VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marble Financial Inc. (CSE: MRBL; OTCQB: MRBLF; FSE:2V0) (“Marble” or the “Company”) an AI-driven financial technology company that educates and helps Canadians better understand and manage their current cash flow and credit towards a better financial future, is pleased to announce it has entered into an arm’s length definitive credit facility agreement (“Credit Agreement”) with CHP Agent Services Inc., a subsidiary of an independent, non-affiliated Canadian based alternative specialty lender, Cypress Hills Partners Inc. (“CHP”).
The Credit Agreement provides for a $10 million credit facility to Marble through its wholly owned Special Purpose Vehicle (“SPV”) subsidiary and TPFM as servicing agent for originations, adjudications, administration, and monitoring of the SPV loan portfolio. The aggregate amount of the funding is determined as a selected percentage (“the “Advance Rate”) of the SPV’s eligible customer loans, with the initial Advance Rate set at 95% and a minimum threshold of 80%. Interest is charged at Canadian Prime(1) plus 13%, with a provisional discount if the Advance Rate is less than 95%. The maturity date for all funds advanced is three years after the first funding advance, with an option to extend for a further two years upon mutual agreement.
The Credit Facility will be used to re-engage Marble’s legacy financial wellness Fast-Track program. The Fast-Track program helps qualified Canadians accelerate their credit rebuilding process by exiting their Consumer Proposal and commencing their journey back to mainstream financial inclusion. Marble thru its wholly owned subsidiary, TPFM will continue to originate and adjudicate the Fast-Track program through its proprietary MyMarble Platform and will manage the SPV loan portfolio and earn the net interest income and other income, including insurance, administration fees and SaaS revenue. This opportunity will enable Marble to re-engage and greatly expand its Fast-Track program and support the Company’s Data Science and Machine Learning initiatives towards Marble’s Second-Generation scoring algorithms. Data Analysis will continue to provide meaningful insights on future products and solutions for the millions of underbanked Canadian that are excluded from traditional financial services.
This Credit Agreement enables Marble to originate, adjudicate its Fast-Track program and service the loan portfolio through the Company’s proprietary MyMarble platform and continue its growth strategy in providing personal finance and credit wellness technology solutions to the millions of underbanked Canadians that are financially marginalized.
Since the break of the COVID-19 pandemic Marble has received over 2000 pre-qualified MyMarble Members looking to enroll in Fast-Track once it becomes available this month. With a historic average loan size of $8,000 combined with potential SaaS based subscription revenue, the resumption of Fast-Track creates a large pool of multi-stream revenue opportunity with negligible marketing spend.
In the midst of Canada’s slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ending of government-led income subsidiary and deferral programs, a July 2021 Debt Survey by MNP has shown that 45% of Canadians are doubtful they can cover living expenses this year, with a massive 30% report being insolvent(2). Marble’s Fast-Track program, combined with MyMarble, is a proven successful solution for this large population of goal-oriented Canadians who have recently become insolvent or filed for a consumer proposal caused by a perpetual state of low-income.
With many experts predicting that more and more Canadians are expected to file for Consumer Proposals, this growing number of potential insolvent consumers will increase demand for Fast-Track in the years to come. According to Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (“CAIRP”), consumer insolvencies have recently increased by a record-breaking 22.8% in March 2021 compared to February 2021. This marks the largest single month-over-month increase in more than 10 years(3).
“At Marble, our mission is to nourish confidence in Canadians to redefine their financial outlook. This Credit Agreement enables Marble to continue looking forward to empowering more financially challenged Canadians back to the mainstream economy,” states Karim Nanji, Marble CEO. “The re-commencement of the Fast-Track program is both significant and timely given the current economic circumstances facing Canadians. We are encouraged that CHP believes in our business strategies and has the confidence in our management team to execute on it.”
“We believe the re-engagement of the credit wellness Fast-Track program by Marble is very well timed. Cypress Hills looks forward to a long partnership with the Marble as they disrupt the financial wellness space in Canada,” states Kelly Klatik, Managing Partner of Cypress Hills Partners. ”
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,
Karim Nanji, CEO
About Cypress Hills Partners Inc. - Cypress Hills Partners (CHP) is an alternative specialty lender based out of Vancouver, Canada. CHP’s primary focus is a receivable lending strategy with loan facilities secured against consumer and SME cashflows and/or other type of acceptable security. CHP’s target vertical is lending to Specialty Lending Platforms in Canada and the U.S. via private debt structures ranging in size from $5 million to $50 million. Cypress Hills Partners is adept in leveraging technology and financial structuring experience, to accelerate the growth of specialty lending platforms and service providers, creating a differentiated market advantage. Direct privately negotiated investments may include consumer loans, small and medium sized enterprise (SME) loans, advances against corporate trade receivables and equipment, senior secured loans, regulatory capital, and mezzanine debt.
About Marble Financial Inc. (CSE: MRBL; OTC: MRBLF; FSE:2V0) Marbles’ proprietary MyMarble platform utilizes the power of machine learning, data science, and artificial intelligence, in leveraging its proven data-driven strategies through technology solutions Inverite, Score-Up, Fast Track and Maestro to engage in and navigate a clear path towards financial wellbeing and a meaningful credit score, since 2016, Marble is proud to have empowered thousands of marginalized consumers to a positive financial future, and we continue to establish ourselves as leaders in financial wellness through the licensing of our proprietary products on the MyMarble Platform.
For further information, please visit the company’s website at: http://mymarble.ca
Mike Marrandino,
Executive Chairman
T:(855) 661-2390 ext. 104
Email: ir@marblefinancial.ca
NOTES:
(1) means, for any day, the per annum interest rate published as the “prime rate” by the Bank of Canada, except that if such rate shall exceed 5.00% the prime rate shall be deemed to be 5.00%, and if such rate shall fall below 3.50%, the prime rate shall be deemed to be 3.50%.
(2) https://mnpdebt.ca/en/resources/mnp-consumer-debt-index
(3) https://storeys.com/consumer-insolvencies-canada-highest-level/
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