“I-Palawan mo” is a common term among many Filipinos and it usually means to send money via the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) network across the Philippines.
Since the company was founded in 1985, it has been the go-to of millions of Filipinos for Pawning/Sangla, Remittance/Padala. As it keeps true to the #PalaParaan mindset, PPS-PEPP has now launched the PalawanPay App, an e-wallet that allows users to send money to their loved ones for claiming at any PPS-PEPP branch and agent outlets nationwide.
“We provide PalaParaan (Madali, Mabilis, at Safe) solutions to our customers. The reason they’ve come to trust us is because we give them the best possible rates for pawning and Pera Padala. We’ve made the processes less complicated so they could do their transactions hassle-free and without any complications. They don’t need to spend hours and fill up long forms just to pay bills, send money or pawn/redeem their items. We have loyalty programs for them, too. Of course, we’ve built a strong network and eventually we included 7-11 and SM Malls in our network so our customers can transact anytime anywhere,” said Bobby Castro, president and CEO of Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Padala (PPS-PEPP).
Castro started Palawan Pawnshop at a time when people considered pawnshops an unsavory business but he had a vision for it and he turned out to be right. “What sets us apart is our focus on customer service. Trust is everything. If your customers don’t trust you, you have no business,” said Castro.
Today, pawnshops are seen as a good source of instant cash for those who cannot get loans from banks because their only properties are jewelry and/or gadgets. Interest rates are lower now because the pawn shops compete with each other for customers.
Palawan Pawnshop then went into the pera padala business because so many Filipinos, who are separated from their families because of their jobs, needed ways to send money to their loved ones and they did not have bank accounts. Palawan Express Pera Padala gave them the means to do that without having to open bank accounts with two or more IDs.
“Even before the pandemic, we had been thinking of digitalization but during the past two years, we really saw the importance of having an e-wallet,” said Castro, adding further that a crisis like COVID-19 resulted in people not being able to leave their houses to send money or pay their bills because of social distancing. The PalawanPay App makes everything more convenient and hassle-free,” said Castro.
PalawanPay is the newest product offering of Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Group — the country’s number one pawnshop and remittance center. The app is a one-stop financial app that responds to the financial needs of the PPS-PEPP “Suki.” The app features cash-in, cash-out, bills payment, e-loading, Pera Padala, receiving remittance, and many others.
As part of the Palawan franchise, PalawanPay has access to a wide range of networks from Palawan Express, with over 5,000 branches and authorized agents all over the country.
Palawan Pawnshop started off as a business that offers pawn brokerage services. Eventually, their business expanded by including Pera Padala services, now known as Palawan Express Pera Padala. After more than 30 years in the industry, PPS-PEPP now offers an even wider range of services to its loyal clients like international money remittance, foreign currency exchange, e-loading, bills payment, and accident insurance available in all of its branches nationwide.
