Satsuma Goes Pear-Shaped (Slick Customer Experience Isn’t Enough)
Ten years ago I ran a focus group of low income borrowers to understand the impact the Government’s Growth Fund initiative had on credit union members. What suprised me was how much borrowers were willing to pay for convenience of service. I’d assumed that lower interest rates and weekly payments were enough. Removing friction in…
Read MoreWhy Spending More On Bad Debt Can Be Profitable
Sticking to your budget for bad debt isn’t always the best course of action. What if spending another 1% on write offs, brought in more income than the extra bad debt cost? Using credit scoring to manage a loan portfolio Credit scoring enables lenders to estimate the bad rate based on a score. Hundreds of…
Read MoreHow Credit Union Websites Are Like Cars
Some credit union websites are pretty. Many are ugly. Ugly or pretty, most of them don’t ‘work’. In my experience, most financial firm’s websites, even the pretty ones, fail to move the business forward. To be clear, by ‘work’ I mean you have some business objective in mind and ‘working’ means you are moving towards…
Read MoreGood Loan Applicants Are Being Turned Away
4.5 million people were declined for credit last year. Many for good reason; 1/4 of applicants were in financial difficulty. 10% were ‘just surviving’. However 42% were what the Financial Conduct Authority calls ‘financially resilient’. These applicants have savings, insurance and a pension. 7% had assets of £50,000. 8% earn more than £50,000. One in…
Read MoreThe Loanbook Growth Equation (and Why it Matters)
Hiding in plain site among Silicon Valley’s hallowed circles of so-called growth hackers is a concept that’s become known as the fundamental growth equation. A growth equation is a simple formula. It represents the key factors that combine to drive your growth – your core growth levers. This equation is different for every product or…
Read MoreWhy You Need To Be Concerned About Affordability
Despite tightening up regulations that protect consumers from over-indebtedness, insolvencies for 18 to 34 year olds are up by one third and the Bank of England predicts lenders writing off another £30bn of loans.[1] Good conduct requires lenders to take into account the impact a loan would have on a borrower’s budget and ability to…
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