
Show HN: Killing credit cards – meet Bits, a privacy first borrowing app - faisalkhalid80
http://www.getbits.app
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timwis
Very intrigued. The things that threw me off were:

1\. It would be great if you could give an example of what the fees look like.
For instance, borrowing £100 for 30 days costs £5 or something. Sounds like I
have to sign up and load money into the app to get a sense of how expensive it
would be.

2\. The nicknames for common banking terms may cause more confusion than
they're worth :/ I had to make a mental map between "pocket" = account, "bit"
= loan, "superpowers" = also loan? before I could understand what I was
reading.

Good luck!

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rahimnathwani
A comment from the last time this was posted:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18075506](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18075506)

If the above is still correct, interest is charged at 1% per month, based on
the credit limit, not the outstanding amount. So the APR might be something
between 12.7% (if you borrow the maximum) and ~infinity (if you have a non-
negligible limit, but borrow only 0.01 GBP).

~~~
faisalkhalid80
Hello. That was a different product...

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rahimnathwani
I looked up the company listed on the page (Fea Card Limited) on the FCA's
register, but there were no matches:

[https://register.fca.org.uk/shpo_nosearchresultpage?mainsear...](https://register.fca.org.uk/shpo_nosearchresultpage?mainsearchString=fea+card&search=Fea+Card&sfdcIFrameOrigin=null)

~~~
faisalkhalid80
Hi! Founder here. Yes we’re in the process.

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krageon
They're going to have to be making money somehow, yet they claim to charge no
interest. I can't really find any information about this on their website.
Does anyone know?

~~~
oarsinsync
They're charging interest, just in real pound terms rather than percentages.

You request 'superpowers' to multiply the amount of money you have (a secured
loan), and they advise what the monthly fee is and the repayment terms up
front.

It's no different to any other secured loan, they just focus on presenting the
actual £ amounts rather than % AERs, which is probably clearer for the vast
majority of people.

~~~
rahimnathwani
"It's no different to any other secured loan"

It appears to be an unsecured loan. A secured loan is one where the lender
takes a lien on (or physical possession of) collateral that can be repossessed
or liquidated if the borrower fails to pay back.

"presenting the actual £ amounts rather than % AERs, which is probably clearer
for the vast majority of people."

The consumer credit regulators don't agree with you[0]. In the UK, any
promotion/solicitation for consumer credit that includes a cost of credit
(e.g. the amount of a fee) must also show the APR. The intent of these
regulations is to allow offers from different lenders to be compared on a
standard measure.

[0]
[https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/3/5.html](https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/3/5.html)

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Nilef
This is a game changer - I don’t think enough fintechs focus on simple
legibility of finance and this execution is simple but powerful

Signed up for sure!

