Latest news with #CredAbility
Entrepreneur
20-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Credit Where It's Due
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Nik Charalampous, CEO of CredAbility, a Manchester based credit score and financial insights platform, is on a mission to make credit scores simple and accessible. CredAbility offers practical, jargon-free advice to help people improve their credit scores and access better financial products - a strategy that has turned the platform into a trusted resource. Since 2019, his platform has helped over 2 million users improve their credit health, but the journey to success was anything but easy. Entrepreneur UK Caught up with Charalampous to find out more. What were the biggest challenges you faced when starting your business, and how did you overcome them? One of the biggest challenges was building trust. When you launch a financial product, especially one that deals with credit scores, people are understandably cautious. There is a lot of noise in the market and plenty of scepticism. We knew we had to stand out by being genuinely helpful, jargon-free, and completely free to use. It took time, but by focusing on providing real value - like clear guidance, weekly credit updates, and practical tips to save money - we started to build a loyal community. Getting that trust early on made all the difference. Related: Culture Over Code How did you identify and seize opportunities in the early stages of your start-up? We paid attention to the gaps others were missing. Most services felt complicated, intimidating, or only aimed at people who already had good credit. We knew credit scores were important to people and saw an opportunity to simplify things. We listened to what people needed beyond credit, offering practical money-saving advice and easy-to-read financial news with insights into how it affects normal people. That helped us shape CredAbility from a credit score tracker into a much broader financial health platform which helps people understand credit, improve it, and use it to access better products. What do you wish you had known about the UK start-up ecosystem before you began? I wish I had known that things can take longer than you think, even when you are moving quickly. Getting partnerships in place, building relationships with lenders, even small things like paperwork or compliance, all take time. In the early stages, you are full of energy, and you expect everything to move at the same pace. Learning to be patient with the process, while still pushing forward every day, was a big lesson. Looking back, what is the one piece of advice you would give to founders just starting out in the UK's start-up scene? Be clear about why you are doing it and the real problem you're solving. Building a start-up is not easy, and there will be times when it is tempting to change direction just to chase growth or because someone tells you to. Spend as much time as you can talking to your users, learning from them, and adjusting quickly. If you build something that genuinely improves people's lives, the rest - growth, investment, partnerships - becomes much easier. People can tell when a business is built with real purpose behind it. Related: Face-Time Revolution
Daily Mirror
16-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
DWP state pensioners could get payment boost of up to £715 in 2026
The state pension is set to rise again next year, with the triple lock delivering a 4.1 per cent pay boost last month - but what will the increase be based on in 2026? State pensioners are in for a financial boost next year, with their income set to swell by an extra £715. After the triple lock policy secured a 4.1 per cent pay rise last month, there's been much speculation about which element will drive next year's pension per cent increase. The triple lock ensures state pensions climb by whichever is highest: average earnings growth, inflation, or a minimum of 2.5 per cent. Aaron Peake, personal finance expert at CredAbility, shed light on what the recent stats could mean for pensioners come next year. He remarked: "Right now, earnings growth is slightly ahead of inflation, so that's the frontrunner for determining the rise in 2026. "If we take current wage growth figures of around six per cent, that's the ballpark for next year's state pension increase." Should payments surge by six per cent, the full new state pension would jump from today's £230.25 weekly to £244, adding up to an annual hike of £715. This would also bump up the full basic state pension from £176.45 per week to £187, translating to an extra £548.60 each year. Yet, Mr Peake cautioned that it's still "early days" in figuring out whether inflation or earnings will be the deciding factor for the uplift in next year's pensions. The crucial earnings figure for the triple lock next year comes from data spanning May to July, while the pivotal inflation number is drawn from the year leading up to September, reports the Express. Nevertheless, financial whizz Mr Peake hinted that next year's lift could be even more bountiful than the 4.1 per cent hike state pensioners savoured last month. He insisted: "That would be a welcome boost, but it won't necessarily stretch as far as people hope. Many essentials are still more expensive than they were two or three years ago." Mr Peake advised pensioners to get their finances in shipshape, recommending tactics such as drumming up a monthly budget and scouting for spend-thrift areas that need trimming. For those looking to fatten their savings, Mr Peake pointed out a savvy choice worth considering. He suggested: "A high-interest easy access savings account could be a good option, especially if rates remain fairly high." He explained the benefits of such accounts: "These accounts let you dip in and out if needed, which suits people on a fixed income. "If you don't need access straight away, fixed-rate bonds usually offer better returns, and they give you peace of mind knowing your money is locked away and earning interest." Further, he urged folks to make sure they're not missing out on extra cash by overlooking certain benefits like Pension Credit, which on average is clocking in at a hefty £3,900 a year.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What is bitcoin halving and when will the next one be?
Bitcoin is surging after a rollercoaster few months after Donald Trump's speech at a major cryptocurrency summit. Trump spoke at the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in New York on Thursday and bitcoin, by far the largest cryptocurrency, recovered much of its losses from recent months. Bitcoin went over $100,000 (£77,200) for the first time in December 2024 but has since crashed down to $79,000 (£61,000) amid wider fears of economic turmoil caused by the Trump administration. But ahead of Trump's speech, the currency climbed back up to $86,000 (£66,400). Speaking via video link from the White House Trump promised to make the US a bitcoin "superpower" and the "undisputed crypto capital of the world." He highlighted his administration's actions on loosening regulations on the crypto industry, including ending what he called "operation chokepoint 2.0", which saw federal agencies encouraging banks to not operate in risky sectors, particularly the crypto industry. Trump said the operation went too far and acted as a form of "lawfare" against the industry. The president has also instituted the US government's Crypto Federal Reserve which will hold certain cryptocurrencies when they are acquired by state operations rather than sell them. Despite the losses of recent months bitcoin has been on an incredible run in recent years after hitting a low of $16,000 (£12,300) in 2022. A lot of the recent gains have been associated with an event known as the Bitcoin halving that happened on 20 April 2024. Halving is an event automatically triggered by the bitcoin network, which is designed to prevent inflation in the cryptocurrency but it can also trigger large price rises. The halving happens roughly every four years and after each halving the following one to two years often see bitcoin's price explode. Aaron Peak, personal finance expert at credit reference company CredAbility, said: "Bitcoin is notoriously volatile: prices can surge or crash unpredictably, so investors should always be cautious. "Bitcoin's price has been on a rollercoaster recently, and we've seen some major price swings in recent months.' Bitcoin halving reduces the rewards of mining the cryptocurrency by 50%. Crypto miners use high-end computing rigs to perform calculations and are rewarded with bitcoin but after each halving, the reward decreases. Miners complete calculations required to verify transactions, using computers to make guesses to solve the puzzle and the first to solve it adds a new block to the blockchain – a digital ledger that records and verifies transactions across a network of computers. The dates of the halvings are not set, rather they occur every 210,000 blocks that are mined. Aaron Peak, personal finance expert at credit reference company CredAbility said: 'Right now, miners – who verify bitcoin transactions – earn 6.25 bitcoins for each new block they add to the blockchain." 'After the next halving, their reward will drop to 3.125 bitcoins. This reduces the supply of new coins, which can affect bitcoin's price.' Bitcoin halving performs several important functions, restricting supply and limiting inflation, which helps to maintain the cryptocurrency's value. Peak explains: "Halving is important because it slows down how quickly new bitcoins are created. Historically, bitcoin halving has led to price increases. When fewer new bitcoins enter the market, but demand stays the same (or grows), the price often rises. 'It's a bit like gold, if mining gold became twice as hard overnight, but people still wanted it, the price would likely go up. However, past performance doesn't guarantee the same outcome every time, so there are no certainties." The next bitcoin halving event is expected to happen in 2028, but it all depends on how quickly miners create new blocks, Peak explained. Peak said: "It will happen after another 210,000 blocks have been added to the blockchain, which usually takes around four years. "This happens because bitcoin has a fixed supply – only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist. The process is built into bitcoin's code to control inflation, a bit like how central banks manage the money supply, except no one can change bitcoin's rules." Bitcoin halvings are expected to continue until 2040.
