Penaid: Designing a Loan Experience for Senior Citizens
OVERVIEW
Helping underserved pensioners access fair loans with dignity, by simplifying the borrowing process and designing a digital experience that scales with Penaid’s growing customer base.
BACKGROUND
Many retired civil servants and private sector employees face financial difficulties during unforeseen circumstances. Without access to fair credit, they often turn to exploitative lenders with high interest rates that create even deeper financial stress. Penaid was founded to solve this problem: providing accessible loans to senior citizens at fair rates, enabling them to meet urgent needs without the burden of predatory lending. My role was to design an intuitive loan application flow that not only relieved the borrowing process for elderly users, but also supported Penaid in scaling its services to thousands of new applicants.
THE PROBLEM
Before I joined the team at Penaid, the loan application process was unnecessarily complex and intimidating. The existing user flow was not only difficult for first-time applicants but also confusing for even the company’s tech-savvy staff who had to assist users. This created a significant barrier for senior citizens, the core customer base, who often struggled with digital interfaces due to their age and limited familiarity with modern apps.
The process involved multiple redundant steps, unclear instructions, and a lack of proper guidance on what information was required at each stage. Applicants frequently abandoned their applications halfway or turned to less sustainable alternatives, undermining Penaid’s mission to serve them. This inefficiency also strained internal operations, as support staff spent excessive time troubleshooting rather than focusing on scaling the business to handle its growing demand.
THE GOAL
Make the loan application process easy, accessible, and stress-free for senior citizens.
Reduce friction points (complex forms, jargon, digital barriers).
Build a scalable system that could handle a rapidly growing customer base.
Strengthen trust by using clear, empathetic design language tailored to the target demographic.
RESULTS
Reduced application completion time by simplifying the process into fewer and clearer
steps.
Increased loan application success rate by more than 74% as more pensioners could navigate the system independently.
Enabled Penaid to scale to a larger customer base without sacrificing service quality.
Built trust among senior citizens by making the process more transparent and approachable.
WHAT I LEARNED?
Designing for senior citizens requires empathy, patience, and careful attention to accessibility.
Simple, guided flows often outperform feature-heavy interfaces when trust is the primary goal.
Building scalable UX systems ensures the business can grow without overwhelming its team.
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