Salt & Lime joins Purple Circle lending panel 

The aggregator said that the lender’s commitment to financial wellbeing and education made it “a perfect fit for Purple Circle’s diverse suite of lending services”.

Director of Purple Circle, Frank Paratore, commented: “We are thrilled to have Salt & Lime join our lending panel. Their unique focus on enhancing financial literacy and wellbeing aligns perfectly with our mission to provide comprehensive financial solutions for our members to assist their clients.”

“Salt & Lime stands out in the lending market with its socially responsible approach, offering discounts for completion of financial education modules and transparent fee-free lending.

“This strategic collaboration is expected to broaden the range of services available to Purple Circle members, particularly benefiting clients seeking to improve their financial literacy and reduce debt at the same time.”

The head of distribution at Salt & Lime, Mark Woolnough, said the move was a great step for the lender.

He stated: “We’re excited to partner with Purple Circle and bring our socially responsible lending model to a wider audience.

“Our aim is to support our partners in helping clients in achieving their financial goals, and our education-first approach and fee-free products will align well with this need.”

Salt & Lime was co-founded in 2021, with the CEO Will Kiln stating that while many short-term finance solutions aim to provide a reprieve to a borrower in the near term, there is often a sting in the tail for the borrower – particularly if any repayments are late or missed.

As such, he co-founded Salt & Lime to not only help borrowers consolidate their debt (offering personal loans/debt consolidation of up to $30,000 across a maximum of five years), but also help them learn more about the debt cycle and improve their knowledge and awareness of financial products along the way.

According to Mr Kiln, the idea to create a "socially responsible" lender came after he had a discussion with a friend who said he was struggling to repay his car loan. After looking at the contract, Mr Kiln realised the loan had an interest rate of about 46 per cent and a lot of fees – but his friend hadn’t realised the true cost of what he had signed up for.

The lender has been growing its presence in the third-party channel and joined Finsure Group’s lending panel earlier this year.

Speaking at the time Mr Woolnough stated that the lender was focused on helping residential mortgage brokers to build long-term relationships with clients over their “financial life cycle”.

He stated: “We offer the broker’s client a transparent, socially responsible product with their best [interests] at the core. At Salt & Lime we believe this best [interests include] the client’s financial education, health, and well-being.

“Brokers have been looking for a socially responsible and transparent lender to help clients who have faced challenges with credit scores due to having a shorter credit history, bad borrowing from high-risk lenders, made late payments, or have multiple credit card/loan applications.

“Over my 20-years plus in the industry I know the majority of residential mortgage brokers share our view that people should be able to access clear, transparent, and socially responsible credit and this is why Salt & Lime is such a good fit.”

[Related: Cracking the debt burden]