Love Monzo. We are a small tech startup ourselves who create technology and solutions that help people who are socially excluded or find technology difficult. We did sessions with a lot of people with financial issues in controlling their money. Them trying to use old banking systems just doesn’t work. When we introduced new fintech they loved it and it helped them control their lives. To get nudges and clear explanations of their spending really helps change behaviour for the better.
Just wanted to say what you are doing here is not just a good product that I love using but something that can really help a lot of people with their lives in meaningful ways.
Keep up the good work.
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I used to work in a vulnerable team for debt recovery (it’s nowhere near like the media makes out) and I love hearing about the good stuff for vulnerable people in regards to money.
there’s a large common misconception, even from the customers I dealt with, that debts mean baliffs and recovery of goods. However, that is so far down the road.
I worked in a company that purchased debt, so these debts had gone past default, but were obviously still owed by the customer. My team helped people set up affordable repayment plans and monitored them on an ongoing basis. Sometimes even providing large settlement reductions and writing off debts depending on someones individual circumstance.
In as far as debt goes, and not affording finances I always encourage people to be as honest as quickly with their finance providers. With the FCA now, this is definitely in a customers favour.
What I love about this technology is that it makes it much easier for people to control their finances. For most, finances are a strange resource that only becomes relevant when it runs out. This tech means that you can control it easily. With ML analysis we could really help create a step change for these people. So for instance. Income and Expenditure forms that people have to submit to reorganise debt could be done in one click. AI could help people in debt reorder that debt to their advantage without the need for expensive legal advice. Instead of reacting to scary letters or ignoring them completly we could design ML solutions that enable them to take control of their finances and see hope.
We are for instance designing a skills course for some young people that gives them information and advice that if completed gives them a certificate. We are now negotiating with a landlord association that with that certificate and if we can show, good credit rating and a period time with good finances that they then get accommodation at an affordable price. Because they have been de-risked. It’s innovated solutions such as this we can do with fintech.
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I used to work in a vulnerable team for debt recovery (it’s nowhere near like the media makes out) and I love hearing about the good stuff for vulnerable people in regards to money.