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60 mins
May 21, 2026
Early insights from a three-year study
Stream launched Workplace Loans in April 2024. Since then, we have disbursed over 40,000 loans to eligible customers.¹
In mid-2025, we launched a research study to learn more about the people who borrow, and the impact that having a loan has on their whole lives. It is a long-term project, designed to run for three years, and to capture the individual level impact of having a loan — good and bad. This report takes stock of the first nine months of our research study, through to March 2026.
We learn more about who our borrowers are through data and stories as well as what's been happening since they first took out a loan. Stream app members are already twice as likely to have a personal loan compared to the national average. This is not because they're spending more, or because they are careless with money. It's because they are more likely to be lower earners, to have low savings balances, to be un- or under-insured and to be managing complex earnings patterns with shifting paydays and variable pay. This combination of factors means that there are fewer options when life throws a curveball: a broken dishwasher, a car repair, a rental deposit.
Our borrowers are typically renters rather than homeowners, with more people living in their household and more likely to be supporting dependent children. They are generally hopeful about their financial future, with a big injection of positivity shortly after receiving their loan.
Financial stability cannot be taken for granted. Over a third (35%) of borrowers take out a loan in response to a financial shock. Even so, it is not limited to just these borrowers. Throughout the first nine months of our study we observed over half (53%) of individuals report a financial shock. In just a matter of months, the majority of people experienced an unexpected expense: a car repair, an urgent request from family overseas, a bereavement, a partner's job loss, a sick relative needing care, and so on. And for a small number of people, they are consecutive.
Despite experiencing financial shocks, the majority of borrowers remain comfortable with their loan repayment plan, and this holds true at each point in time. Over 98% of respondents at each survey point report being comfortable or neutral about their repayment plan. Just 1% say they feel uncomfortable. We see green shoots of optimism from most of our borrowers. Nine months in, nearly 4 in 10 paid off other debt and reduced financial stress, and a third said it was now easier to manage their finances. A small, but steady, number of people found themselves struggling to cope: 5% said it was now harder to manage their finances. We measure quality of life and hopefulness and find both to be highly positive. Hopefulness softens over time, potentially linked to financial shocks, but remains stubbornly above the pre-loan baseline throughout.
Borrowers routinely comment on the importance of two features of Stream's loans: ability to repay directly from salary, and to repay early without penalty. Our borrowers have variable paydays and earnings, so aligning their loan repayment with their payday and allowing extra payments lets them lean into that volatility in a positive way. These features make the loans feel 'effortless,' and are part of the story when it comes to lower stress levels.
Beyond the data, it's the stories that matter most. Sienna², who paid for home adaptations to support her grandmother's recovery post-stroke. Dee, consolidating a more expensive car loan to save on payments. Jovan, who funded a six-week trip home to the Philippines for an important birthday for his son. Wes, who needed help after a period of unemployment. Kazana, looking after his nephew in Zimbabwe who was suddenly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Yemisi, paying costs linked to purchasing her first home.
Although our study is not even at its halfway mark, we're taking action to support more people to navigate financial shocks by building connected borrowing and savings solutions. There are two that we are already testing: 'Save as you borrow', and 'Loans to savings'. It may seem counterintuitive to build savings while debt is owing, but for so many people a savings buffer makes a real difference when life throws a curveball before their loan is repaid.
¹ Accurate as at March 2026.
² Names and identifying details have been changed to protect participant confidentiality.
Loans are not, on the face of it, a particularly interesting subject. A sum of money, a repayment schedule, an interest rate. But behind every loan account there is a person navigating a financial system that was not built with their complexity in mind: shifting paydays, variable hours, family commitments that stretch across generations and borders.
This report is not about the numbers; it's an attempt to understand what the people behind each loan actually look like. Who they are, why they're borrowing — the hopes, dreams, setbacks, and circumstances that led them to hit the 'apply' button — and, importantly, what happens next. Through a mix of surveys, observational data, and interviews, we're building a comprehensive picture of the diverse lived experiences and needs of our customers, the impact of our loan product, and key gaps that emerge.
We're following borrowers over three years and watching what happens over the lifetime of their loan. Their stories are important. From supporting family members in ill health, to rebuilding credit scores, navigating the costs of parenthood, and investing in long term training and financial security.
Our study has only just started, and we don't yet have the answers. This report shares interim findings from the first nine months of data collection. More importantly, it shines a light on both the individual stories and systemic issues that our borrowers navigate.
This is a big ambitious project. The report authors would like to thank the following people for their contributions. First, thank-you to Sope Otulana, Associate Director at Nest Insight. Sope generously shared her expertise in running in-depth qualitative research. Although we've received her guidance, all decisions are our own, as are mistakes. We'd also like to acknowledge the following Stream team members for their contributions: Simon Ashton, Marco Bezzera, Ray Caldwell, Bavan Chandrasekaran, Issy Christie, Grace Doyle, Emma Drew, Kate Finlay, Katherine Goodman, Sebastian Gorecki, Alex Harrison-Spain, Rosanna Holt, Sherwin Joseph, James Li, Francesa Nugent-Kelly, Ugne Sapezinskaite, Geoff Thiessen, Annie Wang, Jessica Wilkinson, and Caroline Woodson. Special thanks to Nick Rogers and Jaimal Chohan for building enhanced data analysis capabilities, without which this analysis would have been much harder to achieve, and to Charlie Livingston for setting up the infrastructure for this project.
Last, but certainly not least, thank you to our borrowers who are participating in our study. Without your generosity, we would have no insight to share. It's our sincere hope that this project helps guide all lenders towards building the solutions that meet people where they are. It has been a privilege to hear your stories.
Sanjana Sethi, Report author Emily Trant, Report author
Most people are borrowers. Borrowing comes in all shapes and sizes; a 30-year mortgage at rates of just a few percent feels very different to a 30-day payday loan, charged at over 1,000% APR. Each meets a different need.
The latest FCA Financial Lives Study finds that 84% of UK adults held at least one credit or loan product in the prior 12 months.³
The Financial Lives Study shares that "Credit cards (65%) remained the most widely held mainstream [unsecured] credit product in 2024, followed by overdrafts (21%) and personal loans (14%)."⁴
Mortgage holders were nearly twice as likely (23%) to hold a personal loan compared to the national average (14%).
Within the Stream database, our app members are not nationally representative. This is because Stream is a workplace benefit, and has historically been distributed via employers who employ large, frontline workforces. Stream app members are more likely to be:
- Employed The Stream app has a 100% employment rate whereas the UK employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 sits at around 75%.⁵
- Paid on a non-monthly cadence 8 in 10 Stream app members are paid every week, every two weeks or every four weeks; just 2 in 10 are paid on the same day each month.⁶
Experiencing pay volatility Over 6 in 10 Stream app members are paid by the hour, so when hours vary, so does pay. Even those on a steady salary may also pick up additional hours; more than half of those on a salary also show shift-style patterns in the data.⁷
Earning less than the national median wage 85% of Stream app members have take home pay that's at or below the national median wage threshold of ~£2,600.⁸
Already borrowing Stream app members are also more likely to borrow. Nationally 14% of UK adults have a personal loan, whereas more than twice as many (32%) Stream app members have a loan.⁹
This last point is important. Stream app members are more likely to already have a personal loan. This is because they are more likely to have lower earnings, a lower savings buffer and higher volatility in their financial lives.
Further insight from the FCA on personal loans finds that:
29% borrow for a one-off large expense such as a car, wedding or holiday
25% borrow for debt consolidation
17% borrow to pay for home improvements
³ Financial Lives 2024 survey, FCA. 2024. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/financial-lives/fls-2024-credit-loans.pdf
⁴ Overdraft data refers to those whose accounts are or have been overdrawn in the previous 12 months.
⁵ ONS data, April 2026
⁶ Stream database query, April 2026
⁷ Stream database query, April 2026
⁸ ONS data for 2025 suggests that median take-home pay is in the range of £2,500 to £2,600.https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsand
workinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2025
⁹ Analysis of 200k+ Stream app members conducted by Experian. August 2025.
Laura and Marie both need to replace their broken washer/dryer. A replacement is about £470 for a cheap model, or £900 for one that is more energy efficient and will save money over time.
Laura works full time for a well-known retail company in one of their stores. She's paid the National Living Wage, and has a contract for 32 hours per week. She often picks up extra shifts. Laura takes the bus to work.
Laura doesn't have savings but needs to make a purchase we all understand — a replacement washer/dryer.
Without Stream her options are limited and cost her £130 in extra fees.
She can buy a cheap replacement on rent-to-own. With a low weekly payment of around £12 per week, after one year she'll have acquired a £470 washer/dryer — but it'll cost her £130 in interest. She's paying a typical APR of 69.9%, and paying the higher operating cost of a less efficient machine.
With a loan from Stream, Laura can invest in the more expensive model, and save on future energy costs. A £1,000 loan over one year allows her to buy the washer/dryer and have a bit extra left over. She can put it in savings, or pay off her loan faster.
The loan costs her £87 in interest over the course of the year. ¹⁰ It's less than she would have paid for the cheaper model on rent-to-own. She'll work more shifts when she can, and hopes to pay the loan back even faster.
Marie works for that same retail company in head office. She's paid £40,000 per year and works a steady 9-5. Marie can choose to work from home a couple days per week and saves on her commute costs.
Marie earns enough to be able to weather a medium size purchase. She can buy a new machine with no hidden costs and reap the benefits of energy efficiency.
Marie opts for the £900 model. It hurts to drain her savings, but that's what they're there for.
Stream app members aren't borrowing more because they are spending more; they're trying to meet the same needs as everyone else, but with significantly more constrained circumstances. For many, the option to borrow is also constrained. This is financial exclusion.
¹⁰ Calculated using APR of 16.9% for a 1 year, £1,000 loan.
Facilitating access to borrowing via the workplace is not a new concept. Credit unions have been around in the UK since the 1960s, and have been offering loans to members via payroll deduction since at least the 1980s.¹¹
This type of lending model benefits individuals and lenders. A research survey conducted by Fair4All Finance found that:¹²
- Borrowers were more confident managing their money and reported positive impacts on their wellbeing and mental health
- Automated repayments are a key reason for choosing this type of loan
- Seven out of ten borrowers say this type of lending helped them save more regularly
For lenders, automated repayments via salary deduction helped lower arrears and default levels. This leads to two outcomes:
- The cost of the loan can be kept as low as possible, since lenders aren't pricing in high levels of defaults
- More people can be approved for a loan, since the lower cost meets affordability thresholds for a broader group of people.
In short, access to borrowing via the workplace creates financial inclusion. Financial inclusion means that individuals have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs.
The opposite of financial inclusion is financial exclusion. The latest research estimates that 1 in 7 UK adults are financially excluded — around 14% of all UK adults.¹³ The UK's National Financial Inclusion Strategy identifies credit exclusion as one of the primary mechanisms through which financial inequality compounds over time.¹⁴
This is directly connected to the workplace. For example, low and variable income is a predictor of financial exclusion, and it cuts across other protected characteristics. Women from all ethnic backgrounds and men from ethnic minority backgrounds do the majority of the low paid work in the UK.¹⁵
Employers can facilitate greater financial inclusion in a number of ways. Higher pay, consistent scheduling and steady hours all support financial inclusion. Technology-led practices such as connecting to a credit union or workplace loans provider to facilitate borrowing via payroll deduction is another way that employers can help.
Employers who facilitate workplace loans aren't encouraging borrowing or debt, they're offering another choice. The reality is that people already borrow and already carry debt, and they often do it under worse terms and higher prices on the open market.
Stream has used Machine Learning and its proprietary data to build a model that predicts employee churn. This means that Stream can assess credit risk of employees differently.
An individual who looks 'risky' to open market lenders can appear much safer to Stream because we have high confidence they'll have a steady paycheck for the life of the loan, and so, they can be offered a much lower cost of credit. On average, Stream borrowers save £593 per loan compared to what they're offered elsewhere.¹⁶
¹¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_unions_in_the_United_Kingdom
¹² Deduction lending, Fair4All Finance. March 2023. https://fair4allfinance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Deduction-lending.pdf
¹³ Lexis Nexis, Financial Inclusion: Up to date analysis of access to affordable financial services across the UK (2021)
¹⁴ Financial Inclusion Strategy, HM Treasury, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-inclusion-strategy
¹⁵ The UK Insecure Work Index 2024, Work Foundation, https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/publications/the-uk-insecure-work-index-2024
¹⁶ Cost savings calculated based on known APR that Stream borrowers paid prior to taking out a Stream loan. Based on average loan term of 3 years.
According to the Credit Reference Agency (CRA), Experian, a credit score is a number that lenders use to decide how reliable a borrower is at repaying money.¹⁷ A higher score means a lender views you as a low-risk borrower. Generally, the higher your credit score, the higher your chances of being accepted when applying for credit cards, loans, or a mortgage.
Responsible Finance highlights a chicken and egg situation where millions of "credit invisible" individuals in the UK struggle to access affordable credit from institutions built for the financially secure majority.¹⁸ There's a cyclical barrier whereby people need credit to build a score, yet often cannot access it, without one.
This is not a fringe issue either. The UK's National Financial Inclusion Strategy identifies credit exclusion as one of the primary mechanisms through which financial inequality compounds over time.¹⁹ For many people, the inability to access affordable credit does not reflect a lack of reliability or intent. It reflects the absence of an entry point. The institutions that assess creditworthiness were largely designed for people who are already financially stable, and they tend to reproduce the conditions that created that stability in the first place. Individuals who fall outside that design, whether through income volatility, limited credit history, or a single adverse event, are often left in a parallel market of higher-cost borrowing, which makes building a score harder still.
What makes the workplace an important channel here, and what the National Financial Inclusion Strategy points to directly, is that employment is one of the few existing touchpoints that reliably reaches people across the income spectrum. Workplace lending, with its salary-deducted repayments and built-in employer relationship, offers something that most consumer credit products do not: a structurally supported pathway to consistent, on-time repayment, without requiring the borrower to first demonstrate the kind of financial stability they are trying to build. For those borrowers who arrive with Fair or Poor credit scores, each repayment is not just a debt obligation met. It is a data point in an argument for their own creditworthiness and importance of access.
Mala understood this instinctively. She did not take out the Stream loan because she had no other options. She took it out because she had a plan, and the plan required a product that would let her demonstrate, month by month, that the prior debt that was forced onto her did not define her credit future.
¹⁷ "What Is a Credit Score?," Experian, https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/experian-credit-score.html.
¹⁸ "UK Public Think Credit Scores Unfair as Organisations Call for Reform of Credit Information Market," Responsible Finance, April 19, 2023, https://responsiblefinance.org.uk/2023/04/uk-public-think-credit-scores-unfair-as-organisations-call-for-reform-of-credit-information-market/.
¹⁹ Financial Inclusion Strategy, HM Treasury, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-inclusion-strategy
Mala is a nurse with over 24 years of experience.
Her divorce impacted her finances. She said she "made some mistakes." She was defrauded in what she perceived as a "very professional" crypto scam. She was among many who were trapped by it. She took out small loans to "support" the scam and was eventually left holding all this debt, with her once excellent credit score in tatters. Her stress manifested into physical health issues. Since then, she's been working relentlessly, 150–200 hours per month, to regain her footing, sacrificing time with her family and herself to prioritise work. She said she has to watch "every penny." She can't take her eyes off the ball.
"I don't have a great credit score because of something that happened to me in the past."
She took out the Stream loan to consolidate her outstanding debt and rebuild her credit score back to the "excellent" range she had held before being defrauded. The repayment, roughly forty pounds a month, is so manageable she barely registers it. More importantly, it came from a lender connected to her employer, which meant she was not penalised for the credit score damage she had suffered. She checked the rate: around 13.7%, far below the 59.9% she'd been required to pay elsewhere.
"It was really good that I wasn't penalized for having a low credit score."
A few months into her loan journey, Mala's narrative had shifted towards a long-term transition. She had begun a phased approach to retirement, reducing her working hours and applying for her part-pension to prioritise her mental and physical wellbeing. Her biggest hope now was to save enough to buy her own home. She also used the loan to travel to her home country to visit her ailing father, an expense that would have otherwise caused her significant stress.
"What I loved about taking that loan out, the money came out of my account from my pay. I didn't have to worry about that because you're connected to my workplace. It's a company that I know that is reputable, because I know my trust is not going to just partner with any old company."
Her hope is not blind. She expects a financial crash, believes the economy is about to burst, and worries about her children's future regardless of how old they get. But she is also determined. Once she knows what she wants, she makes up her mind and works toward it.
For now, the loan is one small, stable piece of a much larger recovery. It did not erase the fraud, the divorce, or the years of overwork. It simply gave her breathing room at a moment when breath was running short, and it reminded her that access to credit does not have to punish you for having been punished already.
"More Trusts should do that. I mean, it will impact me but I think more people could benefit from this."
In mid-2025, we launched a large-scale, long-term research study to learn more about the people who use a Stream loan, and the impact it has on their lives.
We start by learning who they are and what's happening now.
The moment someone receives a loan, they're invited to join our study. We begin by asking them in-depth questions about their personal and financial circumstances. 1,850 borrowers have completed our initial in-depth survey.
Here's what we've learned:
More likely to receive Universal Credit. Our borrowers are more likely to be in receipt of Universal Credit or state benefits compared to the working population as a whole. In our sample, 10% of borrowers receive Universal Credit. Nationally this figure sits around 7%.²⁰ A gap of 3 percentage points doesn't sound like much, but it's a 42% difference in claim rates.
Less likely to have adequate savings. 63% of borrowers participating in our study have savings of £1,000 or less, compared to 39% nationally.²¹
Predominantly renters. Our borrowers either rent privately (49%) or socially (22%). Just 19% own their property. This is in stark contrast to benchmark data from England on housing occupation.²²
Housing profile of borrowers
Stream borrowers vs England national benchmark
Owner occupied 23% vs 64%
Private rented 49% vs 19%
Social rented 21% vs 16%
Rent-free/other 7% vs 1%
Living in larger families.
The average household size is 2.98, compared to a national benchmark of 2.35.²³
Supporting dependent children. Nearly half (45%) of all borrowers report living in households with dependent children, whereas nationally that figure sits closer to 30%.²⁴
In short, our borrowers are more likely to rent and more likely to live in homes with more children and more adults.
Emotional circumstances
We ask our borrowers about how they experience stress, hope and worry, as well as their recent experiences paying bills on time. This is an imperfect baseline; we're asking these questions right as they've received their loan, but before they've put it to work or experienced any repayments. Here's what they tell us.
- Hopefulness is nascent. Half (52%) express high amounts of hope for the future, and a third (33%) feel neutral. The remaining 15% are not at all optimistic about a better financial future.
- Financial stress is moderate. Around 2 in 10 borrowers are stressed or very stressed about money, whereas 4 in 10 feel comfortable or very comfortable. The rest are neutral; neither stressed nor comfortable.
- Everyday expenses can be a challenge. The majority of borrowers sometimes miss a bill. 48% always have enough money to cover bills, whereas others say they usually (36%) or sometimes (12%) have enough. A small proportion rarely (3%) or never (1%) feel they can pay their bills.²⁵
²⁰ DWP Universal Credit Statistics, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics ²¹ Finder savings statistics, updated March 2026. https://www.finder.com/uk/savings-accounts/saving-statistics
²² Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/chapters-for-english-housing-survey-2024-to-2025-headline-findings-on-demographics-and-household-resilience/chapter-1-profile-of-households-and-dwellings
²³ ONS Families and households in the UK: 2024, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families
/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2024
²⁴ ONS Families and households in the UK: 2024, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families
/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2024
²⁵ Stream undertakes strict affordability checks prior to lending; although respondents report how they feel about their bills, analysis of their financial data does not indicate persistent challenges. This sentiment may be a result of earnings volatility.
There are lots of reasons why someone might need a personal loan. Nationally the number one reason is for a one-off large expense. A wedding, holiday, car, home move or other major life moment.
Here are ten real stories from the people in our study. All names have been changed.
Mike has spent a decade with his company and manages twenty-two retail stores across a wide patch. His working week typically runs between 40 and 48 hours, but the real variable is the road. Driving between two and three hours each day means some days stretch far longer than others, depending on traffic and which store needs him most.
Financially, Mike sits in a comfortable place. He earns enough to channel roughly a quarter of his income into his pension, take holidays, and tinker with home improvements. His system is deliberate: a separate bills account that gets its exact monthly quota the moment his salary lands, so he never has to wonder whether the mortgage or utilities are covered. Savings are more fluid. One month it might be £50, another month £500, depending on what life has thrown at him. He judges it as he goes.
Mike is not the borrower many people picture when they think about a workplace loan. Mark said his decision to apply for a Stream loan was both planned and unplanned. He thought about it briefly. He viewed the loan as a logical budgeting tool; he used the funds to consolidate the remainder of a credit card balance.
The repayment leaves his salary each month before he ever sees it. Mike likes that invisibility. He also likes that he can top it up if he wants to, a flexibility he had specifically looked for. Beyond the loan, he is a regular user of the savings pot, automatically stashing money away for short-term goals like holidays or longer-term plans he has not fully defined yet. Taking out a loan and continuing to build a financial buffer do not need to be mutually exclusive.
When we checked in a few months later, Mike had just returned from a holiday. Work was busy; he had handed over one set of twenty-two stores and inherited another twenty-two. At home, a new golden retriever puppy had joined the family. His financial outlook remained stable. The loan had not changed the texture of his life. That, in a sense, was the point.
The loan had contributed to a more positive mindset, not because it unlocked something he could not otherwise afford, but because it simplified his landscape. Debt consolidation, lower interest than his previous card, and a single, invisible deduction.
"I earn enough to be able to put a good amount into my pension, which I'm unfortunately at the age where pension seems to be something that's on the mind. I'm quite lucky to earn enough to be able to make sure that I'm comfortable and can do all the nice things I like to do."
"I think it's easier because with other loans, you have different dates when they may go. So you always have to obviously get paid your wage. And then you have to think, 'oh, what date is the loan going out?' Make sure you have the funds in the bank to pay the loan. Where with this, the loan goes straight away on payday. It makes the repayment process a lot more stress free."
"It's improved my credit score and it's also given me a more positive outlook."
Abdullah works in the kitchen of a restaurant, living in shared accommodation where rent, gas, and electricity are bundled into one direct debit. His hours were steady at 33 to 34 a week, enough to cover his obligations and send a little home to Morocco. He had not seen his family in a long time, and a trip to Marrakesh in September was already on his mind when we first spoke.
He took the Stream loan for his brother's wedding, a celebration that meant more than any balance sheet could capture. What made it work was the repayment: £22 every two weeks, deducted before his wages reached him. He did not have to remember it, and that forgetfulness was the point.
When we caught up months later, his hours had dropped to twenty-two or twenty-three a week. The manager blamed quieter trade after the school holidays and promised they would climb back up. Abdullah was not panicked, but he was careful. He budgets to avoid end-of-month surprises.
The reduction in hours did not change his loan repayment, which still slipped away silently, but it did tighten the margin for everything else. His sister back home had been made redundant, so he was sending more support than before. He was still hoping to fly to Morocco in May for a family celebration, though flight prices had spiked because of conflict in the Middle East.
Abdullah is extremely hopeful for his financial future. He is not afraid of anything, he says. But his story quietly illustrates how a loan that feels weightless in one season can sit in a different place when hours shrink and obligations across borders grow. The deduction from payroll is a relief, yet it does not budge when the payslip shrinks.
"I just forget about it. It's all come out from my wages. I don't worry about it. I don't think about it. That's a good."
"We're still doing fine, it's just the hours dropped a little bit. I just like to work full time, more than 30 hours to maintain my financial responsibilities because it's not easy."
"I have some responsibilities towards my family, back home in Morocco. That's quite a burden."
"I hope my finances get better in the future. And I hope the job I'm doing gets more hours. I'm not afraid of nothing."
Sienna is the kind of person who plans birthdays six months ahead. She keeps a detailed diary on her phone, budgets for Christmas before the summer is over, and knows exactly which bills exit her account on the 15th of every month. When she was promoted from section leader to manager at the supermarket where she works, her salary jumped by £1,300 a month. The hours stayed the same, but the structure changed: from hourly to salaried, from uncertainty to a steadier rhythm.
The loan, however, was not about celebration. It was about urgency. Sienna's grandmother, 91 years old and fragile after a stroke, needed support. An assessment in June listed what was needed: elevator toilet seats, grab handles, a walker, a wheelchair. The list felt endless. Because the family works, they did not qualify for most benefits. A few small items were provided free, but the rest was on them.
In July, Sienna's grandmother had a fall while her mother was at work. That fall turned the need from important to immediate; there was no time to accumulate savings for the work. Sienna applied for a Stream loan the same day she saw it, used the funds to book the work, and paid the installers immediately.
She also uses the app to save. Every payday, £100 funnels from her wages into a savings pot she never sees. If she had to move it manually, she admits, she probably would not. She has also used the Flexible Pay feature to access her money once, for an emergency vet bill when her dog was unwell.
Over the months we followed her, Sienna's story tracked a steady upward arc, punctuated by quiet worries. She remains consistently comfortable. The loan repayment, she says, is low enough that she does not feel it leave. She and her partner are now saving for a house deposit; a £3,000 bonus and a gift from her mother have accelerated that goal. Her grandmother is still unwell, still the reason for the loan, and still a source of background stress.
Sienna's story highlights how urgency and caregiving responsibilities can collapse the space for financial planning. The woman who budgets every birthday present months in advance had zero time to shop around. What mattered was speed, and that the money was there when the tradespeople were available.
"It's going very good at the minute. Work is fantastic. I've got a promotion to manager and home life is very good."
"She had a stroke and really wasn't doing well. In the past few months she's deteriorated. I took out a loan because we need quite a lot of adaptations done to the house. Just to help my grandmother in her day-to-day life. She's 91 so I didn't really have time to wait for savings to amount. I had to do it then and there."
"It was like night and day. I knew that I had the money available to pay the builders or anyone that wanted to do work. I've saved anything that was not spent because the circumstances could change with my grandma. I don't know whether she might need anything else doing, so I've saved it just in case."
Jovan has been with the same restaurant company for ten years. His contract is for thirty hours, but the reality shifts with the season: sometimes forty or more, sometimes as low as 25. He has a young son, and his wife works for the NHS. The family goes to church every Sunday, then out together. That ritual matters to him more than any material thing.
He values his current job primarily for the schedule flexibility it gives him. He works afternoon and evening shifts, which leave his mornings free for the school run. That arrangement supports his wife's NHS career and keeps their son in a routine that works. He is not merely passing time in hospitality; he is planning to start his own small business in those free morning hours, building something that could eventually save more for his son's university education.
The loan was for a six-week holiday to the Philippines, where his son will celebrate a birthday with relatives. He had been planning it for some time, saw the loan offer, and applied. The repayment, spread over three years, is low enough that he factored it in easily. He did not consider other lenders. He has used the flexible pay feature before, though he is now saving through the app as well, and he has told colleagues to sign up.
He does not worry about money in the way others might. Living in the UK, he says, provides security when it comes to essentials like healthcare, and that foundation lets him plan with more confidence than he might have elsewhere.
For Jovan, the loan turned a distant plan into an immediate booking, and the cost was diluted into a payment he does not feel. More importantly, it preserved the rhythm of a life he has spent ten years building: work that bends around family, mornings that belong to his son, and a future he is quietly constructing one shift at a time.
"We go out every Sunday after church. I make sure that we're going out every Sunday, that's why I requested for a Sunday off to spend time with my family. That's my priority."
"I'm still trying to save more money for my son's future. We have time to plan for his studies in university. I'm making my own small business just in case, you know, you have a setback."
"I got this loan because we're going for a holiday. It's a six-week holiday, my son will celebrate his birthday as well back in our country. We're gonna really enjoy our holiday, but of course we have to spend it wisely."
"I'm enjoying my life. I'm enjoying working. I'm a happy person."
Dee was recently promoted to team leader, working 37.5 hours in a role that carries more responsibility than the clock captures. She is organised, ambitious, and candid about the distance she has travelled. Five or six years ago, she was living paycheck to paycheck without savings or a plan.
Now she opens the Stream app daily, checks her spending graph, moves money between pots, and feels something she did not used to feel: control.
The loan arrived at a moment of genuine need. Her car had died after only six months, an unexpected blow that would have sent her into panic a few years earlier. Instead, she used the Stream loan to pay down a big chunk of the replacement vehicle and consolidate some higher-interest debt. The interest rate was lower than her previous obligations, and the repayment term was longer, which brought the monthly commitment down to a level she could sleep through. It comes out before her salary hits her account. That is the feature she values above all others.
But Dee's story is not one of uninterrupted progress. Since taking the loan, she has had to dip into her savings repeatedly. First, her new vehicle developed problems. Then family obligations demanded support she felt honour-bound to provide. Each withdrawal was small, but the accumulation was not. She had started the year proud of her growing safety net; now it has shrunk, and she admits to feeling depressed about that. In hindsight, she wishes she had taken the loan over four or five years instead of three, stretching the payments thinner to leave more room for the unexpected. She is trying to pay it off faster, which creates a tension: accelerate and free up the future, or slow down and protect the present?
Dee's story captures the complexity of improvement. She is happier than she was five years ago, more capable, better paid. "The loan has been a blessing. Honestly, I'm very grateful for it."
Yet the very act of building a safety net made it painful when she had to crack it open. She is not in crisis. She is in the middle, managing, monitoring, and hoping the second half of the journey feels lighter than the first.
"I've had a bit of a pay increase and I've been given the opportunity to have a bit of a loan, I've been able to pay things off, which has then brought my anxiety down and I can manage things well."
"I open the app probably every day. It's just helped me to be more mindful of my spending and my finances, which then I feel like I'm a bit more in control."
"I had to replace my vehicle. I took a Stream loan. I applied that to my payment to bring the interest down. It just made things a little bit easier for me to manage."
"In hindsight, I wish I would have been able to extend my loan a little bit longer because I've had some issues with my car. So I've dipped in my savings and it was unexpected. I'm just gonna have to work on building it back up again."
"It gives me a sense of structure. I can look in my Stream app and see how much payments are left till I pay off the money. I can see everything. I think that's been really helpful. I think I'll feel better when I'm more than past the halfway point of paying off the debt."
Theo works in retail with a contracted 32 hours per week, though his actual hours fluctuate depending on business needs. He games, he plays pool, and he keeps his spending within the lines his father taught him to draw. He is twenty-four and has been working since he was sixteen.
Theo has a young son who was about to start nursery, and pays child maintenance to his ex-partner.
He took the loan to manage a collision of expenses: a holiday he had already booked in the summer, combined with unexpected costs for his son starting nursery in September. Uniform, kit, lunches, and nursery fees all came due earlier than anticipated. He described the loan as a massive help that allowed him to cover his son's costs without feeling stressed.
Theo monitors his bank account weekly, plans his budget around each pay period, and uses the Stream app to track his earnings in real time. He described the app as giving him clarity about his income, which was transformative compared to the pre-Stream era when he never knew exactly what he was getting paid.
He found the repayment entirely manageable. He also uses the savings feature on the app to set money aside specifically for holidays. "I feel comfortable with the repayment plan. If I do want to pay extra, I can choose to pay extra."
Theo's story is a reminder that even highly organised young people can be caught off guard by the timing of expenses. The costs weren't unaffordable in absolute terms; they simply arrived at the wrong moment for someone on variable hours.
"My dad from a young age told me about budgeting my money and keeping myself under control and just only spend within my need, not more than what I can."
"I've got childcare costs to pay for my son's nursery and all that, just getting all this stuff prepared... he's got like a nice little straight run. He's only two, but when he starts, he's going to be paying for his lunches, his food and plus his kit, all this stuff."
"My contract hours are 32 but sometimes I can do 38, 35, 36, 31. It's never consistent, it just changes quite a lot. I don't know when exactly, how many hours I'm going to be doing that week."
Kazana is a Zimbabwean-trained trauma care nurse who arrived in the UK in July 2022. For over two years, he's worked as a healthcare assistant at a care home in West Sussex, often on night shifts, while waiting for his nursing PIN. He got it a week before we spoke. His contracted hours are 48 a week, arranged as twelve-hour shifts so he gets proper rest between them, and he volunteers an additional two hours with the NHS because, as he says, there is no point lying idle.
The loan was not for him. It was for his nephew, 14 years old, diagnosed with diabetes in rural Zimbabwe. The nearest health facility is a five-kilometre walk each way, and insulin requires twice-daily access. His nephew was walking 20 kilometres a day. Kazana had already bought a residential stand in a town and started building; the loan allowed him to finish the roof and walls so his nephew could move. This, he decided, was more urgent than the car he had hoped for, even though a car would unlock the NHS community roles that require one.
He made sacrifices to absorb the repayment. His mobile phone contract, roughly £50 a month, was paid off early so that money could be redirected to the loan. He lives within his means, works and sleeps, with little social life beyond rest.
When we spoke again months later, he had moved to a new company. The old employer had not processed his tax paperwork properly, leaving him in a gap between payslips where deductions totalled nearly £600 in one month. He was stressed, counting every pound, and planning a trip to Africa to see his family. His sister, who had been on a paid placement, lost that income and now looks to Kazana for school fees. Kazana wishes he had chosen a longer repayment term. With hindsight, the monthly commitment he accepted is tighter than it needs to be.
His biggest hope is a stable job and uninterrupted income at the NHS. His biggest fear is that the shifts will not increase. Despite the squeeze, he says the loan played a huge role in his mood and satisfaction. He added value to someone's life. That is how he measures it.
Kazana's story is a powerful illustration of how financial responsibilities for many of our borrowers extend across continents and generations. His loan ensured a teenager could access life-sustaining medication, showing that understanding borrowers through the lens of a 'loan purpose dropdown' misses the depth of what that money is actually doing.
"He's just 14 years. And back in my village, for us to access the health services, you have to walk five kilometers in one way. He has to go in the morning, get the morning dose, come back home. In the evening he has to go again and get another dose."
"It's just a year I have to repay the loan, so I'll try by all means to live within my means and to cut on some of the expenses."
"I'm stressed because I have been sending my siblings to school as well. Before, my siblings were on placement and my sister could get a bit of pay but she is no longer having that added support so now she looks upon me to do everything for her. I wish I had chosen a longer term for repaying my loan. If it was maybe two to three year loan repayment, maybe it would be better."
"I would say I really did manage to add value to someone's life."
Yemisi works full time in a care home. The job is physically demanding and the sick-leave policy, updated only in April, remains unclear enough that she prefers not to test it. What keeps her anchored is a goal she and her husband have been building toward for years: a three-bedroom new-build house in Aberdeen. They have paid the reservation fee, instructed solicitors, and hope to have the keys by January. The Stream loan helped cover these up front costs.
Yemisi is a formidable saver. Between a joint account at her bank (£250 a month), a credit union account (£120), and a personal account (£500), she puts away nearly £900 every month. That discipline, she says, was learned the hard way. Like many in her community, she sends money home to extended family in Africa.
When we spoke next, the ground shifted. Yemisi's employer told her they could no longer sponsor her visa. The cost of a certificate of sponsorship had risen to £3,000 per person, and with over two thousand sponsored staff, the organisation had drawn a line at care assistant roles. She was given seven weeks to find another job or face losing her right to remain, with her family in tow. She landed a new care home position quickly. But the transition unravelled the seamlessness she valued most.
Because of the employment change, her monthly repayment switched from a silent salary deduction to a visible direct debit on her bank statement. For Yemisi, this is annoying. She liked the ease of salary repayment and now it is gone.
Yemisi is still optimistic about her financial future. She is not in debt beyond the Stream loan, she can still save, and her new job is close enough to walk. But her story illustrates how fragile the veneer of control can be. A change of employer, a tweak in repayment mechanics, and the same loan that felt invisible now feels exposed.
"It's a new build, fresh and new. And the place is so, so good, I think it's really worth it."
"I have to be prudent in my spending. And most times, the spending doesn't even need to be on my immediate family. It's mostly on extended families most times. You know, we Africans, we have people back home that we help financially."
"What makes Stream loan to be different is just because when you are on that loan, you can pay quietly from your salary."
Wes is a young worker in a retail job that provides variable hours. He works as a store manager, and is highly complimentary towards his employer.
He applied for the Stream loan as a bridging loan after a period of unemployment ate through his savings and created cascading issues with late fees on bills. He wanted to buy peace of mind and get finances under control. He took a deliberately long repayment term of four years to ensure the minimum monthly payment was manageable, while planning to repay much faster by channelling extra money toward it. The 'no late fees' policy was also a factor.
Wes finds the process of repayment 'almost relaxing,' describing it as nice to see progress financially. He regularly checks his earnings on the Stream app and uses that to decide how much extra to put toward the loan that month. Each time he makes an overpayment, he gets a thrill out of seeing the extra drop in his total interest owed.
His relationship with money is shaped by his mental and physical health. He framed keeping a job and managing his wellbeing as a personal success, and said that not being homeless or going hungry is something he thinks about often. Wes is very, very careful with his money.
Wes's story shows how a period of unemployment can create a financial hole that takes far longer to climb out of than the period of joblessness itself. The loan restored a sense of control and forward momentum.
"I was out of work for a little while, which just ate up all my savings and caused some issues as well. If you can't pay a bill then you have so many late fees and all that. I just want to buy myself some peace of mind and get my finances under control."
"I think the interest rate is very reasonable, I do appreciate it a lot, but still, I would like to get that cleared away."
"When I have some money coming my way, one of my first thoughts when I'm budgeting is 'oh, could I put some extra money into my repayments?' It can actually be almost relaxing, it is kind of nice to see yourself progress financially."
"For me it is plenty to just know I'm not very likely to be evicted from my house, I'm not going to starve, I'm not going to be homeless."
"I would like to do some short-term educational courses at the university. I would like to travel more. I think I'll get there. Things are going in the right direction."
Faith works two cleaning jobs that add up to a full-time life on part-time contracts. Monday to Friday she is with one employer, cleaning a school after the children go home, and then with a second in the afternoons. The schedule is consistent enough to feel safe but fragmented enough to remind her that neither employer will offer her a full-time contract until she reaches manager level, and that is not on the cards right now.
She is a single mother to a 15-year-old son. Universal Credit helps with the rent. Her bills are modest: council tax, electricity, gas every three months, broadband, phone, and her Oyster card. She walks when she can. Food on the table and a roof overhead are her benchmarks, and by those measures she is content.
Faith's financial history is one of recovery. When she arrived in the UK in 1996, she fell into credit cards and store cards, eventually running up debts that led to an IVA solution. ²⁶ She started paying £105 a month from 2019, and chipped away until the last of it was gone in December last year. Her credit report, once bruised, has been climbing slowly ever since. Today, the Stream loan is her only debt.
The money went toward home improvements: a new bed and wardrobe for her son, a lamp, and the small things that make a flat feel like it is keeping up with a growing teenager. She chose a five-year term, bringing the monthly repayment down to roughly £30. It leaves her account before she touches it, which suits her fine.
When we spoke again a few months later, Faith was working as hard as ever, picking up extra shifts when colleagues were off sick. She remains on a strict budget.
Her credit score has improved since taking the loan. She rates her hope for the future at seven out of seven, though she admits to everyday stress. She worries a bit about the political landscape and what it means for her right to remain in the UK. But for now she's staying within her budget, staying stable, and that's what matters.
"As long as my rent is paid, I'm happy. As long as I've got the roof over my head, a bit of food, you know, I'm not a greedy person. My son's got food on the table, he's got clothes, I've got clothes. That's everyday life, isn't it?"
"I don't have too many bills. This is the only loan that I'm paying back. That's why I'm saying I'm happy that my financial situation is not as bad as it used to be."
"I need to buy my son a new bed, a few things I need for the house, a new lamp, and a new wardrobe as well. I'm going to spend £500 for home improvement, and I will save my other £500 if any emergency."
"I normally work up to 25 to 30 hours. If someone is sick, we always cover the person. So sometimes I do an extra hour, extra cover, and get paid for it."
"The only thing is stressing me, I've been living in this country for up to 30 years and I've got the individual right to remain, and I heard on the news that bloody [politicians] wants to take our indefinite right to remain. So that's what's stressing me out. I don't think it's going to happen. I'm all right, I pay my taxes, I go to work, so I'm happy."
²⁶ https://www.gov.uk/options-for-dealing-with-your-debts/individual-voluntary-arrangements
Beyond getting to know the people behind each loan, we systematically collected data about each borrower's financial circumstances — at the start and throughout. Our aim is to understand how their lives evolve after receiving the loan, and to identify how things are changing — or staying stagnant — as the loan term progresses. We captured the same behaviours and sentiments throughout: how customers felt about their financial situation, their quality of life, comfort with the loan repayment plan, and future goals and hopes.
We did this following two methods:
Method 1: Qualitative insights. We track an initial group of 35 borrowers over time, through empathy-led phone conversations every second month.
Method 2: Quantitative insights. We invite all borrowers to complete a structured survey at different points in their loan journey. In the first year, surveys are sent out immediately after loan disbursal, then in 2-month intervals after someone has had their loan for 3 months, 5 months, 7 months, 9 months, and 11 months. In the second year we drop to 3-month intervals and survey at 15 months, 18 months and 21 months. In the third year we drop to 6-month intervals and survey at 30 months and 36 months.
Our analysis is based on the first nine months of survey data, across 5,434 completed responses.
The early insights we're sharing pull from both our qualitative and quantitative insights and touch on three areas that stood out:
Financial shocks are the norm
Resilience prevails
Structural details matter
Most members who took out a Stream loan had thought carefully about their decision before applying — some for just a few weeks, others for much longer. This group made up the majority of respondents. However, around a third (35%) were not applying for a long-term plan; they simply found themselves hit by the unexpected nature of life, in need of a loan, and applied.
A consistent picture emerged from our conversations. You can have a plan, and then life happens. A broken appliance. A car part. An unexpected medical bill. Something you simply hadn't seen coming. Members described financial shocks of all shapes and sizes that knocked them off course and left them with little choice but to borrow. For this group, planning simply wasn't possible because the shock came first. They couldn't plan for a loan if they didn't know they'd need one.
"35% of borrowers applied for a loan in response to a financial shock"
During phone interviews with research participants, we heard people describe financial shocks of many different shapes and sizes, ranging from lending money to a family member in crisis, to recovering from a crypto scam, to reduced working hours due to caring responsibilities.
For so many of our borrowers, the financial shocks keep coming.
We uncovered an uncomfortable reality of stacking shocks: where multiple unexpected and uncertain shocks concurrently or sequentially intensify the impact of a singular event, thereby further setting an individual back.
Prevalence of financial shocks among borrowers at each survey point
Month 3 = 32% Month 5 = 30% Month 7 = 30% Month 9 = 33%
3 months: "I was off sick for 2 weeks after a bad fall but I'm still ok"
3 months: "My partner lost his job" 5 months: "Had time off work due to son being sick, so wages have been less."
7 months: "I had to move house unexpectedly so had a lot of unexpected and expensive outgoings in order to maintain my safety such as rent up front and a deposit"
9 months: "Unexpected vets bill. Car fault. Very stressful considering it's five weeks to Christmas. Purchased some presents for my daughter, but had to use BNPL."
9 months: "My Brother passed away. Spent 4K."
As people stay in our research study longer and answer more surveys, the cumulative share of those who ever report a shock rises to 53%. Most borrowers have experienced a financial shock — either directly linked to their decision to borrow, or in the everyday course of life just a small number of months later.
Independent research from Nest Insight highlights that recovery from a shock is rarely linear. ²⁷ People with lived experience do not frame financial shocks as standalone events they come out on the other side of. Our study corroborates this. In our early data, 15% of borrowers reported a financial shock in two consecutive survey responses, and 8% in three consecutive survey responses.
²⁷ Vivi en Burrows et al., Bridging Gaps, Building Resilience: Shaping a System That Helps Households Bounce Back from Financial Shocks (London: Nest Insight, 2025), 10, https://www.nestinsight.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Bridging-Gaps-Building-Resilience.pdf.
Despite experiencing financial shocks, the majority of borrowers remain comfortable with their loan repayment plan, and this holds true at each point in time. Over 98% of respondents at each survey point report being comfortable or neutral about their repayment plan. Just 1% say they feel uncomfortable.
It's not just a case of feeling comfortable; many people are making active progress with their finances: paying off debt, reducing financial stress, increasing their credit score and overall improving their ability to manage finances. A small but consistent minority report that things are harder: financial stress has increased, ability to manage finances has decreased. Given the high prevalence of financial shocks, it's a surprisingly low number of people who report these adverse outcomes. Still, we will monitor this over time.
Positive impact:
- Allowed me to pay off my other debts — 38%
- Reduced financial stress — 36%
- Made it easier to manage my finances — 32%
- Improved credit score — 16%
- Increased my savings — 5%
Negative impact:
- Increased financial stress — 6%
- Made it harder to manage my finances — 5%
We asked survey respondents how they would rate their overall quality of life through different survey periods, and whether it was the same, better, or worse than the previous month.
Again, it was remarkably consistent. At each point in time, between 60%–65% report no change in quality of life; 24%–27% report that life is better compared to last month; 11%–15% tell us that life is worse.
Resilience outweighs the financial shocks. Despite a third of people experiencing a financial shock each time we ask, far fewer tell us that it flows through to their quality of life or ability to cope.
Quality of life compared to last month
- In Month 3, 20% of respondents said their quality of life was better than the previous month, 7% said much better, 62% said about the same, 10% said worse, and 2% said much worse.
- In Month 5, 20% said better, 6% said much better, 62% said about the same, 11% said worse, and 2% said much worse.
- In Month 7, 19% said better, 5% said much better, 65% said about the same, 9% said worse, and 2% said much worse.
- In Month 9, 19% said better, 6% said much better, 60% said about the same, 13% said worse, and 2% said much worse.
Hopefulness increases sharply a few months after someone takes a loan and then starts to gently taper as time passes. We measure hopefulness at every point in time on a scale from "not at all hopeful" to "extremely hopeful."
Hopefulness over time
At baseline, 52% of respondents said they felt hopeful, 33% were neutral, and 15% said they were not hopeful.
By Month 3, hopefulness had risen significantly, with 78% saying they felt hopeful, 13% neutral, and 10% not hopeful.
- In Month 5, 72% said they felt hopeful, 17% were neutral, and 11% were not hopeful.
- In Month 7, 71% said they felt hopeful, 18% were neutral, and 12% were not hopeful.
- In Month 9, 67% said they felt hopeful, 18% were neutral, and 14% were not hopeful.
Borrowers start their loan journey feeling optimistic. At three months, the proportion of people who feel hopeful about their financial future jumps from 52% to 78%. At each survey point thereafter, hopefulness remains much higher than the baseline, but the effect starts softening over time.
+26% increase in people who feel hopeful about their financial future after three months.
This is not necessarily a story of things getting harder. As time passes, the initial sense of relief and opportunity that comes with taking out a loan simply becomes the new normal. What once felt like a meaningful step forward gradually settles into the background of everyday financial life. That is hedonic adaptation: a well-documented psychological pattern that follows any positive change, and one that is not specific to borrowing. ²⁸
Additionally, as noted earlier, as life happens and individuals face unexpected expense or income shocks that they are unable to cope with, the increased initial positive sentiment can start to decline.
We will continue monitoring these and any other notable trends as we collect more data on borrowers for longer time periods beyond the 9-month mark.
²⁸ "Hedonic Adaptation: Everything You Need to Know," InsideBE, accessed December 17, 2025, https://insidebe.com/articles/hedonic-adaptation-everything-you-need-to-know/.
Six out of ten survey respondents said one of the main reasons they chose Stream for the loan was because "they liked being able to pay directly from their pay." Three out of ten like that they can repay early with no fees.
These two features are deliberate design choices, built to meet the reality of the people who use the Stream app. When paydays and pay amounts are constantly changing, a loan that works with that reality uses up far less mental bandwidth.
Exactly half of our early research respondents get paid on a fixed monthly payday. ²⁹ The rest have a payday that drifts, since they're being paid weekly, fortnightly, or four-weekly. No matter the pattern, the Stream loan follows it.
Automatic repayments remove friction, reduce the number of financial decisions a person has to manage, reduce decision fatigue, lower cognitive load, and thereby free up mental bandwidth for everything else.
Removing that administrative overhead is not a small thing. It is, as our research participants describe, often the feature that makes the difference between a loan that adds to financial stress and one that quietly does its job in the background.
"Not having to worry about repayments is one of the biggest benefits. Don't have to worry or even think about it. Don't have to worry about falling behind on repayments." — Research participant
"Repayments are manageable. I don't even have to think about it since repayments are deducted from wages before they hit my account. This one's straightforward, compared to previous loans I have had." — Research participant
"Compared to other loans I have had in the past, it's easier to manage repayments because repayments come directly out of wages. I don't have to go into my banking app to schedule repayments. Don't have to worry about or even think about it." — Research participant
"Helps that repayments are deducted before wages hit my bank. So, don't miss that money. I haven't noticed it going out of my salary." — Research participant
But it is important to be honest about where that logic has limits. The same automaticity that makes salary-deducted repayments work well in ordinary months can become a source of pressure in difficult ones. If a borrower is already stretched, facing an unexpected bill, or experiencing a reduction in income, the repayment leaving wages before they arrive removes the flexibility to make a different call that month. As one borrower tells us, "I'm comfortable that it comes out of my wages before I am paid but it leaves me short for the month to get essentials."
Repayments can be switched from salary deduction to direct debit. It is a designed feature of the product, intended precisely for the moments when the default structure stops serving the borrower's needs.
We will continue monitoring borrower outcomes and sentiment through the loan term, with particular attention to borrowers whose comfort with repayments changes over time, to build a fuller picture of when and for whom the salary-deduction model works best, and where it may need to flex.
We analysed the income volatility of our research cohort using 2025 earnings data. Only 6% of borrowers had negligible income volatility. For the significant majority (94%), it is a fact of life.
On average, income varied by 17%, or around £312, in pay.
The ability to lean into this volatility and overpay a loan when times are good is important, and for three in ten people it was a key reason to take a loan with Stream. There are no limits to how much someone can overpay and no early repayment fees or charges.
"I'm overpaying a lot on this loan." "I pay back more than I need to make my monthly payments descend."
"I like it that am able to pay extra towards my loan."
"Affordable and able to make an overpayment when able."
Early research results show that this feature is being well used. Over 17% of research respondents have made an additional repayment so far, and we anticipate this figure will grow over time.
²⁹ Our early research cohort show a more stable pay pattern than the Stream base overall, where just 2 in 10 workers experience a fixed monthly payday.
Mala is a nurse with 24 years of experience. She was defrauded, left holding debt that wasn't hers, and spent years working 150 to 200 hours a month just to get back to where she started.
Dee is a team leader who manages her money carefully and worked hard to get out of paycheck to paycheck living. Her car died unexpectedly and she needed to pay for a replacement.
Sienna is a retail manager with big goals; she's a steady saver and is looking to buy her own home. But when her 91-year old grandmother had a bad fall, she urgently needed to pay for home adaptations to support her recovery.
That is what this research keeps returning to: people who are resourceful and determined, navigating a financial system that was not designed for them.
Employers who facilitate payroll-linked loans create real value for their people, furthering financial inclusion and lowering the cost of participation. This matters, but there is more that can be done. Nine months of data tells us that the early days of a loan term carry real hope. Stress eases, quality of life improves, and borrowers feel they are moving forward. But that hope is fragile and the data shows that too. It is the unexpected bill, the reduced hours, the family member in crisis. The shocks that do not wait for financial recovery before arriving again. People who intend to save but cannot accumulate; who plan carefully and then watch shocks overturn those plans.
Although our study is not even at its halfway mark, we're taking action to support more people to navigate financial shocks by building connected borrowing and savings solutions. There are two that we are already testing: 'Save as you borrow', and 'Loans to savings'.
Save as you borrow: A prompt to encourage borrowers to build savings alongside repaying their loan. It may seem counterintuitive to build savings while debt is owing, but for so many people a savings buffer makes a real difference when life throws a curveball before their loan is repaid.
Loans to savings: After the final repayment, we activate a switchover that turns your previous loan repayment amount into a savings contribution. It's optional, but effective. Borrowers are used to the money going towards a loan repayment, which means they don't miss it and the effort of building savings is reduced. For many, it means boosting an existing savings habit and getting the confidence to set aside much larger savings amounts.
As this study extends beyond the nine-month mark and towards the average loan term of 30 months, the data will tell us more about who builds resilience and makes progress with life goals, who struggles, and what makes the difference.
Beyond the data, we'll keep talking to our research participants and building out their stories as time passes.
We set out to understand people behind our loan data, collecting primary data through phone interviews and surveys since June 2025.
We invite all loan recipients, within one month of disbursement, to join further research. Those who agree complete a 30-question survey on employment, income, household, dependents, financial behaviours around debt, saving, and bill payments, loan purpose, reasons for choosing Stream, early impact, confidence in managing finances, and future outlook.
We conduct recurring follow-up interviews with an initial cohort of 35 participants to track behaviours and journeys through the loan term, building holistic understanding through empathy-led conversations. There has been some attrition; we plan to launch a second cohort to keep gathering a broad range of perspectives.
All loan customers — excluding our cohort of 35 — are invited to participate in quick update surveys. Every other month (three, five, seven, nine months, etc.), quick follow-up surveys track financial behaviours, loan impact, confidence in financial management, and outlook.
All collection uses online tools: Zoom audio calls and Typeform surveys via email or in-app.
- Phone interview participants were selected randomly from interested customers, with an equal and independent chance of joining the cohort of 35.
- The broader customer base is randomly sampled and prompted in-app at one, three, five, seven months, etc.
- Phone interview participants receive a voucher per interview. Survey respondents enter a prize draw to win a gift voucher.
This report covers June 2025 to March 2026. We plan to continue for up to three years (average loan term: 30 months) and will launch additional cohorts to assess how impacts evolve regardless of external changes in cost of living and other societal progressions.
Talk to us about the positive impact we can have on your teams and your business.
