Zilch, the UK-headquartered multi award-winning ad-subsidised payments network, today proudly unveils Zilch Up - a revolutionary 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-subsidised 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.
“At Zilch, we aren’t waiting. We want to change this status quo by democratising access to interest free and affordable credit, advancing the lives of millions of families and individuals in managing and planning their day-to-day financial health. In testing, our new product, Zilch Up, has already lifted over 25,000 customers into mainstream credit and we intend to help many more.”
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.
The results mean thousands more people now have enough detail in their credit records to be deemed to have a valid credit history. A credit score improvement can only occur where a consumer is more up to date with Zilch than they are generally with other lenders, or where there was no history and they have borrowed from lenders not reporting their history (which traditionally would be extremely high-cost marginal lenders).
Zilch’s journey began with a profound recognition of the disparity in affordable credit access, between those in society who need it most, and those who have access to the most affordable financial products. This has inspired the business to embark on a mission to bridge this critical gap. Through strategic partnerships with the UK’s leading credit referencing agencies (CRAs) Zilch has honed the Zilch Up initiative that serves as a testament to its commitment to financial inclusivity.
Zilch is the only UK provider of credit via BNPL whose data appears on consumer credit files and is always included in scores.
Zilch was the first UK-born BNPL provider of credit to be authorised by the FCA, giving its customers extra protections and making sure they can access the Financial Ombudsman Service.