Pomelo's partnership with Mastercard and Coastal Community Bank enables US immigrant customers to use and build credit while supporting family and friends overseas.
The Pomelo Points programme allows customers to earn points on every transfer to the Philippines, which can be converted into digital gift codes for rides, food delivery, and more through Pomelo's partnership with Grab.
US customers earn one point for every dollar sent using a debit card and two points when using their Pomelo Mastercard. This launch adds to Pomelo's existing innovations in the remittance space, including a send now, pay later offerings, credit-building solutions, and secure bank transfer services.
Pomelo Points are now available to all Pomelo customers sending money to the Philippines, with plans to expand throughout 2025.
Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, founder and CEO of Pomelo, says: "Today marks another industry first - we're introducing the only points program in remittance. By combining zero-fee transfers with the ability to earn points, we're helping customers send extra joy to their loved ones, all while building their financial future."
Earlier this year, Pomelo Group acquired Singaporean fintech payments company Arrow Checkout. The company was founded in 2021 by experts from Grab and Tencent. Arrow offered ecommerce and checkout payments technology, was backed by Y Combinator, and raised funding from Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia), Alpha JWC, Meta, and angel investors from Checkout.com, Coinbase, Grab and Visa. As part of the acquisition, Arrow founders joined the Pomelo team in Singapore.