This unicorn wants to eliminate the cost of consumer credit, with Philip Belamant (Zilch)

<p>“So how is it that we can make credit more equitable and affordable? The question hasn't changed, it is the answer that needs to change.”</p><br><p>In a traditional model, the end-to-end cost of consumer credit involves the merchant paying a commission to the credit card company for facilitating the payment, the consumer paying the credit card company fees and interest for maintaining a line of credit, and the merchant paying Google or Meta for presenting an ad to their audience. As a career credit guy, I’d only ever considered the first two, that in a low-risk segment where interest is lower then fees might compensate and <em>vice versa</em>. But that marketing spend is really the cornerstone, because people don’t borrow for borrowing’s sake, they borrow to purchase a thing or service.</p><br><p>“Now you can actually get in front of customers, and you know what they've bought in the past, you know what their affordability is, and you also know that they're spending in a sustainable way and that you, as a brand, are contributing to that sustainable commerce. And that's really where we think the sweet spot exists. Why don't we let brands rather pay our customers? In other words, use the brand's marketing budget to subsidise the cost of credit to our customer, and convince our customer to buy from that brand.”</p><br><p><br></p><p>Zilch is at home at <a href="https://www.zilch.com/uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.zilch.com/uk/</a> (or find the app for <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/zilch-pay-over-time/id1545361238" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple </a>or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?gl=US&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;id=com.payzilch.app&amp;pli=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android </a>)</p><br><p><br></p><p>Zilch is also on LinkedIn at <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/payzilch/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/payzilch/</a> (plus <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRXWGOEa8SrtV6H