How UWassistent (now Hups) offers simple, safe payments for the elderly with OPP

Since 2013, UWassistent has supported elderly people with long-term independent living at home. It is available nationwide and online, but also locally and in person: household help, personal guidance and the smaller jobs around the house, from mowing the lawn to replacing a light bulb, for which you cannot hire a large company.

UWassistent works as a franchise. Local contact persons, independent entrepreneurs who know the social map of their area, arrange the help and match each client with a screened care provider.

The partnership: safe payments for a vulnerable audience

Payments between a client and a care provider have to be safe and reliable, and with elderly clients that bar is higher than usual. Rather than handle these payments between private individuals itself, UWassistent, which now operates as Hups, wanted a specialised, independent party to sit between client and care provider. OPP took on that role.

OPP runs the payments between these clients and the local care providers who help them. Clients pay the way they’re used to, including by bank transfer and direct debit, while UWassistent follows every payment in OPP’s Partner Interface.

The challenge: a third-party set-up and many ways to pay

UWassistent’s model needed a specific payment set-up: payments between two private individuals, a client and a care provider, with UWassistent as a third party in the middle. This kind of peer-to-peer (P2P) set-up is not something every payment provider offers, and UWassistent found it very difficult to find.

Its audience added a second requirement. Many elderly clients do not pay online with iDEAL or a credit card; they prefer a manual bank transfer or a direct debit. UWassistent needed a provider that could offer all of these methods side by side.

“UWassistent also had other requirements because we mainly work with the elderly. Elderly people have to pay in many different ways, not just with iDEAL or credit card. We needed many different possibilities for payments, including manual transfers and direct debits. Fortunately, Online Payment Platform was one of the few parties able to meet all our requirements.”

Joost Damen, Co-owner of UWassistent

Our solution: P2P payments with OPP Escrow, instant payouts and every familiar payment method

OPP set up payments between clients and care providers with UWassistent as the third party, so the platform never holds the money and never has to act as a payment provider. When a client pays, the money is held by OPP in Escrow, and the care provider is paid through OPP’s instant payouts. Alongside iDEAL and cards, clients can pay by manual bank transfer or direct debit.

OPP’s team thinks along on customised solutions for this audience and, when a payment fails, helps inform UWassistent’s clients about what went wrong.

The impact: faster growth and a more professional platform

Moving payments to OPP saved UWassistent time and, in Joost Damen’s words, gave the platform trust: payments are arranged externally, the system looks flawless, and clients and care providers see a more professional organisation.

OPP’s Partner Interface gives UWassistent insight into how customers pay, which payments are completed, pending or on hold, and how much is still to be deposited. During the Covid-19 period, when personal services were held back, that overview helped the platform keep running as care providers and clients worked out safe ways to continue.

UWassistent has since merged with Mantelaar and Hlprs and continues as Hups, and the payments between its clients and helpers still run through OPP.

What this means for you: why service platforms need P2P payments with a third party

If you run a service platform where private individuals pay other private individuals, and your audience does not all pay the same way, UWassistent’s two requirements are yours: a licensed third party in the middle, and every payment method your users expect, from iDEAL to direct debit and bank transfer.

With OPP, that third party holds the money in Escrow, pays your providers out, and gives you one dashboard to follow it all.

Want to see how OPP could set up P2P payments for your platform? Get in touch to learn more.