What Fair Finance does

Fair Finance is a UK Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) and FCA-authorised direct lender (FRN 717247), operating as a non-profit social enterprise (East End Fair Finance Limited, an Industrial Provident Society registered in England and Wales) since 2005. It provides affordable personal loans of £400–£3,000 over 6–18 month terms to financially excluded individuals — typically those with poor credit, CCJs, benefit income (Universal Credit, PIP, ESA), or limited credit history — at a representative 280% APR / 132% fixed interest, with tiered administration fees that decline from 6% on a first loan to zero from the fourth loan onwards. The company also operates a Fair Business Loans subsidiary for small businesses in deprived communities.

Its technology stack combines Microsoft Dynamics 365 for application processing and case management with Open Banking bank-statement verification through OoMoolah (Lending Metrics Ltd), credit-data checks against Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, and an ISO27001-certified customer self-service portal hosted by Anchor Computer Systems. Affordability is assessed using current bank-statement data alongside CRA history rather than credit score alone, and loan repayments are reported to credit reference agencies to support customer credit-building. Distribution is omnichannel: online self-service application, phone-based inside sales, decline-referral partnerships (notably with Vanquis Banking Group targeting up to 100,000 people), and an extensive SEO-optimised content surface spanning 20+ segmented loan-product pages with multilingual (Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish) applications.

Fair Finance earns revenue through interest on loans and one-time administration fees deducted from principal. Profits are reinvested in the social mission rather than distributed. Since launch in April 2005 the company reports having served over 30,000 financially excluded residents, originated £17m+ across 15,000 loans (first-decade milestone), helped 6,000 residents avoid eviction, and grown 200 small businesses via Fair Business Loans. Complementary services include a Benefits Calculator, Personal Inflation Calculator, Money and Debt Advice tools, and partnership integrations (Loqbox, TruNarrative leadership via board member Matt Elsom) that broaden the financial-wellness ecosystem beyond pure lending. The company is headquartered in Dalston, London.

Name

Fair Finance

Legal name

East End Fair Finance Limited

Website

https://fairfinance.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fair Finance is a UK FCA-authorised, non-profit direct lender providing £400–£3,000 personal loans to financially excluded individuals — including those with bad credit, CCJs, or benefit income — at 132% fixed interest, operating as a CDFI since 2005.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Lending (Community Development Finance)

NAICS

Nondepository Credit Intermediation (5222)

SIC

Personal Credit Institutions (6141)

akta.pro primary industry

Large Purchase & Lifestyle Personal Loans (Unsecured Installment) (FSAKAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Open Banking / Bank Data Underwriting (Consumer) (FSAKAKAF)

Keywords

• Consumer personal loans
• Bad credit lending
• Community development finance
• Alternative consumer credit
• Small business lending

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Loan Interest: Interest income charged on personal loans at 132% fixed rate. Representative APR is 280%. Interest covers business operating costs as any profits are reinvested.
2. Administration Fees: One-time administration fees deducted from loan amount: 6% for first loan (minimum £30), 4% for second loan (minimum £20), 2% for third loan (minimum £10), no fees for fourth loan onwards. Covers bank administration and processing costs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Fair Finance is a direct lender and social enterprise that provides affordable unsecured personal loans to financially excluded UK consumers. Loan amounts range from £400 to £1,000 for new customers and up to £3,000 for existing repeat customers, with repayment terms of 6 to 18 months at a fixed 132% interest rate (280% representative APR). Underwriting is based on real-time affordability assessment via Open Banking and credit reference data rather than credit score alone, targeting borrowers with bad credit, CCJs, benefit income, or thin credit files. Supporting offerings include a Credit Builder Loan product, a customer self-service portal, and free benefits and personal inflation calculators.

Product overview

Fair Finance is a direct lender and social enterprise providing a unified platform of affordable personal loans and financial support tools. The core product is Fair Personal Loans, offering amounts from £400 to £3,000 with 6 to 18-month repayment terms. The product portfolio spans specialized loan variants including Bad Credit Loans, Quick Loans, Cash Loans, Short Term Loans, Unsecured Loans, Payday Loan Alternatives, and Credit Builder Loans. Loans are also structured by amount (£400-£1000) and term (6, 9, 12 months), with targeted products for specific situations like benefits recipients, people with CCJs, and unemployed individuals. Supporting the lending platform are complementary services including the My Account Portal for loan management, a Benefits Calculator, Money and Debt Advice tools, and a Personal Inflation Calculator. The company operates as a Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) focused on financial inclusion.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fair Finance Business Loans: Business loans for small businesses in deprived communities, launched nationally in 2015
• Fair Personal Loans

Products and services

• Fair Personal Loans Core unsecured personal loan product for UK consumers, offering £400-£1,000 to new customers and up to £3,000 to existing customers over 6-18 month terms at a fixed 132% interest rate (280% representative APR). Decisions within 24 hours; funds disbursed next working day. Repayments are reported to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to support credit building.
• Fair Business Loans Loans for small businesses in deprived communities, provided through wholly-owned subsidiary Fair Finance Business Loans Limited. Operated as an online national offering from 2015.
• Credit Builder Loans Loan product designed to help customers build or repair credit history. Fixed monthly repayments are reported to Equifax and TransUnion to establish positive repayment history, supporting customers new to credit or rebuilding after past issues.
• My Account Portal Self-service customer portal where existing borrowers can check loan balances, view payment history, see upcoming payments, make payments, and check eligibility for top-up loans. Hosted by Anchor Computer Systems Ltd under ISO 27001 information security standards.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30,000 financially excluded residents helped across London since 2005
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Vanquis Banking GroupcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 July 2025Innovative decline referral partnership to help up to 100,000 financially underserved people access affordable credit and unclaimed benefits. Pilot programme already helped over 2,600 people.
• Metro BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership established to help Metro Bank clients in financial difficulty with advice, support and an alternative to high cost lenders.
• LoqboxminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlternative credit building option recommended to customers. Loqbox allows saving £20-£200/month for 12 months with payments reported to credit agencies.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Loqbox: UK credit-building fintech that helps consumers improve credit scores through structured savings reported to credit reference agencies. Already a partner of Fair Finance (recommended alongside credit-builder loans) and highly comparable on the credit-building, sub-prime customer proposition and reporting activity to UK credit bureaus.
• Creditspring: UK subscription-based credit product offering members access to small loans (£500) for a fixed monthly fee. Comparable to Fair Finance on the small-sum, repeat-borrower credit-builder proposition and on serving financially underserved UK consumers, though operating via a subscription rather than interest-based model.

Others

• Amigo Loans: Former UK guarantor-loan lender that served sub-prime borrowers (now in run-off after FCA-driven wind-down). Historically a direct competitor to Fair Finance in the UK sub-prime unsecured-loan market and a useful reference point for the regulatory and credit-loss dynamics that have shaped this category.

Direct peers

• Satsuma Loans: UK online installment-loan provider offering small personal loans (£100–£1,500) to borrowers with poor credit history. Comparable on customer segment, loan-size range, online direct-lender model, and 6–12 month installment terms.
• Oakam: UK digital lender serving sub-prime borrowers with small personal installment loans, using alternative data and Open Banking-style affordability checks for underwriting. Directly comparable to Fair Finance on customer segment, loan size (£200–£5,000), and use of technology to underwrite financially excluded borrowers.
• Provident Financial: Long-established UK sub-prime consumer lender providing unsecured personal loans to borrowers with poor or limited credit histories through a direct, branch-based model. Most direct comparator to Fair Finance on customer segment (financially excluded), product (small-sum unsecured installment loans), and pricing model.

Broad incumbents

• Salary Finance: UK employer-integrated lender providing affordable personal loans, salary-deducted savings, and financial wellbeing tools through workplace partnerships. Comparable to Fair Finance on the affordable-loans-for-employees mission and use of partnerships as a distribution channel, though targeting employed (rather than financially excluded) borrowers.
• Zopa: UK digital bank that historically operated as a peer-to-peer personal loans platform and now offers consumer credit, savings, and broader banking products. Comparable as a UK consumer lender with a digital-first model, though serving prime rather than sub-prime borrowers and operating at significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fairfinance
• Facebookfacebook.com/FairFinance2005
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fair-finance

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fair Finance