2021: Year in review!

What a year it has been!

We started 2021 still very much in lockdown with our teams working from home. But as we went further into the year, we were slowly able to see more of a return to the office and even managed to enjoy a few celebrations!

We’ve had some exciting new developments in Bamboo this year that we are especially proud of. We always try to build up our technical innovations with a human touch, so that we can serve customers in an optimal yet efficient way. The COVID19 pandemic saw several prime examples of our approach deployed in practice – with a great degree of success despite the circumstances.

Like all lenders, we found ourselves with a significant cohort of customers in need of forbearance far more than our servicing teams were sized for, even before considering e difficulties of distancing and working from home. We reacted swiftly and implemented an online self-service tool that automated most of the processes that would normally have been manual. The entire system, including bespoke training for our staff, was deployed in a remarkably short span of time. As a testament to its effectiveness and the hard work of the involved teams, even at the worst of the pandemic, several of our customers left a token of appreciation in the form of positive Trustpilot reviews and direct feedback to us.

 A huge thank you for all your feedback.

We are proud of all the positive reviews we received throughout the pandemic. We’ve managed to maintain a score of 4.9 out of 5 since 2017 which remained steady throughout lockdown.

More reviews here.

Ways to contact us

While often overlooked when compared to other much more dramatic effects, COVID19 also changed the way customers communicate with companies. Cramped working from home conditions, jumping on and off a van for deliveries or even focussing on patients during gruelling shifts in full PPE – none of these are conditions conductive to calling Customer Services during office hours.

While there are circumstances where direct personal contact with a customer is required, Bamboo has embraced the need to provide our customers with better ways to contact us no matter the circumstances.

Our Live web chat helps customers who prefer to write to us and have an immediate, human response for all their queries. For customers who just need some pointers, or wish to contact us outside of office hours, our chatbot provides automated responses 24/7 – and is constantly learning to provide even better answers on even more topics.

Open Banking

Some of the technological solutions we have developed in 2021 are at the cutting edge of Open Banking adoption, both from a customer and a company perspective. With Open Banking our customers can now quickly and securely share their information without going through the hassle of collating traditional documents such as bank statements, payslips, etc.

As a business, we are working hard to offer more technical solutions for our customer base.

Awards we won

We are especially proud of the two Consumer Credit Awards we won this year – Best Personal Loan Provider (lending > £2.5k) and Treating Customers Fairly Champion award.

The best thing about the Consumer Credit Awards is that the results are based 100% on customer votes so a huge thank you to everyone who voted for us. We were extremely pleased to hear that we received a perfect score in the 'Treating Customers Fairly Champion' category which means that 100% of the customers who answered the question of whether they felt treated fairly by Bamboo answered YES! How amazing is that!

More on the awards here: http://ow.ly/shgM50Gfks2

2021 also saw the return of some in-person award ceremonies. It was great to be able to end the year on a high note celebrating with other industry peers at the Lending and Credit Awards in December. Bamboo was also a category sponsor at the 2021 Credit Awards for the ‘Best Technology Partner of the Year’ category, which went to Credit Kudos.

We have big plans for 2022 and can't wait to have you on our journey with us.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!