While some people have the money to realize the wedding of their dreams, others end up breaking the bank to get there. Wedlite, the first wedding financing platform in Indonesia, aims to solve this problem.
Despite various ethnic groups and religious beliefs, Indonesian weddings traditionally involve hundreds or thousands of people in ceremonies and receptions that can often last for days.
Indonesian wedding is notoriously expensive, costing an average of US $ 6,000, about Rp.87,000,000. A major problem, however, is that the average household income is only about $ 284. The majority of Indonesians sacrifice their most valuable assets, must save for years or borrow money to pay for their dream wedding.
Unfortunately, those who opt for borrowing money are often rejected by banks. Founder and CEO of Wedlite wedding platform of financing, Viktor Abraham reveals that banks usually respond against the heart to those who seek this type of loan. "If people come to the bank and tell them they want to borrow money for their wedding, the bank would be very defensive about it," said Viktor.
approval ratings below 'banks for lending to the consumer Viktor motivated to find a better solution. In 2015, Wedlite was founded under the Taralite society. Wedlite provides digital consumer loans specifically for weddings, while its main Taralite society cares for other purposes.
"Wedlite is actually part of Taralite. What Taralite done is to provide loans online for wedding purposes under Wedlite. But they are not just for weddings, too birth, education and more, "Viktor draws.
Viktor believes that both Wedlite and Taralite not only help people by providing loans, but also makes sure they go through a process more practice in relation to borrowing from banks. as an online platform, Wedlite simply requires applicants to make an account on their site and complete the form. Then, the customer service will call them to confirm the data submitted and establish a timetable for the investigation. and in the next four or five days, the loan will be disbursed, unlike banks that could take up to three weeks for payment.
Today the company attracted an average of 300 candidates per month and a . of about 3,000 since its inception. Interestingly, 40 percent of costumers Taralite (which include Wedlite) from Sumatra, although Viktor did not yet understand how. "I thought that our site is very high-tech and only people in Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) feel familiar enough to use, but apparently people in other fields are enough to comfortable with our website, "he said.
first customer of the website Wedlite discovered about three weeks before his wedding. As recalled Viktor, "He rushed us, he told us: '. Frankly, I do not know how to cover the remaining costs of my marriage"
Another applicant, a public figure from' a popular local television station, could not afford to pay for her wedding due to some internal problems with the station. Eventually, they were able to pursue their plans and were grateful to trip over Wedlite.
However, all applicants are approved, unless they have the ability to repay the loan, which is shown in the amount of earnings per month and the liability they currently have. in some cases, candidates not rejected for lack of repayment capacity and unstable income. applicants usually young people, who are still studying, not working, but considering marriage would naturally get rejected. the same goes for people with unstable incomes, for marketing multi-level instance agents.
Accordingly, Viktor noted the importance of educating people to manage their money wisely. "As much as we want to help, I think it is also our responsibility to educate people about the dangers of excessive debt," he advises. If a person, for example, earns Rp.10 million a month, but already spent half of it to pay off debt, while Viktor feared such a condition is unhealthy.
Along the way, Viktor realized that weddings are not the only event requiring overwhelming amounts of money. Although many wrong to support large weddings, he personally found the whole process to be against-productive, and instead encourages people to invest in areas that are much more crucial as health and education.
in health care, for example, even those covered by the national health insurance plan, Penyelenggara Jaminan Badan Sosial (BPJS) may not be entirely spared the responsibility of paying for hospital expenses. Viktor strongly supports people who borrow for the sake of the future of their children, including to university level.
Both Wedlite and Taralite not only help people with consumer loans, but they teach people the importance of investing in the long term. If a marriage is really worth splashing million rupees on, we should at least remember that these are not the most important part of the journey and understanding where money should be invested is key.
As said Viktor, "I think what matters is that marriage is marriage, right?"
For more information please visit their website at the following address:
www.wedlite.com
www.taralite.com