Alfie Usher’s Journey From Soldier to Entrepreneur

An ex-soldier, Alfie Usher, has launched a price comparison site for other ex-military members after recognising a gap in the market.

Following more than ten years of service in the armed forces, including two stints in Afghanistan, Usher found a lack of transparency with financial products offered to the military.

“When living on a base, you were often assigned to a specific insurer for life, health or car insurance and you had no other option to shop around. In most cases, you were being charged one very basic rate and often classed as higher risk, because you are in the military.”

“But this is not fully transparent,” he argues, “since everyone has different health issues or driving abilities and it is not fair that all soldiers are paying the same high prices for insurance, but also loans and credit cards, often put in the high risk or bad credit bracket.”

To overcome this, Usher launched Forces Compare, becoming the first-of-its-kind insurance comparison site designed especially for ex-military members. Using the site, ex-serving members can compare different insurance policies and find one which is best suited to them – taking over a year to secure different partners and offer a full market comparison.

“Today, people can shop for credit cards, loans, mortgages and all kinds of insurance, but they will get personalised quotes and not be required to pay higher prices, just because of their job in the forces.”

“In fact, we have had a lot of success with claims, helping soldiers and ex-military recover costs on their travel whilst on duty and also things like loan and pension compensation – when they were overcharged because of their military status.”

With over 100,000 followers on Facebook, Usher has become a voice of the people, often described as a military money saving expert. The facebook group makes regular quips at the armed forces, with light and playful humour, something that Usher encourages as a nice thing to have on a serious but important price comparison.

The platform is currently used by those who are part of the armed forces, however, in the future Usher wants to expand the target audience so that he can help support other people across different public sectors including the navy, the police force and nurses.

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