point-of-sale financing options. Afterpay, for example, recently announced it has 3.6 million U.S. customers, while Affirm said recently it has 4.5 million U.S. customers. 

“We’re different because we utilize existing credit,” Paterson said. “We don’t add friction to the checkout experience, and transparency is one way that helps.” 

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