Founder Spotlight: J-p Bisson of LoanSolutions

By Bea Perdigon

 

 

What’s better than working in a job that you are passionate about? The answer: working in a job that makes you feel fulfilled in helping other people. That is what Jean-Patrick Bisson, CEO and Co-Founder of Loansolutions.ph, aims to achieve through financial technology startup company Loansolutions.ph.

 

Ever since he was young, JP always knew that he has a passion for entrepreneurship. “I’ve always been doing business. At sixteen years old, I started a landscaping company of cutting grass for people in Ottawa,” says JP. From then, he found himself doing business in different parts of the world, wherein he traveled to countries like Taiwan, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Portugal.

 

In Portugal he started a simplified joint-stock company that provided free outsource live chat to users. Once the business grew, he decided to move to the Philippines to create a similar platform. However, after 20,000 users, JP decided to fold the company because it was difficult to monetize.

 

 

 

In his experience from working in the Philippines, JP noticed that he would encounter employees who would often ask for salary advances to pay for emergency expenses. “I was asking them, ‘is it because there are no options in the market?’ Then I looked at it a bit more closely, they were afraid to go to banks because they might get rejected. So that’s what we decided to solve and improve on,” JP says. “If you want to apply for a loan in the Philippines, it’s quite difficult because there’s no centralized credit score and because of that people get rejected a lot.”

 

With Loansolutions.ph, people just need to sign up to their website and the Loansolutions concierge team will match and submit their application to multiple banks and lending companies in their behalf. Once approved, borrowers have the freedom and the power to choose which bank and loan offer to accept.

 

Whether you choose personal loan, OFW loan, business loan or vehicle loan, Loansolutions.ph will provide a wide range of loan options that best fit your financial need. “We’ve reversed the market. So instead of people competing to get a loan from the banks, the banks will be competing to lend to people,” JP says.

 

 

More than just a profitable business, JP sees Loansolutions.ph as a platform for Filipinos to learn more about managing their money and maximizing opportunities to get funds. Since majority of the Filipinos are still very traditional in handling their finances, it’s a great opportunity for Loansolutions.ph to be the medium in giving modern tips and guides to Filipino borrowers to help improve their lives financially.

 

“We want to educate Filipinos on how to manage their money. How they can save. What not to borrow for. What are interest rates and how they affect you. We try to educate all these things to our users all the time,” says JP.

 

With a common goal to lower interest rates through competition, JP also aims to eliminate all sorts of predatory lending wherein people are offered loans at very high rates. JP values honesty in business, which is why he wants loan sharking to stop. ”I’ve learned to always be fair, don’t trick your customers. There are easy ways to get money. But in the end you lose at that game and everybody loses. So to be honest and provide value is important.”

 

 

In the future, JP has bright and ambitious plans ahead for Loansolutions.ph since he sees so much potential in the vibrant startup community in the Philippines. “In five years, anyone who’s looking for loans in the Philippines will look through us first, because they know they’ll get all the options,” JP continues. “I definitely want to bring more machine learning in what we’re doing, so we can understand which borrower will match which bank in a very precise way so we won’t waste any time and people can get their funds faster.”

 

 

JP’s passion in helping people and his vision with Loansolutions.ph are in itself a battle half won, since his agenda is not just to earn money but to also empower people with choice. Most importantly, he has enough drive to see his vision through, no matter what.