Following a successful soft launch in December, sustainable lending start-up Money Sweetspot has now made its financial reset debt consolidation service available to all New Zealanders.
Debt is a part of life for almost all New Zealanders. But for some Kiwis, the debt juggle can turn into a struggle. When that happens, debt can drag families down, causing stress and seriously hurting quality of life.
That’s where Money Sweetspot comes in. Its debt consolidation loan wraps debts into one regular payment, often at a lower interest rate, and includes rewards for paying on time and avoiding further debt.
Since its soft launch, Money Sweetspot has delivered more than $1.3 million in financial resets to Kiwi all over Aotearoa.
At Money Sweetspot’s national launch event in Kirikiriroa last week, co-founder Sasha Lockley said that high demand proves there’s a real need for the service:
“We’re not talking people at the most disadvantaged end of society... the people we’ve worked with so far are almost all ordinary, hard-working Kiwi, many in pretty good jobs, who’ve just found that debts have gotten on top of them.”
She continues, “Whilst it’s been great to help those customers, for every $1 of loans provided there were $2.20 of loans that we were unable to provide as not all applicants could meet the lending criteria. The pressure for whānau around the cost of living and sheer amount of debt that some Kiwi have has meant that we’ve only been able to approve 40% of the applications. This means that many Kiwi are stuck in higher cost debt struggling to find a way through.”
“We’ve been called the Stranger Things of finance, because most finance companies want to up-sell and keep customers, but we are successful if we lose customers,” Sasha says. “We’re here to work with people for a short time, not a lifetime.”
Earlier this month Money Sweetspot also announced a world-first partnership with global financial wellbeing platform nudge Global, giving customers access to nudge’s financial education resources, free of charge. This benefits their customers as by engaging in the platform they earn Sweetspot points that can be redeemed as additional money off their loan, or money into their savings account for a rainy day. In addition, by committing to their financial reset and staying on track, their customers earn rewards to spend through The Good Registry with a donation to a charity of their choice.
Money Sweetspot’s investors include the Tindall Foundation, and its lending capital is provided by BNZ.
BNZ CEO Dan Huggins says, “We know there are families and individuals out there struggling with the rising cost of living, who need a hand to take some of the financial pressure off. That’s why we’re supporting Money Sweetspot in their mission to support New Zealanders to reset their debt and feel more in control of their finances. We believe this innovative approach will help create a lasting positive impact across Aotearoa.
“Supporting Money Sweetspot is part of our wider sustainability commitment to grow the long-term social, cultural, and financial wellbeing of New Zealanders, and deliver $50 million in no or low interest lending by 2024.
To find out more, see https://www.moneysweetspot.co.nz/
For more information all of the choice things happening at Money Sweetspot please contact Sasha Lockley:
sasha@moneysweetspot.co.nz, phone 022 154 5913
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