Salad Finance

Salad Finance: personal loans assessed with Open Banking

Salad Finance Limited is a British entity dedicated to providing personal loans, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under registration number 795723. The company presents itself as an alternative to traditional credit scoring criteria: its approach relies on analysing the applicant's actual ability to repay using Open Banking, rather than defining the customer exclusively by their credit history.

Loan products and types

Salad's range covers personal loans of between £300 and £1,500, with repayment terms of 12 or 18 months. The company organises its offering by amount (£500 and £1,000 loans), by professional profile (NHS staff, nursing and teaching), by level of credit history (scores of 400, 500 and 600) and by type of need (loans for customers with bad credit, payday loan alternatives, direct lender loans, emergency loans, quick loans, same day loans, short term loan alternatives and small loans).

Application and assessment process

Applicants set up their loan on the website itself by choosing the amount and number of monthly repayments. They then create their account, complete the forms and authorise the submission of their banking data via Open Banking, a system that allows Salad to carry out the affordability assessment without the customer having to give their login details to anyone other than their own bank. The company states that a decision is usually made within about ten minutes and that, if the application is approved, the money is normally paid into the account within two hours.

Financial terms

The information published by the entity includes a representative example for a £500 loan over 18 months, with an APR of 89.5%, a monthly repayment of £44.70 and a total repayable of £804.60. The company also notes that returning customers can access fixed annual interest rates of between 84.5% and 74.5%, which can be viewed after logging in. These terms are presented as indicative details of the range and are subject to the entity's eligibility criteria.

Recognition and financial inclusion approach

Salad Finance has received a King's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its work in expanding financial inclusion across the UK. The company links this recognition to its assessment method based on affordability rather than credit score, and maintains a specific section on social impact and on the outcomes measured for its customers.

Structure and corporate details

The company is registered in England under number 11006249 and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under number ZA426089. Its registered office is at 49 Greek Street, London, and press enquiries are handled via the company's email address.

Location and contact

Salad Finance, 49 Greek Street, London, United Kingdom, W1D 4EG