The word sustainable is used a lot at the moment and despite having a very specific meaning, it’s a term that can be applied to many different industries and scenarios. The main industry that springs to mind is the recycling industry and more generally the environment. How can we make sustainable products? How can we live a sustainable lifestyle? There are so many big questions surrounding sustainability and how we can each play our part in protecting the planet. Closer to home, being sustainable may be achieved in different areas of your life, such as your finances.
Regardless of how much you earn, it is possible to live on a sustainable budget which means you rarely have to apply for additional credit to help you manage your day to day expenditure. While it is ideal, it’s not always an immediate result of having a certain income. With unexpected payments from time to time, maintaining a healthy bank balance can be tricky. The important thing to remember is that you are in control of your finances and so achieving financial sustainability is something you are capable of.
Making regular payments into a savings account and not living outside of your means are very simple ways of ensuring you do not need to rely on credit products to manage your cashflow. However, in times of financial need, such as when an unavoidable emergency expense comes up, it’s not always possible to make the payment with the remaining funds in your bank account. When this happens, you may be used to making a loan application or putting a payment on a running account credit facility. But are you using the most sustainable credit products you could be to support your financial management between paydays?
Sustainable credit is not a new concept. The idea is that you can borrow and repay your borrowing without over committing yourself or failing to meet your credit obligations. Sustainable credit should allow you to manage your cashflow without leading you into financial difficulty.
Examples of sustainable credit products include:
While taking out credit at some point is inevitable, there are more sustainable options than others. Generally, a low interest rate product or a product that will help you rebuild your credit file and borrow responsibly are probably good types of credit to research.
A credit line is an alternative to a credit card. You still have a credit limit and the option to make only the minimum payment (if that’s more affordable one month), but instead of having a separate payment card, when you withdraw funds from a credit line, they go straight into your bank account.
At Polar Credit, we aim to provide not only a credit line to help you manage unexpected expenses and keep your finances flowing from one month to next, but also to provide a sustainable credit product which recognises and rewards responsible borrowing.
If you don’t have a brilliant credit history, then getting access to a low interest rate credit facility might seem almost impossible. A Polar Credit Line gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that you have a much better grip on your finances and that you are capable of making your repayments on time – after all, as an entry on your credit file will show for six years, it might not be an accurate reflection of your current financial circumstances.
After your one year anniversary with us, we will reduce your rate of interest by 10% pa. Then, every 6 months thereafter we will reduce your interest rate by 5% pa until you reach the minimum 29.9% pa interest rate – which is in line with most low interest rate credit cards available on the market at the moment.
Sustainability in all areas takes work. Whether it’s making the extra effort to wash your plastics before recycling them or visiting a charity shop for clothes instead of trying to keep up with fast fashion, we could all do our bit to do better for the environment. Once you start practising these kinds of habits, you’ll find that making sustainable changes in all areas of your life becomes easier and more like a second-nature rather than an arduous task. Practice good money management wherever you can, and sustainable financials should follow.
Our commitment to sustainability
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