Designing credit that feels human
Most people don’t struggle with money. They struggle with understanding money.
For many individuals and small businesses, access to friendly finance exists, but the systems around credit feel confusing, intimidating, and full of jargon. The result is predictable: missed payments and financial stress.
My goal was simple: make credit feel human. Make repayment feel effortless.
I led the end-to-end design direction for the mobile credit experience, from understanding why people weren’t repaying to shaping the language, tone, and visual system for payback.
One month after launch, repayment completion jumped by 78%.
Highlights
An end-to-end experience for enabling users make credit repayment to meet our north-star.
The problem behind the drop-off
Credit repayment was the biggest business challenge.
More than 50% of users weren’t paying back their facilities.
The data team surfaced a steep drop-off in the repayment flow through PostHog.
We had one north-star: reduce credit default to below 10%.
This was a chance for design to prove clear business value.
The real friction
Most users didn’t understand the language inside the credit product.
It wasn’t a UI issue. It was a comprehension issue.
If people don’t understand what they signed up for, how can they confidently repay?
We explored a solution: a simple 3-point information system — clear, direct, and approachable.
But simplifying credit is tricky.
Remove too much and users get confused.
Add too much and users feel overwhelmed.
We needed balance.
The insight that changed everything
Human memory is unreliable.
Studies show people forget almost 50% of new information within an hour.
Expecting users to remember repayment details after 30 days was unrealistic.
Our initial solution was useful, but incomplete.
People needed a way to relearn the important details at the moment of repayment.
The insight was simple:
Reduce cognitive load. Increase clarity. Make information repeatable.
The shift that worked
Illustrations and video created a loop of reinforcement.
Users could tap through bite-sized info or replay the video when needed.
Nothing was hidden. Nothing required memory.
This built confidence, the most important ingredient in repayment.
Designing for clarity not cleverness
We rebuilt the experience around simplicity and reinforcement.
Added illustrations to make concepts visual
Introduced a short in-app video explaining repayment terms
Let users replay the video anytime
Reduced text and removed jargon
Turned repayment into a clear, guided flow
The design didn’t try to be clever.
It tried to be obvious.
What happened after launch
The impact was immediate.
~40% increase in repayment within the first month
Strong public sentiment and trust uplift
Clearer understanding of repayment terms
Reduced confusion and fewer drop-offs
