New app to help families avoid the vicious circle of payday loans
An app that offers interestfree salary advances could help one million families avoid getting into debt with payday loans, its founders have said.
Financial technology company Borofree is to launch the appwhichwillallowemployers to offer staff up to £300 of their next wage to spend at selected leading retailers.
Unlike payday loan companies who charge up to 1500% APR, customers pay no interest and no fees and it is hoped itcouldhelpthousandsoffamilies avoid using high interest rate loans.
Theapp,whichhasbeenset up with support from investment firm Fortunis Capital, allows staff to spend their salary advanceat60majorbrands,including Amazon, Uber, Morrisons, Tesco, Currys PC World, Sky, Just Eat, John Lewis and The National Trust.
Minck Hermans, chief executive officer of Borofree said theirmissionistogiveconsumersbackcontroloftheirfinances by disrupting an outdated personal finance market that creates a “vicious cycle of debt through punitive interest”.
He said: “Now is the time to solve one of the UK’s biggest problems. Half of households cannot pay an unexpected bill of £300 - while financial worries are the biggest mental health burden of Covid-19.
“Many people are forced to borrowathighinterestratesto payfortheessentialsinlifeand we fundamentally believe that
is wrong.
“Interest is the enemy and togetherwemustfighttoeradicateit,especiallyforthosewho cannot afford to pay such high costs but have to use credit to make ends meet.”
Data from the Citizens AdviceBureaushowsthatoverthe
past 12 months almost 22,000 in the North East, have sought advice on debt.
Borofree has said there is significant interest from employers interested in signing uptooffertheapptotheirstaff.
Mr Hermans added: “Every company leader we speak to recognisesalleviatingfinancial stress helps improve productivity, reduce absences and increases wellbeing. Above all, it is the right thing to do.”
He said Borofree were ahead of the curve in the sharing economy: “This may have started with the likes of Uber but the next revolution is in financialservices,whereweuse tech to build direct relationships between customers and retailers.
“Existing legacy systems are complex, inefficient and undated. It is wrong that consumers pay the price for that inefficiency through unfair interest rates, whether that is bank card charges or payday loans. We want to break the old model and release millions from the burden of interestdriven debt.”
Justin MacRae, chief operating officer of Fortunis Capital, said that in the UK alone, they have identified 27million people who are just about managing and who regularly have to borrow at high interestratesforbasicssuchasfood and heating.
Mr MacRae said: “Borofree is one of the jewels in our crown. It fits with the mission of Fortunis Capital as a leading impact investor – addressing a globalproblemthataffectsmillions of lives and then finding the solution through innovation and tech.
“In this case, a movement to wipe out that vicious circle of debt that enslaves families.
“That first 1,000,000 is a milestone, but the market here in the UK and abroad is massive and the next target is to help more and more people escape debt.”
Songs of the sea are flooding social media.
But sea shanties are not just a modern hit. They have been a phenomenon for centuries with strong links to Wearside.
Singing their praises is Sunderland historian Keith Gregson whose research on historical work has regularly featured in the Echo.
He explained why Wearside is a big player in the maritime musical trend.
He told the Echo: “My ancestorscaptainedpacketsand clipper ships out of the Tyne and Wear in the 19th c entury and would have been familiar with these work songs.”
Keith has also sung shanties throughout his career in the folk world.
But the links to Wearside go even further and were officially put on record in the 1900s when an American came to Sunderland.
Keith explained: "Thanks to TikTok the world seems to have gone mad on sea shanties recently and this makes it a good time to reflect on our local links with the collection of these ever popular work songs.
‘From the early days of sail, Sunderland looked after its retired mariners and during the early 20 th century a number of them lived in our own Trafalgar Square near the Town Moor.
"Between the wars of the last century, an American collector of songs visited the Square and recorded some of the old salts singing ballads and work songs.
“The result of this visit was the James Madison Carpenter Collection which originated in the United States but, thanks to work carried out at the universities of Sheffield and Aberdeen, is now accessible online.
“At least 16 of the songs collectedinSunderlandweresea shanties and can be found in the wonderful index put together by song expert Steve Roud,” said Keith. “Many readers will recognise the likes of Blow the Man Down and Fire Down Below.’
Sunderland Echo followers may also find members of their own family among the Trafalgar Square singers, said Keith.
He added: “John Gregory, for example, the ancestor of Wearside song collector and expert Eileen Richardson, provided the researcher with the words of a ballad.
"The main contributors of shanties belonged to the wellknown local Robinson family – Edward Robinson senior and Edward Robinson junior.
“Edward senior wrote a book about Wearside hero Jack Crawford in the 1860s and lived to the age of 97. Edward
junior worked on steamships in later life and died in 1949 at the age of 85,
"Mark Page had an early career under sail in the midVictorian period and died in 1931 at the age of 95.”
Keith also has his own collection of work and added: ‘I have also in my own collection a remarkable version of Blow the Man Down under the title The Meeting of the First to Take Charge of a Ship.
"It has 19 verses and a chorus which is slightly different from the one many of us know. It was sent to me over 40 years ago by song collector and writer Roy Palmer. The text is hand written and has a note in the corner ‘version from S/land 1863’.
"One amusing verse runs; ‘Then up jumped the shark With his six rows of teeth He jumped in the copper And stole the cook’s beef ’.”