Zilch, the UK-headquartered ad-subsidized payments network, today proudly unveils Zilch Up – a product dedicated to empowering people typically excluded from mainstream credit.
This will create access for millions “to build their financial profiles safely and responsibly and without paying any interest.”
The introduction of Zilch Up provides “all the benefits of Zilch’s zero-interest, ad-subsidized borrowing with the ability to improve your credit score, which wasn’t possible before Zilch.”
With 5 million people in the UK deemed credit invisible, Zilch’s new product “enables customers with tools to improve their credit scores and increase their credit limit. Starting with credit limits as little as £50, Zilch Up has all of the same powerful features as the Zilch classic product with a few important changes designed to be suitable for its target user.”
Zilch Up customers have the option “to pause credit and still use Zilch as a debit card via the Pay Now option, and earn rewards. Or with total control they can toggle in-app to Credit and pay a first instalment of 50%, with the remaining 50% payable over six weeks. In addition, customers will soon also be able to receive financial support in the form of credit coaching, and the ability to view their credit score in the Zilch app.”
Zilch’s innovative approach “gives customers a regulated offering which, in partnership with leading CRAs, means that for the first time, consumers can improve their credit scores by spending on interest-free credit via BNPL borrowing and enjoy all of the consumer protections they would expect from a regulated product.”
Philip Belamant, CEO and co-founder of Zilch, said:
“We need to strengthen the protections for consumers and increase access to interest free and affordable credit – particularly now when the cost of living continues to hurt. For too long millions of people in the UK have had to struggle with limited or no access to credit due to thin and weak files. In a digital finance world, this is causing them the stress and crippling pain of funding unaffordable high interest costs plus the danger of hard to understand late fees, merely to access credit.”
Zilch Up not only reflects Zilch’s commitment “to financial inclusivity but also signifies a bold step towards creating a fairer, more inclusive financial ecosystem that brings all the benefits of ad subsidised zero interest payments to customers who would otherwise miss out.”