Context
CrediTía is the consumer financing arm of the Tía retail chain, one of the leading retail players in Ecuador. For years, customer credit activation depended on traditional processes: manual verifications, paper forms and in‑person signatures that could take more than three days to complete.
The model not only slowed the purchase decision in store, but also generated high operating costs—around USD 8 per credit opening—and achieved limited conversion, below 20%. The company needed a radically different approach to scale its financing business profitably.
The challenge
The challenge was to digitize and scale loan placement without compromising control or traceability.
Main pain points included:
- Excessive wait times, discouraging immediate in‑store purchases.
- High operating costs from manual verifications and paper workflows.
- Lack of visibility in the flow, complicating audits and risk control.
To meet retail growth and the need for fast financing, CrediTía sought an end‑to‑end model combining agility, traceability and a frictionless experience.
The solution
Together with Jelou, CrediTía launched a fully digital conversational credit flow on WhatsApp, integrating every stage of the process into a single chat:
- Data capture, identity verification and real‑time credit scoring.
- E‑signature and instant disbursement, completely eliminating paperwork.
- Direct integration with ERP and POS, enabling immediate credit use for in‑store purchases.
The conversational channel became the new access point for financing, drastically reducing friction for both customers and internal teams.
Results
The impact was strong in less than a year:
- Over USD 20 million in loans placed.
- 38,000 loans issued to more than 30,000 people.
- 85% overall conversion, compared to less than 20% with the traditional model.
- Sharp reduction in operating costs per opening, thanks to eliminating in‑person procedures.
- Processes reduced from days to hours, accelerating in‑store purchase decisions.
The new system not only accelerated consumption, but also provided full traceability and real‑time metrics to audit, control risks and optimize campaigns.
Conclusion
By moving credit origination to customers’ favorite channel, CrediTía turned WhatsApp into an engine of instant financing. The strategy combined operational efficiency with a more agile and reliable experience, encouraging in‑store purchases and reducing structural costs.
This case shows how conversational digitization can scale consumer credit to previously impossible levels, establishing WhatsApp as the central platform for financial inclusion and retail growth.