Tide launches lending subsidiary Tide Capital to offer ‘fee-free’ credit

A perk for members of Tide’s soon-to-launch Premium subscription.

Tide is moving into business lending in a big way, with the launch of a fee-free £1,000 credit line for members of an upcoming Premium subscription offering.

Last week Tide launched its first subscription offering, a £9.99/month plan called Plus, a source close to the company told AltFi that Tide's Premium plan will cost more when it launches.

Tide Premium members will be pre-approved for the credit, and be able to add it to their current accounts with a single tap.

“Offering a credit line to Premium members is the next stage of our credit offering,” said Tide CEO Oliver Prill.

“Our long-term strategy combines proprietary products with partnerships with third-party lenders. Tide’s platform structure means we are able to make rich data available to partner lenders to orchestrate a smooth process for our members to access credit.”

Today Tide also launched its first subsidiary, Tide Capital, through which its lending business will be built.

“The exception to partnering with lenders is in providing transactional credit, where frequent real time decision making cannot optimally be done with a partner, hence the pioneering product created via Tide Capital,” said Prill.

By bundling the credit offering with its Premium subscription service, Tide isn’t charging any specific fee on the capital itself, and similarly by pre-approving Premium customers Tide has removed any application process.

“In the future, Tide plans to offer members not only credit products through Tide Capital, but additional third-party products using its digital banking platform as well.”

Prill pointed at Tide’s integration with direct lender Iwoca, which is currently in beta, as an example of the third-party lending products they are looking to integrate.

Read more: Another perk for members of Tide’s £9.99/month Premium subscription.

UPDATE 26-09-2019 - Amended to clarify that Tide's £1,000 credit line is part of an upcoming Premium subscription, not Tide's existing £9.99/month Plus plan.