Charlene works for the NHS in Oldham and applied to Salad Money for a loan. But she got a pleasant surprise when the firm, which specialises in affordable credit for NHS and public sector workers, used her application information to calculate whether she was claiming all the benefits she is entitled to. It revealed she was missing out on £800 in benefits every year.
“I wanted a loan to pay off a a chunk of money I’d borrowed elsewhere. When I found you I liked the fact you help NHS workers. Borrowing from Salad was a million times better than from any company I’ve gone to in the past. Not because you said “yes|” but because you checked to make sure I could actually afford it. It was easy to apply and all the questions showed you had genuine concern for my finances and wanted to make sure it was affordable.
“The application was easy to understand, your staff seem to really care, and being able to choose repayments dates and get the reminders through is helpful. I’ve saving money now and it feels like I’m more in control. I was really impressed by the benefits calculator too and was shocked to find out how much I was missing out on, nearly £800. It’s brilliant Salad is bringing this to people’s attention, especially with everything going on.”
Salad Money, which addresses financial exclusion by using Open Banking data and its own proprietary credit decisioning software for affordability assessments, rather than credit scoring, is one of several CDFIs which have embedded a benefits checker into their application process. It has helped nearly 7 out of 10 applicants identify hundreds of millions of pounds in benefits they were rightfully due but not claiming, thus helping many need less credit than they assumed, and given free financial education and bespoke support to well over 200,000 people.
