Sprive app review and referral code: AI help for your mortgage

How would you like a helping hand in helping to pay off your mortgage? Well, there’s an app that can do just that. Let’s take a look at Sprive to see how it works and how much of a difference it can make to you.

Sprive review

Almost without exception, the biggest debt any of us will ever have is a mortgage. And it’s something that we tend to put to the back of our minds. Because the interest rate is usually lower compared to other types of borrowing, we don’t think too much about it.

But the truth is, a mortgage can be quite costly over 25 years (or more). Even making the smallest payments could save you a lot of money over the long term.

This is where the Sprive app can give you a helpful boost.

What is Sprive?

Sprive was founded by former Goldman Sachs banker Jinesh Vohra and uses smart technology to calculate how much you can afford to save and uses this to reduce the term of your mortgage. The service is completely free to use.

How does Sprive make money?

If the service is free, then how does Sprive make money? Well, they compare mortgage rates and may suggest when you can find a better deal. If you take out one of these deals, Sprive will earn a commission.

Is it safe?

Sprive is an appointed representative of Albany Park Limited for mortgage services and uses Prepay Technologies Ltd as its electronic money account. If something should happen to Sprive, this money is protected and will be returned to you. They are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The app uses 256-bit TLS encryption to ensure that your data is kept safe.

Does it work with every bank?

Sprive currently works with Nationwide, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, Santander, RBS, Virgin Money, Halifax, Natwest, Yorkshire Building Society, and TSB Bank.

How does Sprive work?

You’ll need to download the app to your phone and create an account. As you go, Sprive will show you the app’s potential and how much you can save by paying your mortgage off early. For example, If you stopped spending £5 on a pint of beer per day and put it towards your mortgage, you could reduce your payment time by over five years and save almost £11,000 in interest.

Once you’ve shared basic personal and contact details, Sprive must be connected to your bank account and mortgage. This is done through open banking, which almost all major financial organisations use. If your bank’s app is downloaded to your phone, it should take less than a minute.

When your accounts are connected, Sprive will ask how much you want to set your monthly minimum and maximum overpayment. This can be between £1 and £750 and Sprive will use its Artificial Intelligence (AI) to calculate exactly how much you can save. If you’ve used apps like Plum or Chip, you’ll be used to the system.

Once Sprive has made its calculations, it will debit the money from your current account and place it into an e-money account. But you don’t have to just rely on Sprive’s AI to work out how much you can save, you can also manually add money from the touch of a button.

If you like, you can set up an overpayment limit. This is especially useful if you think you might be able to pay large sums off your mortgage each month. Most mortgages come with a penalty if you pay off more than 10% in a year, so this will help to keep a check on your balance.

You can transfer the money to your mortgage anytime you like, simply by pressing a button. In most cases, it should be there by the next working day, but it does depend on your provider.

What if you need the money?

Life has a habit of throwing us nasty surprises at times and we need all the cash we can get our hands on. If you find that you could do without paying off extra on your mortgage, any money in your Sprive account can be sent back to your bank.

Saving a little extra

Sprive also has a rewards scheme that can help you save more. On the app, you’ll find gift cards for dozens of popular stores in the UK. Buy one and you’ll earn a certain amount back into your Sprive account, usually between 2 and 6%.

For example, if you want to spend £20 at Just Eat, visit Sprive first. Buy your gift card and then load it onto your Just Eat account. You’ll earn £1 back on your mortgage and it takes two minutes to do. It’s not just for online shopping, some of the cards can be used in-store too.

Other retailers include M&S, B&M, Uber Eats, IKEA, Morrisons and Argos, but there are dozens to choose from.

It’s important to note that any cashback earned can only go towards paying off your mortgage. It cannot be paid back into your bank like the autosavings.

New mortgage deals

The final benefit of using Sprive is the mortgage switching service. Their technology searches over 20,000 mortgages every day to see if you can get a better deal. If you have any issues or questions, you can schedule a call with one of their advisers.

If you switch through Sprive, they will earn a commission.

How much can Sprive really save you?

This is a bit of a difficult question. There’s no set answer with mortgage amounts, repayment length, and interest rates differing.

But let’s say that your mortgage interest rate is 5%. For every £1 you borrow, you’ll have to repay a total of £2.25 over the course of 25 years. It might not sound much, but imagine if your mortgage is for £200,000. No matter how small or large you can make in overpayments, it will make a big dent in how much you have to repay.

Sprive calculates that, on average, couples are likely to save £5,500 on interest payments and pay off their mortgage two years and two months earlier by using the app.

As you can see below, Sprive calculated that if I paid an extra £175 – £200 per month, I would save between £21k and £23k in interest payments and would clear my mortgage six years sooner.

Sprive in action

I can hardly review an app without trying it for myself.

The whole process of creating an account and linking it to my mortgage and current account was easy, and took me just a few minutes. And there was little more for me to do.

Sprive worked away in the background, transferring small amounts from my bank every week. At the end of the month, by clicking a button, that money went straight into my mortgage.

The cashback rates were competitive too and beat some of the rates on offer from other gift card sites and apps. There is a slight downside and that’s using it in-store. If the phone signal is quite weak, it becomes a bit of an arduous process.

I can’t comment on whether the mortgage deals were any better than anything I can find myself as my mortgage hasn’t needed renewing. However, I checked against Compare The Market and the rates were very similar.

Sprive refer a friend

Sprive has a fairly generous referral scheme. If you refer three friends, you’ll get £25 towards your mortgage and they’ll get £5 each too.

My Sprive review conclusion

If I’m honest, I’m quite a sad person and I’ve always been quite good at overpaying my mortgage each month. But this app does make things far easier. Because it takes smaller amounts from my account, I’ll hardly notice the money missing.

There’s very little effort involved and the rewards are quite large. Yes, I don’t notice the benefits straight away, but will certainly appreciate them 15+ years down the line.

This is certainly an app anyone with a mortgage should give a whirl.

Sprive referral code

If you fancy trying Sprive, use the code INRWFKGS when you join and you’ll get a £5 bonus towards your mortgage.

Sprive

And don’t forget, if you like to switch bank accounts to earn money, then Sprive will be handy to use as a cheap direct debit.

FAQS