The Fair Credit Charity set up a wholly owned subsidiary which is different to other lenders. It was the first national online challenge to high cost credit in the UK.
We are driven by a team that believes we can lend better into family households. We firmly believe that when this is done well, it keeps families out of poverty and not trapped within it.
Welcome To Fair Credit Charity
We are a registered charity with the objective to alleviate poverty through better credit solutions for lower income family households and to influence how we lend as a society to lower-income families.
It is the sole owner of Fair for You Enterprise CIC, which lends to customers the money to buy household items from suppliers on its ‘digital high street’.
As a charity, we have four key objectives:
- We help relieve poverty by offering access to affordable credit to low income households, to purchase goods for the home.
- We provide Social Impact reporting to measure outcomes and to share that learning with stakeholders, to influence the wider credit market.
- Campaigning for, and reporting on, better credit solutions that meet the borrowing need of lower income families.
- Helping educate policy makers, the social sector and regulators of the issues facing our customers and the real costs of borrowing.
We are driven by a team that believes we can lend better into family households. We firmly believe that when this is done well, it keeps families out of poverty and not trapped within it.
It is well documented that families are being impacted by fluctuating income and the rising cost of living, and there is a clear need for access to affordable and flexible credit when hit by emergencies and unexpected costs. It is equally well documented that many are being damaged by current lending practices operating widely in Britain today.
Fair for You Enterprise CIC is a niche lender which enables those with limited access to credit, to be able to purchase items for the home and their families through provision of effective and supportive finance solutions that are designed around the customer, following our extensive customer research, testing and feedback.
As a charity we will release social impact reports regarding our work.
Our Trustees
Before serving 13 years as a Labour MP, Tom taught science in secondary schools. Since 2010 he has worked with businesses large and small, government, charities, councils, social enterprises and others to harness the massive power that business wields. Tom is a regular judge for the West London Responsible Business Awards and he co-wrote both a report on Business Schools and the Public Good and British Standard BS8950 on Social Value. Tom’s view is: “companies don’t have to choose between doing good and making money – they can and must do both, but fairly.”
Today Tom is Chair of the Fair Credit Charity and is an advisor to the Centre for Responsible Business at Birmingham University. He is also a successful author and playwright, with three books on responsible business, two published novels, and three performed plays. Tom is also a proud season ticket holder at Brentford FC.
Alan worked more than 30 years with Lloyds TSB. He held several senior roles including Marketing Director commercial banking at TSB and Head of Direct Banking at Lloyds TSB. As one of the original Trustees of the charity Alan believes that the best financial service providers do not sell products but are focussed on serving their customer needs. Meeting the needs of customers must be expressed by high quality, value and fairness. Something the charity has help achieve, from the start, through the continued support of Fair For You CIC.
Alan believes Fair Credit Charity should campaign for better and affordable credit solutions that meet the borrowing needs of lower income families. This will be critical to improving the wellbeing of the many people who currently have no option but to turn to high-cost finance. Currently he devotes his professional time to mentoring university students preparing to start out on their marketing careers. Alan is an active long-distance runner and is a passionate Sunderland AFC fan!
Prior to his time at Stockport, he held a non-executive director role at another credit union. Today, as well as being a trustee of Fair Credit Charity, he is a trustee for an innovative national theatre company that specialises in working in marginalised and disadvantaged communities and is a trustee for a building society charitable foundation, which makes grants to local charities and community groups.
Jonathan works within the social enterprise sector, in an organisation that provides loans to organisations who will develop social capital.
He is also the chairman of a large community forum. This group engages with a wide range of stakeholders on a variety of topics and seeks to deliver great outcomes for the communities which it serves.
Jonathan is a strong advocate for communities working together to create new opportunities to improve life for the people they serve.
She has also worked in the health, wellbeing and HR related industries in addition to many years as a volunteer in the third sector. She is currently working for Citizens Advice, is a board adviser to a company who delivers a financial wellness benefit for employees and is a trustee for a medical and welfare charity.
Jill brings many years’ experience of supporting low income families with their finances. She has seen at first hand the negative affect on individuals who have no alternative but to take out high cost credit. The Board has the benefit of Jill’s experience and working knowledge of how families are affected by debt and the current cost of living crisis.
Having an alternative to high costs loans, which is not just affordable to the client but reinforced by values that the Board wish to maintain, is of great appeal to Jill and enables her to positively impact those whom the organisation wish to support.
Jill is delighted to serve on the board of the Fair Credit Charity and brings experience of having served as a long term non executive director for an organisation regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
When he is not puzzling over digital problems, he lives in Bristol with his 9-year-old son – ‘The Boys’; loves photography, keeping fit, the outdoors, and Asian food and will try and fix anything. He is a keen advocate for neurodiversity and the social equality, the latter being his driver for joing the Fair Credit Charity.
Joanne is currently the Head of Strategy and Change at The Bank of England, responsible for oversight of the Bank’s strategic priorities and leading cross-Bank change programmes.
Fair Credit Charities mission to change the way we lend to lower income families is one which Joanne is passionate about, believing that we have to do better to educate our children on financial literacy giving them the best possible start, and to offer an alternative to high-cost finance when families are struggling, preventing a debt spiral which has a proven impact on mental health and well-being.
Joanne has three small boys, and feels no pressure to be a strong female role model. Outside of work she loves to travel, having visited over 50 countries and lived in 5. She is also a sports lover and has completed the London marathon and Olympic distance triathlon.
Tracy says: “Fair for You has been a lifeline when I’ve been struggling and trying to get my finances back in order – it is a safe, convenient alternative to high-cost, for-profit lenders. I’m pleased that I can now give something back to this organisation, by ensuring that the customer voice is embedded into its governance and leadership.”
For the three years prior to this, he was CEO of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (now known as Community Pharmacy England). There, he was responsible for negotiating the annual £2.6bn contract on behalf of all high street pharmacies for the provision of NHS services. His time there coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, and the funding that Simon and his team secured from Government proved essential in keeping pharmacy doors open during the height of COVID-19.
Before 2018, Simon was the Chief Executive of the UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, where he substantially increased membership and revenue and successfully worked to increase the awareness of fraud within UK Government. During Simon’s tenure CIFAS for the first time prevented over £1bn of fraud loss in one year.
Simon’s early career was in the UK’s public sector where he held senior roles in defence and security as well as government communications and public affairs. He is a strong advocate for working collaboratively for the public good, and treating people equally and with dignity. A natural fit for Fair for You!
Simon is also Chair of the medical research charity Antibiotic Research UK.