Robert Pasco

Current Employer/Organisation Name

Plend

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

I left Exeter in 2014 and qualified as a Chartered Account and Tax Advisor, working with EY, Deloitte and Saffery Champness in credit structuring. In 2020 I founded an ethical consumer lender called Plend, which uses open-data to provide affordable credit to those of us in the UK who have inaccurate or invisible credit histories.

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

I became an accountant initially, as it was one of the few grad schemes that accepted me! I started Plend as I didn’t have a credit history when I came to the UK and struggled to access affordable credit and build my profile so I could access a mortgage. I had to use an expensive credit builder card, which put me into debt and took 3 years to repay. This situation led me to me starting Plend to provide credit to people either new or who have struggled with credit and need an affordable alternative. The impact we have made to date has been amazing and is illustrated by our customer’s positive interaction with our products, with only 4 of them (out of 5,000) defaulting to date.

Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?

PPE Society and Exeter Entrepreneur Society

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

Diverse subjects and great lecturers

What did you enjoy most about studying here?

Aside from the subjects, really enjoyed the social side of Exeter

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

It was rated the best place to study academically and to live as a student by my exchange university in New Zealand (Massey)