Customer: Moneybox

Moneybox uses Plaid VRP to maintain its competitive edge.

Moneybox’s investment, savings, home-buying, and retirement products have been reshaping the financial landscape across the U.K. for years, helping people build wealth with greater confidence, no matter their starting point. Now supporting a community of more than 1.3 million people with £7 million in AUA, one contributor to its success has been unlocking instant bank deposits at cheaper rates for their customers. In fact, since partnering with Plaid in 2021, the company has been able to expand payment choice beyond recurring Direct Debits with use of open banking account top-ups increasing by over 100% year-over-year.

Moneybox’s Payday Boost feature makes it possible for customers to add to their savings and investments via a monthly subscription. However, the five-day settlement period for Direct Debits means that customer savings don’t actually arrive in their accounts until after payday.

Moneybox’s customers really value the feature, but Direct Debits limit the extent to which it can help them manage their monthly savings with the immediacy and ease they would like. That’s why Moneybox turned to Plaid VRP to take Payday Boost to the next level.

Moneybox and Plaid are currently partnering to build and test the ability for customers to make recurring payments following a one-time authentication. This would mean Moneybox customers can make a contribution towards their savings goal—and see their money settle in their chosen account the very same day they get paid rather than waiting the five days for a Direct Debit.

The implementation of VRPs could also, as an example, include the ability to automatically:

• Move excess funds from their current account into a Moneybox savings or investment accounts whenever their balance exceeds a specified amount.

• Allocate excess funds to a designated account, such as a Lifetime ISA, for anyone saving towards a deposit for their first home.

• Transfer surplus funds into their Cash ISA, if they want to embed consistent saving behaviours without manual intervention to make the most of their taxfree ISA allowance each year.

Now powered by VRP, this new iteration of Payday Boost is already available to Moneybox employees for testing and soon will be in the hands of its customers. As Jay Swanston, the company’s Chief Platform Officer, explained: “Plaid has been a pivotal partner to Moneybox, enhancing customers’ choices of payments, which has led to 100% year-over-year transaction growth. We now look forward to building upon this success and keeping the momentum going with VRP.” In fact, the partnership is helping Moneybox position itself to reap the full advantages of commercial VRPs the day they become available—and further strengthen their competitive edge.

Embracing the revolution

The future of VRPs While sweeping VRPs have slowly begun to redefine the mechanics of recurring payments in the U.K., commercial VRPs have the potential to truly revolutionise the way money moves between consumers and businesses. Their ultimate arrival will also unlock significant new opportunities for strategic partnerships between VRP providers, fintech companies, and financial institutions—fueling the development of other innovative payment technologies. As the shift gathers momentum, leading financial institutions and other early adopters are embracing the opportunity and using VRPs to position themselves at the forefront of digital payments. But doing so requires the right partner. Plaid powers VRPs for businesses and financial institutions through technology centred around the ‘three C’s’—control, consent, and choice—and covers the entire payment lifecycle. Plaid’s technology is an extension of our payments solution, which powers both one-off and recurring transactions.