Lendela flips the script on borrowing via “No More Bullshit, Just Straight Answers” campaign

Lendela, a Singapore-based fintech platform that streamlines the personal loan journey with personalised loan options, has launched a bold new campaign that takes a lighthearted jab at the frustration borrowers experience with the traditional lending process.

The campaign, No More Bullshit, Just Straight Answers, parodies the often opaque and confounding experience of seeking a personal loan in Singapore, inviting viewers to rethink the borrowing journey.

In collaboration with creative production house Breed, Lendela’s campaign captures the exasperation felt by borrowers, embodied by a caricatured “sage” who offers unhelpful riddles instead of clear answers. Representing the lack of transparency in the traditional loan process, the sage’s cryptic and over-the-top behaviour is also a satire of customer service representatives who often leave borrowers helpless and frustrated when seeking clarity on a variety of matters, from eligibility to loan terms.

Vanessa Ng, Head of Marketing at Lendela, said: “While many Singaporeans take out personal loans, very few feel they can talk about it due to social stigma. This has resulted in higher borrowing costs, less transparency in the industry, and a loan-ly journey for most that ends in frustration, anger, and helplessness. With this campaign, we wanted to challenge that notion. Why can’t borrowing be simple, transparent, and even pleasant? This campaign was our way of showing that there’s a better way to borrow, using some good old humour to break down barriers.”

Keith Kwek, filmmaker and founder of production house Breed, added: “We wanted to express a common pain point many Singaporeans face — the frustration that often accompanies the search for an ideal loan, when you’re asking a straightforward question and being met with roundabout non-answers — in a humorous and relatable manner. By exaggerating the borrowing experience, we tapped into a brand of frustration and learned helplessness that almost all of us can relate to.”

The campaign, now running across TV, radio, and socials while being adapted for other channels, wishes to start a fresh conversation about the overlooked difficulties the average borrower faces in what should be a relatively straightforward process. Particularly on socials, the brand has also taken the comedy up a notch, meme-ifying the characters in their TVC with the help of creative media agency Boom to spread the message to its TikTok audience in a way that will resonate.

Despite one in three Singaporeans having taken out a personal loan in the last twelve months (Finder, 2021) and Singapore’s per capita personal loan liability* rising to $23,068 in 2024, borrowing is stigmatised and often kept a secret. That lack of open conversation has led not just to an opaque lending industry, but also a slow, expensive, and frustrating experience for borrowers.

Lendela hopes to reshape how Singaporeans think about borrowing with its unique brand of humour and storytelling, and in the process challenge preconceived notions about borrowing that have hurt Singaporeans’ ability to make informed financial decisions, since a more transparent and efficient lending industry means more options and savings for them.

Through its unique loan matching platform, Lendela matches borrowers with multiple personalised loan options from over 50 banks and loan providers in minutes, ensuring that borrowers always have the power to choose from all their available options. This is game-changing because borrowers have never been able to access all their available loan options without severely damaging their credit scores.

Furthermore, Lendela’s platform provides borrowers with transparent information to make an informed decision on their loans, offering end-to-end support to every borrower who needs it.

Since its inception in 2018, Lendela has enabled over 300,000 consumers to make informed financial decisions alongside more than 100 lending partners. The company raised S$7 million in an oversubscribed Series A in 2023 to scale its unique model across Asia Pacific. Lendela currently serves customers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia, with an office in Malaysia.