An entrepreneur’s journey – Alfie Usher, founder of Forces Compare

“It started when I came out of the army after 10 years of service,” Alfie explains. “It occurred to me that we had been heavily overcharged for things like basic loans, credit cards and insurance. As soldiers, we were often grouped as high risk or bad credit, based on just our profession and this meant paying a lot more for the average product.”

“It was only when I started paying normal rates as as ‘civvy’ (civilian) that I realised how much I was getting ripped off.”

Alfie served in the parachute regime for over 10 years before starting Forces Money in 2017, now called Forces Compare. He had a cult following on social media through his satirical and often controversial Facebook page called ‘Fill Your Boots,’ which today boasts over 100,000 active members.

Alfie spent around 18 months procuring the best partners for the website, finding those insurers and lenders that would offer affordable rates and act in an unbiased way towards soldiers.

Today, the company helps people purchase a range of financial products including car insurance, loans, credit cards, car finance and more. There is also a section helping soldiers claim on expenses such as travel, tax and marriage allowances.

“Saving people money has been a big thing for us, and is probably our USP,” Alfie continues. “There is no reason why soldiers and veterans should be paying higher rates for things like car insurance or home insurance. After all, most are used to dealing with heavy machinery, so driving a Toyota Prius is not exactly high risk. Equally, they are good at securing their homes or keeping their belongings safe – and insurers are starting to recognise this.”

In the last year alone, Forces Compare has underwritten over £250,000 worth of car insurance policies, saving the average person around £240 on comprehensive car cover (based on average national figures of £485 and average policies costing £239 from Forces Compare).

Alfie also runs an annual ‘rough sleep’ with fellow ex-soldiers to raise awareness about ex-soldiers that become homeless, with events taking place across Newcastle, Middlesborough and Sunderland.