Poverty Premium and Payday Loans
Startup Wagestream tackles poverty premium in Britain by address the payday loan crisis.
Payday loans have been have recently been a hot topic in the UK. Many payday loans taken out by financially vulnerable people who may not have access to other forms of short credit. These people may not have access to neither traditional bank accounts nor credit cards, and thus turn to any company that will provide them with a loan (often with astronomical interest rates) with the idea that it will be repaid the next time the lendee receives their wages. The conditions and interest rates of these loans make it so that those already living in poverty continue to suffer.
We at SeedTribe were inspired by a startup that strives to tackle one aspect of Britain's poverty premium. Wagestream allows for employees to have access to their earned wages before payday for a flat fee of £1.75. Read more about this startup here.