Client Success Story:
Rent-to-Own Retailer

Needed to be compliant with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
High volume of customers making weekly and monthly payments
Wanted to offer more ‘self-serve’ options
Customers can now pay 24/7 online or on the phone in a PCI-DSS level 1 compliant manner

Services & sector

About the company

Established in 2006, the Rent-to-Own Retailer provided access to top-quality products and services which improved the lives of their customers.

Not everyone can always afford to buy things they need outright, so they provided flexibility for their customers, allowing them to spread the cost using a weekly or monthly payment plan.

The requirement

The retailer was undergoing their regulatory assessment with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They quickly identified that, following a period of rapid growth, there were areas of the business open to non-compliance.

To address this issue, they decided to go through a nationwide business change, which removed the ability for customers to make payments face-to-face in store. They quickly needed a compliant and convenient alternative for customers to pay for their weekly or monthly payment plans.

The solution

Key IVR introduced a multi-channelled payment solution to allow customers to ‘self-serve’ and reduce the influx of ‘payment-only’ calls that were coming into their contact centre:

24/7 Payment Telephone Line

An automated payment IVR allowed customers to pay their weekly or monthly bills over the phone, day or night, without the need for human interaction. The platform was integrated to verify the callers against their telephone number and Date of Birth. It provided a selection of payment options for their account and customers can use their phone keypad to enter their card payment details.

All calls were fully secure to PCI-DSS Level 1 compliance, using DTMF masking to ensure that no sensitive card data ever entered the organisation.

Find out more about Payment IVR

Bespoke Payment Webpage

This branded webpage was accessible on any web browser for desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone devices, working alongside the existing website. Customers could login, manage their account and securely pay their weekly or monthly bills online. It also had the ability to issue a fully branded email receipt upon completion of the payment.

Find out more about Secure Web Payments

The outcome

The new payment options were introduced and well received by customers, who praised the convenience of being able to pay online or on the phone 24/7. In addition, as both services were hosted on an omni-channel payment platform, a customer could save their card details against their account and choose to pay online or over the telephone without always having the card in hand.

The retailer could issue SMS messages to their customers reminding them of any due payments, with the option to pay through the IVR or website. Contact centre agents were able to spend more time with customers who have queries about their account.

They were also confident that no sensitive card details were stored on their corporate network and agents aren’t exposed to customer’s sensitive information, avoiding any potential security risks. As all payments were processed securely through Key IVR’s PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant platform, they were able to achieve PCI-DSS compliance and adhere to strict FCA regulations.