I've been busy with the kids' end-of-year activities, with a bit of camping, with a bit of drinking in Belfast, with a bit of planning for a trip to Paris for the Olympics, with a bit of everything except podcast editing 😉 So, to fill the gap until next week, here's a taste of my other show: hAIghtened senses.

From drones scanning the forests of Sweden looking for early signs of pest infestations to artificial noses detecting spoiled milk or the presence of mildew to innovators building businesses on top of this fast-changing tech, our podcast uncovers the innovative ways AI-empowered machines are enhancing our understanding of the world around us.

You can email us at haightenedsenses@gmail.com or message us on LinkedIn

Images of spruce bark beetle infestations can be sent to barkbeetletracker@gmail.com

Christo and Brendan are both active on LinkedIn and open to all genuine new connections, you can find them at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christo-van-zyl-innovator/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ respectively

You can find more of Christo at chaos-out-of-order.com

Brendan's other podcast is www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

Show art is created with Dall-E, show music is created with suno.ai

Website: https://www.haightenedsenses.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/haightened-senses

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@hAIghtenedsenses

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557906028730

Instagram: @haightened.senses

TikTok: haightened.senses

#Innovation, #Entrepreneurship, #AIRevolution, #BusinessGrowth, #FutureTech, #DisruptiveInnovation, #InnovativeIdeas, #AIInBusiness #machinelearning #tech #hitech

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Adrian Pllay has an unusually deep understanding of some of the world's more interesting markets. We've heard a lot about the US and the UK on this show but today, Adrian takes us off the beaten path: having been based at times in Africa and at times in the Middle East, he now oversees both of those regions as well as a little in-between! We talk about what he's learnt along the way, we get teased with the possibility of a future book, and we hear how Provenir is helping banks, fintechs, and other financial services providers make smarter decisions faster with their AI-Powered Risk Decisioning Platform.

Provenir is online at https://www.provenir.com/ (or jump straight to their excellent resources page for their latest thought leadership)

Adrian is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianpillay/ (and last I saw, he was hiring)

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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Last time the research was done in England, 1.1 million people were borrowing from illegal lenders... and that was two years ago, before the cost of living crisis which has surely pushed that number higher, so we're looking at somewhere between 1 in 30 and 1 in 40 adults. Those borrowers are facing a combination of threats and extortionate rates, and you're losing directly, too, because "if one of your customers is paying the loan shark, they won't pay your loan because the loan shall be the priority". 

Stop Loan Sharks is at home online at https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/

But it also just happens to be one of their bi-annual social media weeks, so why don't you also engage with their posts on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/stoploansharksengland/

I am on LinkedIn, too, and open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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Which is handy, because we’ve all heard it, most of us have even said it ourselves, the world is very volatile at the moment. So when Evan Chrapko of Trust Science told me how their models embrace volatility, I knew we were onto something interesting. Even more so, because I spent a decade working in the credit bureaus myself, and that’s the industry that Trust Science is disrupting right now with its volatility-eating models.

As mentioned in our chat, your first port of call for further information is https://www.trustscience.com/ (though they are also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/trust-science/)

Or you can jump straight to the news articles about their work https://www.trustscience.com/articles-page (including the Mail and Globe article we spoke about)

Evan was also recently at LendIt USA, and you catch a video clip behind the scenes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34PrP7Ak4aw

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Not all bankers wear suits - some, like Todd Kleperis, are built for frontier markets. It has been a decade since Washington and Colorado legalised the use of cannabis, and 17 States have followed suit, but with federal legalisation not yet on the books, most banks in the United States remain wary of the £33 billion industry. This, in turn, leaves the fast-growing recession-resilient sector starved for credit.

Forged out of frustration with this status quo, Todd and his team built Payzel to fix this, and are offering banking and funding to cannabis businesses, both startup and established. More on Payzel can be found at https://payzel.com/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/river-florida/

And it turns out, cannabis isn't the only industry considered too risky to touch, so Payzel have expanded into other frontier market spaces. The Sea Pods we spoke about have just been launched this week, so head over to https://oceanbuilders.com/ for some modern living design inspiration

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Open Banking is a proven technology with proven use cases, and in the UK, perhaps its spiritual home, user numbers continue to rocket - there are now more than 6 million active Open Banking customers there.

However, some other markets are looking on and wondering what the fuss is about.

This was surprising to me. And it was surprising to today’s guest, Nick Tuttelberg of DirectID. After all, there’s not a business alive today that wouldn’t want better data, and Open Banking provides some unique ways to generate and leverage data. But it seems the concept is still misunderstood in some sectors, so Nick and I take a step back and look at how a market like South Africa could benefit from encouraging Open Banking.

As we mention in our chat, this is the second time I have interviewed someone from DirectID, so if you’d like to deeper dive into the company and its mission, you can listen to my chat with its founder, James Varga, in episode 36 of this show: https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-36

But you can learn more about DirectID on their (recently redesigned and now looking very lovely) homepage https://www.direct.id/ or via LinkedIn

LinkedIn is also a good place to find Nick if you’d like to start your own Open Banking journey, he’s here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-tuttelberg-87bb0628/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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BNPL is usually spoken about in terms of it being a more convenient payment tool for people in option-rich credit markets, but a revenue model that doesn’t require interest resonates with Middle Eastern customers for even more reasons.

So in this episode I speak to Ziyaad Ahmed, co-founder and COO at Spotii, a Dubai-based BNPL now in the ZipPay stable.

You can learn more about Spotii at https://www.spotii.com/

Their social tag is @spotiime ala https://instagram.com/spotiime?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the HTLMTS.show page

Regards,

Brendan

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More than 200 million formal and informal micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in emerging markets lack adequate financing to thrive and grow; and the majority cite the lack of collateral and credit history and business informality as barriers to that financing. Today's guest, Sabelo Sibanda, has built CreditAis to solve this by providing explainable deep learning models that use alternative data to accurately score small businesses that don't fit the incumbent scoring criteria.

You can learn more about CreditAIs on their website at https://www.creditais.com (or follow them on LinkedIn)

We also mentioned Tuse, an earlier venture by the same pair. If that sounds interesting, learn more at https://tuseapp.com/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Nicole Lapin, Host of Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin, is “the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand”.

And sure, you may not need a dictionary to understand lending anymore, but that’s because you work in the industry. I’m going to guess that most of your borrowers don’t. And I’m also going to guess that most of your borrowers don’t want to spend their days reading dictionaries, which is why Nicole is where they are going to learn and to vent about their credit troubles.

As lenders, even with our best intentions we sometimes talk past our borrowers, we describe products in confusing terms or build them in ways that may allow customers to work against their own best interests.

That is why I think it is so important to have a channel to those grassroots experiences. With a new episode out every weekday, a handful of New York Times best-selling books, and her own experience of being in debt and out of control, there is no better channel today than Nicole Lapin - so I was absolutely delighted to have her on my show, talking about how and where consumers are feeling the pinch, and how and where consumers are going astray with their credit products.

You can, and really should, find Nicole’s books, courses, and other insights on https://nicolelapin.com/. You can even follow Nicole on LinkedIn

While Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin can be found wherever fine podcasts are followed, or via its home on iHeart

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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South Africa has an awkward history with payday lending and payday adjacent lending, so I was a touch concerned when I first heard that a fresh pair of South African entrepreneurs were looking to shake up the industry. Luckily, all my concerns were misplaced, because SmartWage is not looking to rethink payday lending, they're looking to make it redundant.

You can read more about SmartWage, now re-branded as Jem at https://www.jemhr.com/

In today’s episode, we talk about digitising communication between employers and employees, removing trucks’ worth of paperwork, and providing access to earned wages.

Follow Carolyn van der Merwe on LinkedIn for news on SmartWage but also updates from the Yale Africa Startup Review (or just head there directly at https://www.yasr.org/)

Follow Simon Ellis on LinkedIn for news on SmartWage but also his thoughts on leadership and his podcast hot tips - including The Knowledge Project and The Tim Ferris Show which were mentioned.

Follow Simon Ellis on LinkedIn for news on SmartWage but also his thoughts on leadership and his podcast hot tips - including The Knowledge Project and The Tim Ferris Show which were mentioned.

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Singapore might not feel like a natural home for a mobile banking app built on a vision to increase access to credit, but the city is not all glass skyscrapers and besuited bankers; and women are the ones most likely to fall through the cracks. That’s why Lucy is here. If you’re an entrepreneur, or a momtrepreneur, or a micropreneur, then it’s like your bank, but better.

In today’s episode, I speak to Lucy’s impressive co-founder, Debbie Watkins, about her globe-spanning career and how a better banking app can empower entrepreneurial women in ways that traditional banks simply can’t.

You can find Lucy at https://welucy.com/ (and while you’re there, check out the Team page with its awesome art, and equally awesome talent https://welucy.com/team-lucy/)

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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The World Turtle is a mytheme of a giant turtle supporting the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and, of course, has nothing to do with lending. So why am I dedicating so much real estate to the idea?

Well, because the idea was reflected in Terry Pratchet’s incredibly popular Disc World Series of books, and those inspired today’s guest, Gideon Griebenow, to give up his credit risk career to become a game developer. World Turtles is a wholesome colony builder where you guide a tribe of creatures called Meeps on their mission to save themselves and the world they live on, and it’s gaining interest from players and publishers around the world - wishlist it now on Steam.

But you can also get involved in these final stages via many other routes - the Discord Server is here (https://discord.com/invite/2NEb4HxwhF), Youtube channel is here (https://www.youtube.com/c/RecOgMission) and there is a subreddit, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account, too.

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Early in Dead Poets Society, we’re introduced to Dr J. Evans Prichard’s approach to measuring the greatness of a poem, a dual-axis model which plots ‘perfection’ against ‘importance’ and which is immediately ripped up - because it is excrement. Luckily, I’m not trying to confine something as ethereal as poetry, so bear with me, and imagine a market for loans being described using two axes, with the horizontal axis showing the level of standardisation and the verticle axis showing the average values involved.

The top right corner is where we place standardised loans of relatively large values. Every lender would love to operate here - because it is easy to automate solutions and the rewards for doing so are high. But there’s not going to be enough space for everyone, so lenders will have to spread out: some to provide basic solutions for lower value but highly-standardised loans, and some to build bespoke solutions for customer high-value loans.

But who will provide loans that require significant customisation but offer as a reward, only relatively low values? Well, maybe you can, because this is the space where personal lending can thrive. In today’s episode, I speak to Alex Breshears of Lend2Live Learning, and find out how she provides capital to local real estate developers, and how she and her partner teach others to do the same.

First and foremost, the Lend2Live book launches today, and you can buy it here https://store.biggerpockets.com/pages/coming-soon?fbclid=IwAR1QazmmZp-1_9NTMyYIwjiLIv3fAOFv2SEdHSZpwxVExrxDHdB2v_TPp3o

But you can also head over to the Lend2Live Facebook group here if you’re just looking to dip your toes in for now: https://www.facebook.com/groups/privatelendinglessons/discussion/preview/

And as mentioned, you can also reach out to Alex directly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/investpassively2liveactively/

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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"Roughly 15% of hopeful parents worldwide would be eligible for IVF - from a medical eligibility perspective - but today, only about 2% are able to access that care."

It's all well and good financing cars or boats or sneakers, but sometimes we get a chance to finance something a little more important, like a house or, in this case, a family to fill it. Gaia are a wonderful example of that, embedding finance and insurance into a healthcare workflow to build the better way to pay for IVF.

Gaia are at https://gaiafamily.com/

On LinkedIn they're over here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gaiafamily/ and they're on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, too

John is on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-p-aronica/

As am I, and I am always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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“Please, sir, may I have some more regulation?”

The Lending Standards Board is the primary self-regulatory body for the banking and lending industry in the UK, driving fair credit outcomes by giving lenders a way to hold themselves to a higher standard. I chat to Anna Roughley, Head of Insights at the LSB, to find out how this drives fairer outcomes for lenders and borrowers alike, and why self-regulation can be a strategic advantage in the modern world.

You can read more about LSB at https://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/ (or on their LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-lending-standards-board-limited/) or you can email Anna’s team directly at insights@lstdb.org.uk

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

Regards,

Brendan

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It’s not often that a bank’s ATMs running out of cash is a sign of its success, but that’s exactly what happened when Cantilan Bank - with its systems on the cloud - was able to get back on its feet after Typhoon Rai, and to dispense much-needed cash to the people, when no one else was able to. In today’s episode, I speak to Antonio Separovic, co-founder of Oradian, the fintech whose cloud-native core banking system made that bounce-back possible.

But, though forged in developing markets, the market for cloud-based core banking systems has continued to expand and so we chat about everything from working around infrastructure gasp to powering cutting-edge fintech.

You can find Oradian on their homepage here - https://oradian.com/

And, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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When I was living in Denmark and working at Experian, my boss’s boss was a rockstar, you would never hear Burak Kilicoglu’s name mentioned without an associated compliment. And I wasn’t the only one to notice, so he was soon snapped up by Creditinfo to be their Director of Global Markets - a perfect sounding guest for this show, right?

Unfortunately, though I tried, I never managed to get Burak on… which is why I was doubly happy to be chatting to today’s guest, Burak’s boss and Creditinfo CEO, Paul Randall 🤣

We talk about disrupting the credit bureau industry, about improving access to credit in developing markets, and about sharing knowledge back-and-forth between developed and developing markets.

You can find more information at https://creditinfo.com/ but if you want to jump straight to their news, that’s over here https://chronicle.creditinfo.com/#, while an example of the cookbook we mentioned is here https://chronicle.creditinfo.com/2020/12/16/creditinfo-cookbook/

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all pay a mortgage every month, just sometimes it's our landlord’s mortgage we're paying… I was in London for The Podcast Show in the last week of May and took that opportunity to record another in-person episode of HTLMTS - this time kindly hosted at OnLadder Towers by Cameron Orcutt, half of the exciting entrepreneur pair that’s using deposit loans to help first-time home buyers get on the property ladder faster.

Mortgage down-payments have always been expensive. A 20% downpayment on the average house in the UK 10 years ago, would have been about £30,000 and, at the time, that would have been 13 months of after-tax income for a typical household. So yeah, too expensive for many. But it’s gotten worse, much worse. Right now that same household would need to find 23 months of disposable income, having already paid over £100,000 in rental in the meantime.

You can learn more about OnLadder, and join their mailing list, at https://onladder.co.uk/ or find them on LinkedIn

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You may have noticed, but the world is a little unsettled these days. Incomes are variable. We’ve had government support programs come and go. And underlying industries come and go. Prices are rising. Fast. In an episode of this show that I recorded six months ago, I made reference to the price of fuel being £1.50 a litre. That had actually been a slight rounding-up for convenience but already, with fuel touching £2 a litre, it feels like a bargain.

I belabour the point simply because, the more turbulent the times, the larger the premium we should place on fresh data, and my guest today is out there trying to get the freshest possible data into risk decisions. Data on Demand is a UK-based fintech that provides data and insights to companies to help them better understand and improve engagement with customers - I speak to their Sales Director, Simon Gregory, about where they get that data and the situations in which it is being used for up-to-the-minute decision making.

You can find Simon Gregory on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-gregory-84236114/

Or learn more about Data on Demand via their homepage (https://dataondemand.co.uk/) or via email using hello@dataondemand.co.uk

The Vulnerability Registration Service that was mentioned is here: https://www.vulnerabilityregistrationservice.co.uk/

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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The first really big event that I spoke at during my time in Asia was in Shanghai. I was at Lendit China speaking about the emergence of fintech lending in Hong Kong, following a template my US colleagues had first designed to explain the rise (and rise, and rise) of lending fintech there. So I’ve always been interested in the forces that came together to give fintech lenders their first footholds in the American personal loan space, and then allowed them to power the subsequent growth in that sector.

For a decade, Upstart has been one of the forces powering that growth I’d previously just studied from the outside - which is why I was so happy to get Jeff Keltner onto the show. Jeff has been with Upstart pretty much from the start, so we talk about their philosophy, the emergence of fintech lending, and where innovation is happening today.

And Jeff has his own lending podcast, Leaders in Lending, which you should listen to wherever you’re listening to this one or find its links at https://www.upstart.com/lenders/podcasts/

Then, if you’d like to learn more about Upstart and the work they’re doing, head over to https://www.upstart.com/lenders/

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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I used to feel a little bit exotic knowing a person born in Moldova, but since he left as a baby, that’s actually all I knew about Moldova. It turns out, I should have been paying attention because it may be a small country, but Moldova is standing on the threshold of significant change: on the one hand, a formal push is now underway to bring them into the EU but on the other, there’s also the still-present threat of Russian aggression.

Moldova was once in the USSR, but arguably its historical and cultural links are stronger with its Western neighbour, Romania. In this episode, we explore those ties - and the broader state of the Moldovan banking landscape - with Bogdan Plesuvescu, CEO of Victoriabank.

If you’d like to start a conversation with Bogdan, you can find him on LinkedIn like I did, and although we didn’t really talk about it, if it his sailing you’re more interested in, which has somehow become a recurring theme among my guests, you might also want to check out his Twitter

You can read more about Victoriabank Moldova at https://www.victoriabank.md/en/ (including their VB24 Pay, Garmin Pay and Apple Pay offerings as mentioned)

Bogdan also spoke about all the help the people of Moldova have been offering to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. I can’t personally vouch for Refugee Support EU, but if you’re interested in helping they seem to be a good place to start your search.

Finally, if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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I feel a strange affinity with peer to peer lending. I've never done it myself as a lender, borrower or connector but one of the first projects I ever did in my MBA, some 16 years ago now, was on Zopa and the emergence of the P2P model. But more recently, the headlines have been bearish, with Zopa and Funding Circle - two pillars of the form - both shutting down their retail P2P arms.

As a lending model, P2P felt all but dead.

Except that, as the tide pulled back, one or two gems were still lying on the beach: like Monexo, the Chennai-based P2P whose founder and CEO, Mukesh Bubna, joined me for this chat. Mukesh and his team have turned P2P into an alternative inflation-beating investment option for investors, and an affordable path to credit-building for borrowers.

You can read more about Monexo at https://www.monexo.co/in/ (and watch some of those videos Mukesh mentioned while you’re there)

Finally, if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Thailand is one of my favourite markets. My main memories are of the fantastic food, the vibrant streets, and the perfect beaches but I also helped to roll out the first-ever national credit bureau score there and that’s what we’ll be talking about today. Thailand is a young country with a fast-evolving fintech scene, so I have pulled together Khun Phadet Charoensivakorn (COO of the National Credit Bureau) and Marco Chu (Business Development Director for TransUnion in SE Asia).

Together we discuss the state of the Thai market, how it fared during COVID, how it is changing, and the larger regional context as we touch on working with markets with contrasting risk baselines.

Phadet is on LinkedIn, if you have more questions about the Thai credit landscape, or email him at phadet@ncb.co.th (you can also read more at https://www.ncb.co.th/about-us/history-en)

While you can find Marco on LinkedIn, too, and read more about my old colleague's work in the region via https://www.transunion.hk/home 

Finally, if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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Now, here is a topic I didn’t see coming. But why lend money to a charity, isn’t that a bit mean, to ask for your money back if they’re doing work you believe in? I spoke to Holger Westphely, Acting Head of CAF Venturesome, to find out how and why loans are sometimes better than donations.

It's very difficult to raise grant funding for anything that isn't directly related to a charity programme. Anything that has the word 'admin' in it is an anathema to many philanthropists. And that's where we come in, because we believe that a well run organisation needs OpEx, it needs CapEx… Secondly, from a philanthropist point of view, it can help the capital go further

And you can hear more of that on today’s episode. As mentioned, you can learn more about CAF Venturesome at www.venturesome.org and more about the parent organisation at www.cafonline.org

Holger also mentioned two very worthy causes in this chat, and you can learn more about both on each of their homepages - Ubuntu Pathways is at https://ubuntupathways.org/ and the Peaceful Change Initiative is at https://peacefulchange.org/

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

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I was going to use a quote from Drachen here, because I remembered being quite proud of how I described Tallinn in there, but it turns out I remembered... generously So let's just say that Estonia is a fantastic place to visit this summer. But don't stop there, explore the other Baltic States while you're at it, maybe make a road trip of it and check out Poland, Czechia, and Germany, too. The borderless EU is your playground.

And, before the disaster that is Brexit, I enjoyed that freedom of movement as a resident, spending two wonderful years living and working in Copenhagen. Many still do, and that's where Mifundo come into the picture. We've spoken about cross-border credit bureau solutions before, and how they help immigrants, Kaido Saar will talk about that today, too, but within Europe immigration is often more of a tidal flow than a river's unidirectional run to the sea so we'll also discuss how that's baked into their solution.

Kaidoo and the team will once again be at Money20/20 in Amsterdam next month as part of the Estonian Fintech booth - https://europe.money2020.com/ I should be there, too, provided I get my logistics sorted in time, so if you're going to be in town, let's make a plan to meet up at the event or at one of the many after parties 😉.

You can learn more about Mifundo and book a demo at https://banks.mifundo.com/

Or you'll find them and Kaido both on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mifundo-com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaido-saar/

For natural biodegradable straws from reed, go to https://sutustraws.com/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page, too, while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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As a three-time immigrant myself, I’m always going to pay attention when I hear that’s there’s a new fintech in town building credit that moves with you, doubly so when one of the co-founders of that fintech is Ash Bhatt who I first met when he was Head of Lending at Revolut, for the US and UK markets. Ash has used that international experience, and his own experience as an immigrant in London, to build Pillar as an all-in-one credit platform for anyone who finds themselves excluded from the traditional credit marketplace.

As you know, the person who has withdrawn cash on the credit card is deemed high-risk, but when the person is actually withdrawing the cash why wouldn't the credit card company give them a prompt saying, “hey, did you realise if you do this, your score may go down?”

Pillar will help consumers build credit scores, maintain those scores, and access credit all in one place, and you can learn more - and join their waiting list - at https://www.hellopillar.com/

This is also my first in-person recording, and while I need to improve my mic discipline, I hope the more interactive feel outweighs the little patches of poor audio.

If you’re interested in the risk-based pricing study I mentioned, you can read a summary on my LinkedIn page here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/increased-price-transparency-shake-up-hong-kong-loan-market-brendan/

And the full discussion with Misha Esipov of Nova Credit, where we cover related topics, is episode 11 - https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-11

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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It used to be that developing markets suffered because they didn’t have physical bank branches. And as a result, a lot of innovation sought to find workarounds that the developed markets just didn't need.

That 99% Invisible episode on curb cuts can be found here: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/ 

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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I’ve recently moved and now I have an electric stovetop, the old-fashioned type that stays hot for ages. When I inevitably place a stray hand on a still-hot plate, it’ll take my nerve impulses about 15 milliseconds to reach my brain, add a bit of processing time and allow for the return journey, and in under a fifth of a second, my hand will move away. The process is so fast because the brain wants to give my arm the instructions it needs while it is still useful to do so. Pave takes a similar approach to credit management.

Allow me to quickly repurpose that hotplate scenario: if you take an action today that will unknowingly harm your credit profile, it will take the ‘credit nerve impulses’ two to three months to reach the credit bureau, another month for the impact of that action to be reflected in your credit score for the first time, another couple of months to notice the downward trend, and then more time for you to investigate the true cause - so maybe six months.

That’s not fast enough to be useful, because even if you make a complete u-turn, you’ll have six months of negative impact still in the bank, as it were. So for the next sixth months, you’ll just have to trust that the compromises you’re making are paying off. That takes a lot of discipline. And it is worse than that because most of us have to follow a trial-and-error approach to credit building, so for many they’ll make the right change, see no impact, and try something else.

Sho Sugihara built Pave to try and fix this, providing credit feedback fast enough to influence outcomes, supported by human credit experts that remove the guesswork, and credit products that actively stop you missing a bill payment. Join us to learn more about the hows and whys.

You can learn more about Pave at https://www.paveapp.com/ (you’ll find a link for potential partners there, too, while their quite excellent blog is at https://www.paveapp.com/blog)

Or if you prefer the big social media platforms, they’ll be at LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

And if you want to speak to Sho directly, you can find him on LinkedIn or email him at sho@paveapp.com

If your heartstrings were tugged, you can learn about The Big Issue here, while if it was your ambition that got all riled up, you can find Entrepreneur First here

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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I know the voiceover says this is my 38th show, but a quick reshuffle means it is actually the 40th, still, my message remains the same - MyFugo is possibly the best representation I've seen to date of the benefit that credit can bring to previously underserved markets.

I’ve gotten excited about mortgages as a tool for wealth creation, Ivy League student loans as a route to well-paying international careers, and SME loans as a root to economic progress, but MyFugo’s wraparound service for smallholder dairy farmers stands to benefit so many sectors of the Kenyan economy.

Join me and Allan Tollo, founder and CEO, to find out how.

You can find MyFugo on their homepage here - http://myfugo.com/our-team/ - but also, as Allan mentioned, on many of the big social media platforms, including Facebook where they are most active - https://www.facebook.com/myfugoApp/

You can also learn more about ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores at https://confirmu.com/ or on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

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Liz Ruddick is the author of the UK Cards Report, FICO’s go-to resources for anyone working in the UK card industry. This means Liz is perfectly placed to put the latest card trends in perspective, and it’s another case of ‘it could be worse’.

The cost of living is rising around the world, so things may yet turn bad, but for now, consumers are spending relatively well and reigning in their balances. But… “lenders will need to be vigilant to any further increases in missed payments in the coming months and ensure that they are offering support to customers where it’s needed”.

Join us to find out more about these trends – and now covering the US and Canadian markets, too.

You can find Liz Ruddick on LinkedIn and her report on the UK card market in more detail at https://www.fico.com/blogs/uk-cards-trends-good-performance-despite-rising-living-costs

While you can of course learn more about FICO and their product/ services by visiting their home page at https://www.fico.com/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

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This is not investment advice, but I’m going to put it out there: Adam Rice is one of the most exciting entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to on this show, with AssetDirect a bold embodiment of his ambitions - providing access to credit to underserved populations in Canada and now around the world. That alone is great, I love an ‘access to credit’ story on this show, but there is another layer to it, by turning existing pillars of their communities into his sales network, Adam is also creating new income streams for corner store owners, rickshaw drivers, and other micro-entrepreneurs.

And he is poised to build “the largest network of financial sales agents the world has ever seen”.

Join us in this episode to get as excited as I am.

To learn more about AssetDirect head on over to https://www.assetdirect.io/ (or to learn more about CreditLinks specifically, https://www.creditlinks.in/

While their crowdfunding campaign is at https://www.frontfundr.com/assetdirect

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

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My career in consumer credit started in South Africa, a little over twenty years ago, when making access to credit fairer for the lower tiers of the economic pyramid meant investing resources to build better credit scores so that we could bring our rates below the statutory maximum. We were young and idealistic, but still, by starting with a lender’s mindset we figured that the answer lay in an iteration of small improvements that might bring APRs down little by little.

And perhaps, if I was asked then where rates would be today, success would have seen average APRs down from around 60% to maybe 40%, or even 30% if I’d been feeling optimistic. But not 0%.

Of course not, that would’ve been crazy. Except, as it turns out, it wasn’t.

By re-imaging what a budgeting tool could look like, PayJustNow, a South African BNPL with a purpose, have created an interest-free three-month instalment offering for those often overlooked by the big credit ptoviders. In this episode, I speak to Mark McChlery (co-founder Chief Data and Analytics Officer) to hear about the philosophy behind the business, and how they’re building tools for consumers and the communities in which they exist.

You can find out all you need to know about PayJustNow at https://payjustnow.com/

Or to learn more about Weaver FinTech, their holding company, head over to https://www.weaverfintech.com/

And if you’d like to see the FOM x Kolisi shoes mentioned, you can check those out over here: https://freedomofmovement.co.za/product-category/men/mens-footwear/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

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No one will give you a job until you have work experience. No one will extend you credit until you have a credit history. Two absurdities that have existed long enough to become absolute cliches, and yet they somehow persist. And more than that, they’re two hurdles that are easier to overcome if you come from money - maybe you’ve got an aunt who could have a word with the bank’s CEO…

Well, that’s actually changing now. We’ve spoken about Open Banking before, quite recently actually, but in today’s discussion with James Varga of DirectID we really zoom into the impact that analysis all financial data - debit, credit, and otherwise - can have on expanding access to credit, and how it can remove the need for the self-sabotaging credit score management tactics of old.

DirectID is leveraging Open Finance and bank statement data to help lenders understand their customers throughout the credit risk lifecycle, and they’re hiring - so if you want to learn more about the product offering, head on over to www.direct.id or if you want to help build those products, it’s www.direct.id/company/careers

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

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It’s weird: when I moved house, the world suddenly stopped while everyone waited for me to get a new utility bill, at which point we resumed normal service with me once again a verified real-life person. We've said it on this show before, but there has to be a better way to prove identities than a utility bill, a signature, and an unchangeable government-issued number of some sorts…

And of course, there is, but none of the ones we’ve discussed to date felt complete, which is why I was keen to speak to Jonathan Camilleri Bowman. Having got too-often bumped into issues when trying to verify identities for his earlier business, he founded Sekuritance as a CeFi and DeFi RegTech ecosystem that could provide a one-stop-shop on all compliance needs.

So in this episode we chat about what that means and whether the auditable nature of the blockchain might offer a solution to solving the identity problem.

You can learn more about Sekuritance on their homepage - www.sekuritance.com - and while their academy is not up yet, you can find more details on the Oxford University Blockchain course here

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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We’ve spoken about Open Banking on this show before, often from the perspective of how to use the data, and often with a UK-centric point-of-view given the early lead we’ve seen the region take in terms of large-scale adoption.

In today’s episode, we’re moving further afield and taking a look under the hood, as it were, with Dimitris Petrilis from Infin8, and also adding a little context of the Greek fintech landscape.

You can learn more about Infin8 and their European Open Banking at www.infin8.eu

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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"It started by just going out and networking, listening to people, asking them what worked, what didn't work, you know, ringing up estate agents saying, look, I'd love to do your mortgages and walking up and down the high street with my briefcase."

As much as I love featuring VC-funded, AI-powered, alternative data-consuming startups on this show, it is well worth remembering that there's still a very big place for businesses built on human interactions - provided those interactions lead to better products, of course. In today's episode, I'm speaking to Chris Schutrups, founder of The Mortgage Hut and some of the UK's leading mortgage brands.

We cover that story of shaking hands and building businesses, of understanding people's needs and building products for them, but we also look at the role of professional advice in a world flooded with opinions, the current mortgage landscape and its opportunities there for brokers and lenders to work together for the benefit of borrowers, and how a changing drinking culture is changing pubs.

The Mortgage Hut is at home online at https://www.themortgagehut.co.uk/ They're also on LinkedIn over at https://www.linkedin.com/company/themortgagehut/ (Police Mortgages are there, too)

And speaking of LinkedIn, Chris is kind of a big deal on the platform, so you can join the 20,000+ of us following his insights over at https://www.linkedin.com/in/schutrups/

Or if it was the pubs that caught your interest, check out the great options at https://hendersonpub.co/. With summer finally showing signs of its approach, I might well take on the 2-hour coastal drive to get me to Romsey and The Hunters Inn.

I'm on LinkedIn, too, and eager to reach Chris's heights so I'm always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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Not every hot new name in consumer lending is some smartphone-native app underpinned by a quiver of machine learning algorithms. But also, not every hot new name in consumer lending is actually making a profit.

This is why Michiel le Roux, Group CEO of Unifi Credit is taking on sub-Saharan Africa with a ‘touch and tech’ approach. A good ol’ fashioned branch network provides a route into the system for consumers, but as data is generated limits grow and transactions can move fully digital - a best of both worlds approach that doesn’t leave the less tech-savvy behind.

In this episode, we chat about growing a continent-wide lending business out of Zambia, and building a scalable business off the back of better data management.

The best place to find out more about Michiel and Unifi Credit is their homepage (www.unifi.credit) - and as mentioned, they’re growing, so if you’re interested in working with them that’s here.

And, hey, if you’re in South Africa and you’re looking for a multi-asset, multi-strategy manager of alternative investment funds and co-investment platforms have a look at www.westbrooke.co.za  (and tell Duncan I sent you 🤣)

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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Not every loan made to a stranger is a good one, sometimes the lender suffers as a result, almost always the borrower does. On this show, we often talk about how to mitigate the pain felt by lenders, upfront or after the fact, but we’ve also scratched the surface when it comes to taking the customer’s point-of-view - in today’s episode, I want to go a level deeper.

Which is why I’m speaking to James Lambridis of DebtMD. James and his team help consumers that are in tricky debt situations, regain control. In other words, they’re well-placed to be the mouthpiece for the consumer, feeding back to us any lessons that we might be able to gather from miss-made or miss-managed loans. After all, we learn the most from our mistakes.

You can learn more about DebtMD via their website and in particular via their blog

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

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Where do you go next when you already have your own show on Channel 4? Well, to HTLMTS apparently 😁

In today’s episode, I speak to the founder of Prestige Pawnbrokers and star of Posh Pawn, James Constantinou. It was a slightly left-field booking for me when the idea was first floated, but then I realised that the much-maligned pawnbroking model can also be a disruptive approach to asset-backed lending. What would you do if you needed funds to start a business?

Mortgage your house?

That’s often your only option, but what if you don’t need that much or you don’t need the money for all that long? Why can’t you leverage your smaller assets? Maybe you have a nice watch or some jewellery, a painting, or a signed first-edition you inherited from your gran. Why can’t you take those into the bank to borrow against? The simple answer is because no bank manager is going to go through the trouble of valuing your stuff… but a pawnbroker will and therein lies the rub.

You can learn more about Prestige Pawnbrokers on their home page, or on their Twitter or Insta

They also have an app for Apple and Android

I watched the show Posh Pawn on YouTube, but it’s probably easiest to find it via their site here

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect while there), and if you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I spent several years creating industry-level research for one of the big credit bureaus, first in Asia and then in Europe. During that time, one of my defining projects was a deep dive into the value generated by consumers monitoring their own credit reports. Prior to my study, I'd only seen this addressed as a single question: do consumers who monitor their own credit data regularly, see improving credit scores?

But that’s not a specific enough question to understand the nuance… sure, if you were only going to pick one metric to track that would be the one but the fact is consumers can monitor their credit for many reasons, and those varying reasons can dilute the observable benefit.

You can read more about what I found here, but the reason I’m calling it out is that even five years ago the interaction between consumers and their own credit data was complex, and it’s only become more complex with the emergence of Open Data. So in today’s episode of HTLMTS I speak to Kelli Fielding, TransUnion UK’s Head of Consumer Interactive, to learn more.

As Kelli mentions in our chat, your best place to start learning more about TransUnion is their homepage

Or you can find Kelli Fielding herself on LinkedIn

And you can also learn more about Monevo, as you’d expect, at monevo.com

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect while there), and if you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We owe this episode to a comment Praveen Sinha made in episode 15. Praveen was talking about the trends to watch in fintech/ lending in India and mentioned cryptocurrency as an asset he'd love to lend against, not least of all for the global scope it could add to his business.

And that stuck in my mind. So when I learned of AQRU and the fact that they were paying actual money interest on crypto deposits, I wondered if we could put two and two together - after all, wouldn't the first step in treating crypto like a real asset look at a lot like that?

But I know so little about crypto that we had to start by taking a few steps back. Join us to learn more about the current state of the crypto market and what it might take to turn it into an asset a lender might consider to be suitable security.

You can learn more about AQRU on their website: www.aqru.io

You can find - and chat to - Phil on LinkedIn

You can find Phil’s own book - The Money Triangle - and the one he mentioned - A Beautiful Constraint - both on Amazon

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect while there), and if you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the last 20 years, I've been delivering lending projects across the credit life-cycle and around the world, but always focused on the consumer. The only time I've come into contact with small business lending is on the very fringes when we've used a business owners personal credit report to estimate the risk of their new business. Or, in other words, I've only ever seen half of the picture.

I started to address this in Episode 25, with Alek Koenig, but there’s so much more to learn. So today we’re back talking about lending to SMEs, with Alex Armitage. Alex is the founder and CEO of Nectarine Credit, a Canadian fintech that’s built a marketplace that brings together borrowers and lenders in the vendor finance arena, taking a process that used to take weeks down into one that can take only a few hours.

You can learn more about Nectarine Credit on www.nectarinecredit.com or by clicking here

You can find Alex on his LinkedIn page here

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (and while you're there, send me a connection request)

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Zealand might be forgotten from world maps so often that it’s become a meme, but that didn’t stop today’s guest from taking his career truly global. Chris Somervell’s has worked in eight countries while away from home, predominantly managing collections operations.

And that’s what we discuss: lessons learned as technology developed and cultures changed alongside him, and a fundamental reimagining of what it could mean to work in collections.

You can find Chris on his LinkedIn page (or out sailing)

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (and while you're there, send me a connection request)

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 17 of this show, John Cannon said of identity that “when you really sit down and think about it, in the digital world, it is broken."

On the back of that statement, we could hardly leave it to just the one discussion, so in this episode, I’m talking to Jaime Ramirez, founder and CEO of Preventor, a Miami-based fintech that’s building the next generation in ID verification and financial crime risk management. We talk about the challenges of verifying identity in an increasingly online and increasingly global marketplace.

You can learn more about Preventor on their home page

You can contact Jaime directly via his LinkedIn page

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page 

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lender will always want to know as much as possible about a business’ health before extending credit. That’s not changed, but until recently the only data that could help in that regard was slow and expensive to produce. And in turn, SME loan application processes were slow and expensive to complete. To make matters worse, these slow and expensively-produced numbers are seldom fit for purpose, even the old faithful financial reports are only a summary of what was actually happening, not a deep dive into the business mechanics.

This is maybe why some entrepreneurs, like Alek Koenig, are solving the problem by circumventing financial reports and going straight to the source.

“But the reality of Settle was, I was using this accounts payable software and I just thought it was the worst product I'd ever used… so I was like, hey, why don't we just build better accounts payable software? So that's when I was thinking about my background in credit and lending, and thinking, well, if we could combine this accounts payable software with lending, then we could actually make the product 10x better and actually help these businesses out.”

In this episode, we talk about consumer lending and SME lending, about creating the data you need to lend against, about removing friction, and about transitioning from traditional credit to start-up and from employee to entrepreneur.

You can learn more about Settle and how to work with them on their homepage

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page 

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've worked in consumer credit for 20 years, but I think the first time that I heard of anybody trying to use a psychometric-based scorecard for making credit decisions was over a few beers with my friend Sam, who has a psychology degree and works in marketing. And I dismissed that because I figured these aren't my customers. In many ways, though, the fact that they weren’t my customers, as a traditional lender, was the problem.

In this episode, I look at how ConfirmU - the fintech that I have recently joined as Chief Solution Architect - is using elements of psychometrics and gamification to build credit scores for the unbanked, without the need for credit histories, smartphones, or technical literacy.

You can learn more about ConfirmU at their website, or by reaching out directly to Yatir by emailing yatir@confirmu.com or by finding him on his LinkedIn

Niharika is on LinkedIn, too, or you can click to learn more about her stand-alone psychometric business - Psych4u

Matogen Applied Insights have their homepage here, or you can once again find Jacobus on LinkedIn.

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page 

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Buy now and pay in up to 24 monthly instalments using your existing credit card.​ Zero interest. Zero fees. Zero new credit.” With copy that good, you might not actually need to listen to this week’s episode 😉 But please do, it’s a really good one as we hear first hand from one of South Africa’s most exciting new fintech founders.

Float is all about taking a payment tool that you already know and love, stripping away the cost, to providing cash flow management that enables spend without an unnecessary expansion of unsecured credit.

Float is at home at https://www.float.co.za/

And on social media at https://www.instagram.com/float.co.za/ and at https://www.linkedin.com/company/floatcoza/

Or reach out to Alex directly at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-forsyth-thompson-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-6b42a75a/

If you’re interested in Guy Kawasaki’s new book, you can buy it here: https://guykawasaki.com/books/think-remarkable/ (or at any online bookstore)

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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In the very first episode of HTLMTS, Raymond Anderson mentioned a consultant who’d served as something of a mentor to him – Jes Freemantle. So it feels fitting that, to wrap up the year and the first season of the show, we have Jes himself on, talking about his current project building bureaus scores in Nigeria, as well as a career spent as a scorecard pioneer.

Jes runs Stratus Credit Consultancy and can be found via LinkedIn

You can learn more about Credit Registry and their SMARTScore at https://www.creditregistry.ng/category/smartscore/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page 

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back of the envelope, according to Poets and Quants, a Harvard MBA will set you back $130,000 per year once you've added in all the extra costs, maybe knocked down to $100,000 if you get yourself a scholarship.

That's already a lot of money if you're an up-and-coming American executive, but it is it even more if you're living and working in the developing world.

One hundred thousand dollars is R1.6 million back in South Africa, which is pretty much what I got earlier this year for selling my two-bed/ two-bath house in the financial district. In India, it's 6 times what a Google search tells me is the average annual salary of a data scientist.

The rewards are worth it, but that level of outlay is simply unattainable for the vast majority of people. This is, of course, where a student loan would normally fit in, but how many Indian lenders are going to give that much money to someone they know is leaving the country? Probably none. How many South African lenders? 

Well, actually, at least one, sort of, Prodigy Finance is headquartered in London but with two out of three founders being countrymen of mine, I feel like I can round that one up.

In this episode of HTLMTS I speak to Joel Frisch, Prodigy's Head of Global Acquisition, about investing in talent and lending to international students for world-leading post grad studies.

Because the hardest thing about getting into Harvard should be getting into Harvard, not getting approved for a loan.

You can learn more about Prodigy Finance at https://prodigyfinance.com/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page 

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It used to be that to speak about credit bureau data, was to speak about defaults. But negative banking data became comprehensive banking data, became comprehensive financial services data, became comprehensive financial services, telco, and insurance data...

...And that expansion continues, as all sorts of new and open data sources are brought into the fold.

Talking to me about the expanding definition of credit bureau data is Jon Roughley, Experian's Global Head of Data Exchange. We talk about Experian's Boost, we talk about Open Banking in general, and we talk about the global innovation exchange.

You can learn more about Experian on their home page 

You can learn more about Jon Roughley on his LinkedIn page

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page 

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at brendan@howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

A full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

You can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.