Better borrowing

NatWest approached my team with the problem of £9bn in overdraft funding being unutilised, and asked us to investigate a way to reinvent the overdraft from the ground up, from a radically user-centric perspective.

The objective was to concept and validate a new lending proposition that put the control back in users’ hands. Essentially, creating a new digital lending product that facilitates borrowing and repayment on the customer’s terms.

Proposition

In defining the value proposition, we began with two lending paradigms to see which resonated with customers and their financial needs: an instalment lending product, and a credit line. As a result of qualitative proposition testing, we ended on a hybrid approach – Credit Wallet – that is created from your pre-approved overdraft and sits alongside your current account, so that you can keep on top of your finances at a glance.

In this way, you always have a pot of pre-approved credit that you can tap into without having to go into the red. Repayment is made on either a flexible daily rate or in regular instalments. Ultimately, Credit Wallet is an incremental innovation that combines all the best elements of multiple lending products, and through transparent fee visualisation and functional UI controls, makes the customer feel on top of their borrowing again.

Results

We put Credit Wallet in front of over 400 users across 26 individual tests, conducting both qualitative and quantitative testing using Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation methodology.

• 77% said that Credit Wallet provided a clearer view of their money.

• 95% successfully completed the borrowing and repayment journeys.

• The majority of participants, across different borrowing segments, preferred Credit Wallet over a traditional overdraft.

Based on real user validation, Credit Wallet was green-lit by NatWest and put into an FCA sandbox with 100 real users.