British businesses that suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic were offered support through the government’s BBLS, via banks which were equipped to quickly roll out money to applicable SMEs. Virgin Money lent over £1 billion to more than 34,000 businesses through the scheme.

PAYG repayment options were introduced in September of 2020, and in 2021, Virgin Money chose Flexys to provide BBLS customers with the technology needed to build a clear understanding of their PAYG options. The self-service experience designed by Flexys is entirely digital and has facilitated over 10,000 BBLS loan restructures via PAYG.

Users are offered seven repayment options, and are able to adjust their selection three months before their next installment. Customers can select a repayment option five times while the loan is still intact, and each time the service displays projections of the PAYG schedule and total costs of each option, allowing the user to opt for what suits them best.

Jon Hickman, CEO of Flexys, stated on the success of the solution: “PAYG options for Bounce Back Loans were brought in swiftly and, as an agile business, Flexys was able to develop a bespoke platform with complex features to correspond with the pressing timescales. Central to our aim was to enable Virgin Money to adapt to regulatory requirements quickly, inform customers about the impact of the options available to them and deliver excellent service via a 24/7 digital channel for maximum convenience.”

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has seen significant controversy of late, with concerns that the scheme (and others offered throughout the pandemic) were targeted by fraudsters, who managed to steal between £4.9 and £3.5 billion.

Starling Bank was accused of failing to stop fraudulent activity around state-backed Covid-19 loans by anti-fraud minister, Lord Agnew, who had commented that the bank used the Government’s Covid loan scheme as a “God-sent opportunity” to swell its balance sheets without conducting adequate checks on the ability of loanees to repay the debt.

In a letter responding to the allegations, founder and CEO of the neobank Anne Boden stated: “Your statements are defamatory, and I must ask you to withdraw them […] You say that you have no information to support your accusations, but you continue to repeat them despite Starling making it clear that you are wrong.”

Boden derided Agnew as a "public school-educated landed gentleman" who had "made a fortune from offshore outsourcing."

“Starling reserves all its rights in relation to your defamatory statements,” she continued, accusing him of trying to rid himself of personal responsibility over the scale of fraud perpetuated through the Government-backed Covid loan programme.”