November was another exciting month in the life of EppoPay™. I continued to immerse myself in research; the history of home ownership and renters, the influence of technology in the field and the realities of income volatility in America. Last month I mentioned that EppoPay™ was invited to a Robin Hood-funded event sponsored by The Furman Center of NYU to develop a pilot for the City of NY. We were invited, we presented EppoPay™ and we felt the love. It was a convening of a powerful group; academics, policy experts, City officials and us! We wowed the group with EppoPay™ smoothing capabilities and we learned some important lessons which will help guide us as we enter the market place. More to come re ongoing meetings with the City of NY.

In addition to the profit story, EppoPay resonates as a social good, particularly for those supporting lower income tenants. That motivates us. Last week Facebook joined Apple and Google in an effort to combat the San Francisco housing crisis. They collectively pledged $4.5B to ease the housing shortage. Actually, the “housing crisis” is throughout the country and is caused by a host of trends, including low supply, aging structures, affordability, inclusion and community. We need policy and strategies to support the underserved. EppoPay’s innovative payment smoothing system is getting attention. We have been invited to join the housing crisis discussion with the City of New York. Our system will make a difference for cost-burdened tenants living in metro centers across the country. We're on it!

The reason Heman and I created EppoPay is because we saw a need. People don’t always have money on hand to make their next payment. EppoPay is part of the solution to a very big social problem. By aligning payments with income, we will help millions of real Americans make ends meet.

We are one month closer to launching our first EppoPay product and we can’t go fast enough! There is plenty of activity in the fintech space and many companies addressing the renters market. The New York Times this week illustrated fintech startups finding ways to help tenants spread out the cost of the security deposits with a new insurance product (NYT Article on Security Deposits). We agree that there is an opportunity in the rental market; the EppoPay model is a win for the landlord and the tenant.

We heard the need for a better way to pay monthly bills. We’ve seen the daily collections reports filled with “insufficient funds” notices and reviewed countless phone calls with customers (“...don’t cancel my coverage, I just need a little more time, the funds will be in my account next week…”). We listened to real people with real problems.  

EppoPay is part of the solution to a very big social problem: helping Americans make ends meet.  EppoPay can’t make the big monthly bills go away, but we can make the payments more flexible and better align them with income. For so many renters, that’s a big deal!