Fair for You expands to provide credit during the COVID era

Fair for You, a UK-based non-profit credit provider, has received £7.5mn in investment to expand its operations and help transform the industry.

With money coming from a variety of the country’s most notable foundations and social investors, £5mn of the total figure was provided by the Government-backed entity Fair4All Finance.

The contributing investors include the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn, Ignite and others. 

An organisation which is dedicated to reforming the credit sector with truly client-centric operations, Fair for You provides a straightforward service, optimal prices, seven-days-a-week availability, flexible repayments and a simple online process.

Credit during the COVID-19 era

The funds for expansion could have a dramatic impact on Fair for You’s capacity, with estimates predicting a 1,000% increase (25,000 to 250,000) in loans granted per year over the next five years.

Furthermore, the company states that this will ultimately lead to savings of £58mn through the negation of what it calls “high-cost short term credit”. 

Sarah Gardiner, Head of Growth Strategy at Fair to You and formerly of Nationwide, stated that she was glad to have joined the venture at such a critical time:

“By lending responsibly and sustainably to tens of thousands of lower-income households, Fair for You has demonstrated the huge opportunity to fill this much-needed gap in the market. We are growing and diversifying our investor base to further boost our rapid growth and broaden the proposition.”

The necessity for credit companies as COVID-19 continues to cause economic disruption is not lost on the company; it has lent almost double the amount in 2020 than over the same period last year.

“There are around 15mn people in the UK struggling to access affordable credit who are just one unexpected bill or bit of bad luck away from a crisis,” said Howard Bell, Chair of Fair to You. 

“The need for Fair for You to scale rapidly has never been clearer. We are delighted to be the first genuine not-for-profit to use the dormant assets funding and ongoing support from social investors to leverage commercial funding and push out firms that take advantage of financially vulnerable customers.”