Promise aims to bring financial flexibility to outdated utility payment systems

Since the pandemic, financial problems have grown for people. Also, the payment of utility bills, taxes, and other governmentfees do not have many flexible options. Promise aims to help people by integrating with official payment systems and offering more forgiving terms for expenses and debts so that people can affordto payin long terms or installments.

The company has already raised $20 million. According to the CEO and co-founder of Promise, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, this is where current systems are lacking. Unlike buying a TV or piece of furniture, where payment plans may be offered in a single click during online checkout, there are no such options for municipal ticket payment and utilities.

“We have found that people struggling to pay their bills want to pay and will pay at extremely high rates if you offer them reminders, accessible payment options, and flexibility. The systems are the problem — they are not designed for people who don’t always have a surplus of money in their bank accounts. These systems do not recognize that most people are struggling with their basic needs. Payments may need to be weekly or split up into multiple payment types,” said Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins in an interview.

For now, even those that do offer such plans don’t work correctly, and failure rates are very high. Promise acts as a middleman, integrating lightly with the agency or utility, which gives the people option to pay via various methods, including installments.