RateSetter and Plum

Peer-to-peer platform partners with Facebook chatbot




Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform RateSetter has partnered with a Facebook chatbot to allow users to invest via messenger.

Personal savings assistant Plum helps consumers put their money to work by analysing spending patterns, income and bills and setting aside a small amount of money every few days.

The new partnership will enable consumers to invest these savings on RateSetter through the Plum messenger interface, putting their capital at risk for a potentially higher rate of interest.

Victor Trokoudes, co-founder at Plum (pictured above, right), said: “…People don’t see instant and significant benefits from high street banks – these savings accounts as we know them are dead and rendered useless by many consumers, particularly millennials.

“Our aim is to enable every person in the UK to put money aside, whether that’s just enough for a rainy day, or for something substantial like a house deposit.

“We know that a lot of people feel either that they cannot commit to saving a specific amount per month, or are not motivated to save – so our ambition is to use technology to help them save with as little effort as possible.”

According to Moneyfacts, the average rate on easy-access accounts is currently 0.15%, with the biggest nine banks averaging just 0.04%.

Plum’s partnership with RateSetter means users could now earn an average return of 4.7%.

Ceri Williams, head of investor operations at RateSetter, added: “We all know that we should be putting money away for the future, but even with the best intentions, sometimes we just don’t get round to it.

“Plum makes it easy for people to gradually build up a pot of money for the future, and we’re happy to give people who are prepared to take on some risk the option to earn a higher rate of interest.

“We’re keen to work with anyone who is changing people’s investing habits for the better and offering the nation a new and more fruitful way of making their money work for them.”

Pictured above, left: Alex Michael, co-founder and chief technology officer at Plum.

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