S5E16 Banking The New Majority: Tamara Laine

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Credit scores were built for a world of steady paycheques and long mortgages—so what happens when half the workforce earns through gigs, multiple clients, and flexible hours? We sit down with Tamara Lane, an Emmy-winning journalist turned fintech founder, to explore how AI and verified alternative data can open fair credit to the people traditional underwriting overlooks: drivers, carers, creators, renters, and newly arrived citizens who keep the economy moving.

Tamara walks us through Empower’s approach to building lender-ready profiles from real life signals—rent payments, utilities, bank inflows, and multi-source income—sourced directly from institutions rather than hype-heavy tech. We unpack why human-in-the-loop systems matter for trust, how feedback loops keep products grounded in user reality, and why diverse teams aren’t a “nice to have” but essential to preventing bias at scale. Along the way, we challenge outdated assumptions about the gig economy and map a path where financial inclusion is not charity, but overdue modernisation.

You’ll hear a clear case for storytelling and community as the engines of adoption, practical ways to evaluate AI tools for privacy and safety, and a forward look at the next decade of work where soft skills and emotional intelligence rise in value. If you’ve ever paid your rent on time yet struggled to access credit, or if you build products and want to keep people at the centre, this conversation offers both strategy and hope.

If this resonates, follow and share the show with someone who needs a fairer shot at finance. Subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us: what everyday data should count toward credit that doesn’t today?

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