Intervention: UK-wide
Fund: Third Sector Investment Fund
Date of Investment: September 2017
Impact Area: Income and financial inclusion
Beneficiary Group: People living in poverty and/or financial exclusion
Five Lamps is a responsible finance provider, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, offering fair and affordable personal loans as an alternative to high-cost credit.
Financial exclusion is a pressing issue in the UK, and high-cost credit is widespread. Over 3 million UK adults have one or more high-cost loans or have had one in the past year. Vulnerable adults, with poor financial resilience, are twice as likely to use high-cost credit.
The SASC loan was part of a £5m loan to Five Lamps from a group of nine social investors
Helping vulnerable households to break the cycle of high-cost debt
Individuals and families with limited/no access to mainstream finance
Our funding was part of a larger facility which has enabled FL to make more than 7,000 loans per year
Five Lamps were able to provide a fairer personal loan alternative nationally
Striking the right balance between helping as many people as possible and ensuring affordability of repayment is key, a particular challenge during COVID-19
This is a truly transformational investment which will enable us to help up to 100,000 financially excluded people break the cycle of high-cost debt which blights the lives of so many in our communities.
Graeme Oram, CEO
