Make Money Fun Again: Level Up Loans
Taking out a loan doesn’t sound fun, but shouldn’t investing in yourself and your dreams be one of the most exciting parts of life?
We have a special place in our hearts for people who don’t fit neatly into traditional products or life approaches. The square pegs trying to fit into the round holes defined by bankers who can only follow the script. We wanted to create concepts that flip banking on its head.
Iain and I have been around this area a lot, from designing ways to help the UK be more ready for retirement c.2013, to working with Canadian lotteries and actually launching a digital challenger bank with ATB Financial.
We still felt there was more we could do, especially there was more we could do to make banking and savings fun. We’ve talked to 100s of customers, gone down rabbit holes at the bar, and seen some really cool fintechs. Still, Too often we would hold back on the best pieces because they’d be too radical for conservative corporate clients. We’ve developed these as things we think should exist that are currently “client-less”.
In this piece, we explore lending. The bit where banks actually make money, and what they should do best.
Level Up Loans: a loan product designed for those who want to “level-up” their skills but might be pursuing training, exams, or professional development that doesn’t look like a traditional degree program.
THE BRIEF: This might come as a surprise to a lot of bankers, but not everyone follows a traditional career path 🤯
Today, many professions require training that might not be recognized by banks for traditional student lending products. Learning and development often don’t take the form of university education programs, for millions of people it’s vocational courses that offer a path to prosperity, but they still come with a hefty price tag. Most people are faced with either paying for this education with high-interest credit cards or forced to put it off until they can save up enough money for it. Yet this training can often be the difference between living in comfort or scraping by to provide for themselves, their family, save for a house, be able to take a vacation, or even getting out of a cycle of unemployment.
Banks struggle to recognize this non-traditional education category. They offer better loan products to those that fit nicely into antiquated definitions of success and education. They struggle to tailor products to meet the smaller dollar values or length of loans required to match training that is more likely to be completed in a few weeks rather than take 2–4 years to graduate.
THE OPPORTUNITY: In a world of new work realities, upskilling and changing models of education, it is critical for financial products to keep pace and create solutions that actually match new ways of working and earning a living.
Ultimately, how can affordable term loans (or the Pay Over Time models like Affirm) be repositioned and restructured to help people level up their earning potential and professional development?
“I’m saving up to take an eyelash tech course so I can stop waiting tables and make more per hour, but if I could get an affordable loan and do it sooner I would.”
Most people don’t even consider going to a bank — scared of the judgment or denial they often go without instead of exploring options to achieve their goals. While term loans and lines of credit currently exist, the barriers to even considering them, and the lack of education around them leaves them severely underutilized by certain customer segments.
“Banks like to advertise that they help, but they really don’t care about me as a person. My plans don’t fit one of their templates so they’d just say no.”
Many banks have minimum principal amounts needed to access loans or lines of credit (including student loans). If you don’t need a large credit amount or don’t have a great credit score, a program that costs $500 could be unattainable with affordable credit.
“My bank defaults to telling me to go to the branch, so I have to either wait in line or make an appointment. It’s time out of my day to feel like I’ve got a sales target on my back, they say they want to understand my goals but they really don’t. How do I know I’m getting a good deal?”
Mistrust runs rampant within banking, and especially with those that may not be as financially literate as other groups of customers. Couple that with fear of being judged and the requirement to go into a branch to apply for most credit and you have a perfect storm that results in a poor sales channel for these products.
“I’m busting my ass doing courier work to put away as much money as possible. It’s soul-destroying as I feel like time is passing me by.”
We can help people access the money to be able to pursue the dream career opportunities by rethinking and repositioning what a student loan could and should look like for the modern world. Democratizing affordable capital and allowing it to be accessible without fear of judgment and bias.
📈 💸 Level Up Loans: Student loans for atypical students 📈 💸
Level Up Loans is a term lending product targeted at professional development for “non-academic” education and training opportunities … think eyelash technicians, tattoo artists, automotive mechanics, pastry chefs, or many other jobs that don’t require sitting behind a desk for a living.
We Support Any Career Choice
It’s your life, we support any professional course of your choosing. As big or small as it is — if it supports your career and advancement, we are in.
Digital & Fast Application
Apply online, play with pricing before committing (or getting a hard credit pull), get an instant decision, and see the funds in your account within minutes or whenever you need them.
Payment Flexibility
Pay as fast or as slow as you need, we don’t penalize you if you pay a little more or a little less so long as you make the term.
Affordable
Lower interest than a credit card (8–15%) with a fixed repayment term ranging from 6–24 months.
CONCLUSION: We love turning workarounds and emotions into products — we especially love bold clients who want to build bold products such as these. If you think you’d be a good fit, you’ve already done this, or even if you hate this — we’d love to hear from you.
ABOUT NOW OR NEVER: Now or Never is a challenger consultancy providing strategy & insight work, modular consulting projects & new venture creation. We have worked with everyone from start-ups to large pension funds. Iain Montgomery & Alex Nuth are the co-founders of the agency — combining both big consultancy experience & the scars of actually doing innovation within organizations.
