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  • Product design
  • UX research
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  • Prototyping

Finanzcheck, credit you can finally see.

People take out credit they don’t understand, then phone an advisor to ask the basics: what’s my rate, how much is left, can I pause? I designed a credit-management app that put the answers on the screen: one clear overview, status without a phone call, and a path to refinance for those who could.

Role
Lead UX
Company
FFG Finanzcheck
Scope
Research, product, prototype

The work

Overview

One place to see every credit, and what to do about it.

Finanzcheck is Germany’s leading independent credit-comparison platform. Customers compare offers and apply through it; bank partners issue the credit and advisors handle the human touch.

After applying, customers were invited into a logged-in app: all their credits in one view, real-time application status, the answers to the questions they used to call about, and, for those who qualified, a clear path to refinance to better terms.

The problem

Most people don’t understand their own credit.

User interviews and the credit advisors' own feedback surfaced a consistent blind spot. People held credit they couldn’t describe, and didn’t realise how much of their financial life counted as credit in the first place, which is why they kept phoning advisors to ask.

Their own rate

The individual interest rate on each credit: unknown.

What’s left to pay

Remaining runtime and balance: opaque.

Their conditions

Early-payoff penalties, pause options, fees: unclear.

What even counts

Instalments, overdraft, even unused cards: all credit.

That confusion was a business problem twice over.

Cost 01

Advisors stuck on status calls

After applying, customers called repeatedly to check status and ask the basics. Advisor time on those calls was time not spent advising and closing new clients.

Cost 02

Refinancing left on the table

Most users didn’t know refinancing was an option. With a clear picture, eligible customers could switch to better terms, value the platform was missing.

The bet

Make credit legible, and the calls take care of themselves.

If the app answered the questions people called about, clearly and in plain language before they had to ask, call volume drops and trust goes up. And once someone can see their full position, refinancing stops being a sales pitch and becomes an obvious, mutual win.

For the user

Lower cost, less to juggle

Lower interest, a better score, fewer credits to track.

For the platform

Revenue and retention

Refinancing revenue and retention, with fewer support calls.

For the banks

A clean handover

The old loan is paid out; the new partner earns the book.

User journey

From a credit you can’t see to one you control.

Same person, one path. The app steps in exactly where users used to pick up the phone, and turns the dead-end after approval into a reason to come back.

Applies for credit
Invited into the app
Sees every credit at once
instead of a call Gets the answers on screen
instead of a call Tracks the application
Gets a refinancing alert
Refinances to better terms
On the platformInside the app, where the calls used to happen
In numbers
75% fewer status calls, estimated at the time
4 problems solved own rate, what's left to pay, conditions, what counts as credit

My role

Owned the concept end to end.

  • Ran the qualitative research that surfaced the knowledge gap.
  • Owned the product concept and defined the beta scope.
  • Designed the flows, wireframes and interactive prototypes.
  • Coordinated with advisors for testing and validation.
  • Ran the internal beta with the advisors.

Impact

Validated in beta. Honest about the rest.

Validated

Backed by the leadership

Cleared internal scrutiny and won backing from the CBDO, CMO, Lead PO and Head of Advisors.

Advisors

They saw the relief

Internal advisors reported the app would cut the inbound status calls that ate their day. With the status visible in the app instead of an advisor call, we estimated at the time a 75 percent drop in status update calls.

Paused, not failed

Reprioritised in COVID

Built as an internal beta and slated for development. The first lockdown put the company entirely onto the funnel, everything else was cut, and the app never launched.

The whole file, on request.

Wireframes, the flow drafts, the component library with its variants and states, the spacing and radius scale, and every final screen. It is client work, so the file is password protected. Ask and I will send the password.

Ask for access

Currently available.

Product ownership and user experience leadership. Evidence based. Across banking, fintech, SaaS and more.

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