Why
(Or why we do what we do)
Pinoy Luminaries came about when we saw a gap that needed to be filled.
Many Filipino families live below the poverty line and depend on only one income source—usually the father (or the mother, in a single-parent family, or sometimes the eldest child). When the family’s sole breadwinner has the chance to go abroad to work, he or she has to face numerous financial hurdles. There’s the cost of training prior to getting a job abroad, requirements and other paperwork that need to be put together and the expenses involved, and placement fees paid out to recruitment agencies. So much has to be spent before one can even go abroad, and many Filipinos end up selling a piece of land, pawning jewelry or certificates of ownership to property, or worse, resort to loan sharks and informal lending schemes like 5-6.
The story doesn’t end there.
When they go abroad, and a family member falls sick or a huge debt needs to be paid, overseas Filipino workers usually have no one to turn to except loan sharks, some of whom hold their passports hostage.
It’s a cycle that goes on and on, and the poor overseas worker ends up even in worse debt than they were at the start!
At Pinoy Luminaries, we want to make it easy for Filipinos to help their families. Our pioneering fintech platform facilitates loans at low interest rates and easy-payment schemes so they can go abroad to work and improve their lives and the lives of the families they are supporting back home.
To understand how Pinoy Luminaries works, read our FAQs.