London (UK). TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, has today announced its collaboration with the UK problem debt detection and prevention app SuperFi, which will provide open banking variable recurring payments (VRPs) to help customers repay borrowings and avoid fees.
SuperFi’s platform connects to users’ bank accounts and credit cards to track borrowings and overdrafts in a single interface. Customers can then select and follow personalised plans that help them pay off debt faster.
VRPs enable businesses to collect a series of payments from a customer at variable amounts or intervals for purposes such as moving money to a savings account or avoiding an overdraft. Enabled by open banking technology, they are a safer, more straightforward alternative to direct debits and card-on-file payments.
With VRPs from TrueLayer, SuperFi will support customers to set up more intuitive and flexible repayments. Through a process known as “sweeping” approved and mandated by regulators, VRPs allow users to set up automatic fund transfers of different amounts between two accounts that they own on a recurring basis.
For SuperFi and its customers, this will power processes that pay back debts faster and prevent fees. Customers will be able to use VRPs to “sweep” money between bank accounts, averting overdrafts and other penalties. They can also automatically ‘round up’ purchases to the nearest pound, using the spare change to pay down credit card debt.
Features like these address a need for better debt management solutions. As inflation has pushed household costs up over the past year, consumer debt has also increased. In November 2022, the Bank of England disclosed that consumers took out £1.5 billion in consumer credit borrowing in that month, with an additional to £0.5 billion of new borrowing in January.
The spike in debt has left many individuals and families in precarious financial situations. Nearly half (45%) of British adults have trouble paying essential bills, and about six million people have fallen behind on repayments according to an Oct 2022 survey from YouGov and StepChange Debt Charity.
SuperFi’s debt support can help users alleviate these issues by leveraging technology. Customers get a holistic view of their borrowings and can set manageable repayment plans. VRPs can then help them carry out those plans automatically, settling their debts faster.
Tom Barltrop, CEO & Co-founder at SuperFi, said: “With millions of people struggling to repay their bills and credit commitments, the need for early detection and prevention of problem debt has never been more urgent. We are excited to harness the power of Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) to enable our users to repay their debts faster and avoid unnecessary fees.”
Matt Parish, Group Product Manager at TrueLayer, added: “By eliminating the need to authorise every transaction, Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) enable people to repay their loans in a way that’s both worry free and frictionless. We’re excited to work with SuperFi to provide a more reliable approach to debt support.”
