Fair Finance

Fair Finance

See also: Fair Finance 2010, Fair Finance 2012

Fair Finance is a social business with the mission of revolutionising financial services to give everyone a fair chance. It offers a range of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of people who are financially excluded. It is committed to providing high-quality products and services that are affordable and accessible. It currently offers three products:

• Fair Personal Loans: lending to individuals who struggle to access credit
• Fair Business Loans: lending to SMEs across the UK
• Fair Money Advice: free debt advice

Most of Fair Finance’s customers are ignored by the mainstream financial services industry and exploited by the sub-prime financial services industry.

History

Fair Finance was founded in 2004 by Faisel Rahman after a five year pilot phase as part of the Environment Trust. The idea came to Faisel while he was working at Grameen Bank, founded by microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus, in Bangladesh. "I realized there were the same issues in the Bangladeshi villages as in the council estates where I grew up in south and east London, like access to credit and debt," he says. And with them, the similar scourge of extortionate lenders and spirals of debt. On his return to the UK, Faisel decided to put into practice the principles of microfinance – a tool of development that extends small amounts of credit to poor people so they can lift themselves out of poverty.

Fair Finance has since increased its product offering and has grown from one branch to four, with a presence across south and east London, and lending nationally. In 2013 the Prime Minister awarded Fair Finance a Big Society Award for its outstanding contribution to the community saying: "Britain is in a global race and our small businesses and entrepreneurs are vital to helping us compete and succeed. I’m delighted to be recognising the boost Fair Finance provides with this Big Society Award."

To date Fair Finance has lent over £14m (€16.5m) to personal clients and £2m to business clients, as well as advising over 6,000 clients on their debts and managing over £20 million (€23m) in combined rental and other priority and consumer debts.

Contact https://www.fairfinance.org.uk/contact-us/ 020 8988 0627 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL