The pandemic has created financial hardship for many people. Several of them have lost their jobs or have taken pay cuts, thus defaulting on loans or piling up debt on credit cards. To stay afloat many of them had to turn to high-interest alternatives sometimes as much as 300%. Zirtue Zirtue, an AI-driven innovative fintech app, wants to help such financially distressed people by streamlining relationship lending. It offers solutions to Americans who have no access to traditional financing. The company was started by Dennis Cail in March 2018 along with Co-founder Michael Seay. The app offers a peer-to-peer lending platform with an added layer of accountability to the loan process. Dennis had mentioned that the difficulty in getting back money that was given to family and friends in a timely manner was what inspired him to start Zirtue. This app creates a more formal automated loan system for both the lender and the borrower thereby removing the awkwardness of asking for money back and also helps in preserving relationships. How does Zirtue lending works The uniqueness of this app is that it allows friends and family to pay an account holder’s bill with terms they work out between themselves. Through the app, the borrower can set the loan amount while the lender can establish the repayment terms. Once the terms are agreed upon by both parties, the request is serviced by Zirtue. These loans are legally binding. Zirtue services the loan request for a fee. It is around five percent via Automated Clearing House (ACH network). The fee structure is more advantageous to the borrower. No debit or credit cards are permitted. It is not a lender but a facilitator between people who know each other. This platform specializes in automating repayment processes by sending constant reminders to the borrowers to repay the loans based on the agreed schedule. You can borrow as little as $30 to as much as $10000 and repayment periods can be anything between 1 month to two years. The platform verifies all users’ identities before proceeding and this protects all those involved from cheats and frauds. Every transaction is conducted on a one-on-one basis. The repayment schedule, frequency period, amount are mutually agreed upon by the parties involved thus creating a highly personalized experience for both parties. Benefits of Zirtue A borrower can get a loan from friends and family rather than going for a high-interest payday loan or credit card. The lender can be assured that he or she will be repaid. The platform provides a high level of trust for both lenders and borrowers. It is a great alternative to a makeshift contract between friends and family. The platform gives users repayment terms, digital promissory notes, and automatic bank drafts. Also, the processing time is less. Previously you had to mail a check, send money through wire transfer or wait to see the person to deliver the cash. Borrowing and lending may take days or even weeks and issues may also arise on the way. Money transfers are more cost-effective and instantaneous but they are not perfect and if you send the money to the wrong person getting it back is difficult and you may also have to pay a fee to cancel the transaction. Zirtue is a relationship-based mobile platform hence the above-mentioned issue will not happen. Also, it is highly secure with 128-bit encryption security. Your banking and personal information is not stored in the app thereby ensuring privacy and information security. As mentioned there is a one-time fee of five percent of the total borrowed amount and there are no early repayment penalties or hidden fees. If you’re the lender you’ll get an added bonus of five percent APR as an incentive for lending. Future of fintech platforms The importance of digital fintech platforms is growing day by day. Fintech companies like Zirtue are also becoming an alternative payment method for customers to pay their bills with the platform’s corporate partners. Zirtue was able to raise $4 million receiving significant investment from various corporate ventures. As of now, Zirtue is the only relationship-based lending application. Taking into account the market conditions this is the right time to start a similar app of your own. Family and friends are among the largest banks and it is estimated that nearly $184 billion is loaned annually to loved ones. Our team at SDI can help you create the next powerful relationship app with more features than Zirtue. If you have an idea, come to us. We will conceptualize and make it into a successful product. Get in touch with us today by calling 408.621.8481. You can also email us at team@sdi.la.