Plum - using an influencer massively in debt

[Iloveberets]

Plum are currently heavily running an ad which features Yasmin Camilla. She was £50k in debt a few years ago, this was then wiped (mostly by Klarna) after a social media campaign only for her to, again, end up £52k in debt last year.

Less than 2 months ago she was crying on the internet begging for money to pay her mortgage, and subsequently set up a go fund me where her followers donated.

Now, Plum are using her in their ad - talking about how she’s saving money for a holiday: when she’s £52k in debt and has managed money appallingly. Surely there needs to be rules around this kind of thing? It shouldn’t be the Wild West out there.

Who is she? I’ve just looked at her instagram but can’t really work out who she is or where she’s come from?

What is plum?

Those creepy non-banks are for people like her though so it’s right up her street. The people I know who are in tons of debt all have a Monzo or Revolut as well. They just seem a bit juvenile.

I just had at a nosey at her. More fool Plum (whoever they are) I say. She's only got around 30k followers too so she's pretty small fry. I assume most people won't recognise her and anyone that does will know about her financial situation.

I don’t agree, a lot of these companies such as Monzo and Revolut are banks and therefore are FCA regulated so they’re just newcomers, doesn’t mean they’re “creepy”.

She’s been the stem of quite a lot of controversy recently like apparently lying about where she gets her Mounjaro from and representing a company many said she hadn’t used (I follow her but not closely enough to notice to be fair!)

But she is an example of why influencers/creators need to be careful- your audience will remember things about you and as soon as you take a brand deal that doesn’t reflect your general content/platform or you do something just for money, they will (and should) call you out on it. She by a long stretch isn’t the only one to do stuff like this though!

She’s obviously a keen follower of Katie Price’s money management techniques.

There are rules - report them to the FCA if you think they are being marketed irresponsibly.

But I’m not sure what your problem is with someone who has been in debt advertising a product that might actively prevent people from getting into debt in the future? It’s not like she’s advertising something like Klarna?

They aren't all banks and not all have the FSCS protection, plum isn't a bank for example

Not a problem as long as it's clear to everyone interacting with them

That’s why I said a lot of these companies, as opposed to saying all of them, and also why I didn’t give Plum as an example

There are rules and you can report it here:
https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/misleading-financial-promotions/report

Oh it’s awful - how can someone £50k in debt be promoting a service they can’t be using themselves. It just perpetuates this myth that everyone else is rolling in it and leads to more debt for more people. She’s such a bad role model.

Monzo is a proper bank, nothing creepy about it
I have no debts and earn well, Monzo gives me a decent interest rate on my savings too.

They’re not non banks what are you on about.
I’ve got Monzo for the pots and a spare card for my daughter.
Revolut is good for using abroad.
Also Lloyds for everyday/ savings - hopefully that’s a ‘real’ bank 😂

They are still in debt - some £52k. So making out that’s a good time to save a few grand for a holiday rather than pay off the mountain of debt is irresponsible imo. Kids have bad loads of holidays last few years, she gets gifted festival tickets so they really don’t need to rob from debt repayments for a holiday.

Where does she talk about her debt?

There’s three threads about her on Tattle but I can’t post there.

Where doesn't she talk about her debt 😂

Oh ok! I ask this as someone who had never heard of her until this morning 😁.

Sorry, didn't mean it in a snarky way towards you!

It's just her entire personality

If what she’s saying about Plum is factually correct, then there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with their partnership.

Whether she is an ideal brand ambassador is another story but entirely up to them. They might be helping her manage her debt and pay it off? They might just not care about the messenger, more the audience she reaches.

I’ve never heard of her before but her feed looks boring and benign.

You lost me at ‘influencer’.

Revolution is good if you fancy being defrauded. Take a look at the Panorama investigation.

Revolut!! Damn auto correct.

I suppose it works if people are now more aware of plum. I use plum and have managed to save quite a bit of cash without really noticing it. I also use monzo as it outstrips all the traditional banks for ease of use. Creepy and proud