Salad Money Impact Report 22-23 WEB - Flipbook - Page 7
MORE THAN
YOUR SCORE
More people are locked out
from a昀昀ordable 昀椀nancial
products. Salad Money exists
after we identi昀椀ed a severe
lack of a昀昀ordable credit
for key workers, who we
recognise should be de昀椀ned
by more than just their credit
scores.
Credit doesn’t have to be harmful.
More than 8 out of 10 people1 use
it to spread costs over time and to
budget. But credit shouldn’t make a
consumer’s circumstances worse.
The damage done by loan sharks is
obvious, but the high-interest lenders
which many 昀椀nancially-excluded
people borrow from charge hundreds
of pounds more than Salad in interest
for a typical loan. That equates to
more than £30 per week for many
households: a huge sum better spent
on food, kids’ clothes, traveling to
work or building a 昀椀nancial bu昀昀er.
Nor is it fair that many public sector,
NHS and other key workers are locked
out from access to credit by lenders
which rely on the Credit Information
Market, whose “market failures and
inherent di昀케culties in matching new
credit information can lead to poor
outcomes,” according to the Financial
Conduct Authority.2
Many of us take mainstream 昀椀nancial
services – overdrafts, cheap credit
cards – for granted. We accept that
someone on a ‘good’ salary, or with
a ‘perfect’ credit score might need
to use credit. So it’s obvious that
people surviving on lower household
incomes or with a less than perfect
credit score do too.
We don’t think they should be
punished. So we pioneered the use
of Open Banking to see an applicant’s
昀椀nancial transactions, coupled with
human decision-making, and all
backed by our own incredible Arti昀椀cial
Intelligence, a machine-learning
system we call ‘Crouton.’
This means we can lend money to
key workers excluded by mainstream
lenders when what they really
needed was someone to look at
whether they could a昀昀ord a loan, and
if so, grant it quickly and at a more
FCA Financial Lives Survey 2022, published August 2023.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Credit Information Market Study Interim Report and
Discussion Paper, November 2022.
a昀昀ordable rate than the lenders they
could turn to. People like Adrian, Lucy,
Laura, Dean and Harriet, who you will
meet later.
As a social enterprise we are
committed to creating a fairer, more
inclusive 昀椀nancial market. This goes
beyond lending to the extensive
support we o昀昀er to applicants, and
how we use our data for public and
societal good.
We’re dedicated to improving people’s
lives and design our products to help
our customers, and our systems
to help all applicants. This “social
purpose” meant we were well
prepared for the new Consumer Duty
and is core to our growth.
As we prepared this report Salad had
a Trustscore of 4.9 based on 4,631
reviews. We thank all our customers,
including those who shared stories
about the di昀昀erence Salad made to
them in this report and on Trustpilot.
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2
2022-2023 Impact Report
4,631
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