This is Later with Lee Matthews the Lee Matthews Podcast. More of what you hear Weekday Afternoon is on the Drive. I don't know if you've heard this story, the story of Dave Fishwick. I'm gonna let him tell most of the story because if I tell you the story, it's going to be ah. Go, Lee Matthews, you're making stuff up again. Dave Fishwick is joining us now. He's the subject of a new movie called The Bank of Dave. Dave. For our American friends who may not know your story,
let's start at the beginning. Hey, lady, Absolutely fantastic to be on your shore. I mean I started when I was sixteen years old. The left school absolutely useless, and I was a builder's labor on a building Silen fifty dollars a week, and I went from builder's labor to building the first new high street banking in Britain for over one hundred and fifty years. And then Hollywood turned up and made a movie about it. So that's really cool,
and that normally doesn't happen to you when you come from Burnley. It's a it's a very small town, a very tough place to live. But late two thousand and eight my minibus customers, because I went on to build a minibus business from one vehicle to the largest supplier of minibusses in the country, and my customers were coming along to me and they were asking for finance for vehicles, and I tried to get it from the banks like I had
done from years for them. And then overnight the banks just stopped lending to them. And I thought, have they done something wrong? Have they not paid a bill? Have they moved out? But do you know what, LEA, They do nothing wrong. So I thought, well, if I believe in these people, why don't I lend them the money and they can pay me back, And they did so I thought this banking mark, it's not that difficult. So I thought, I'll do something where I'll lend to
other businesses and other people. And I wanted to create something that allowed pensioners and hard working people to get the best rate of interest on my street, and then wanted to lend that money to people and businesses who couldn't borrow from the high Street bank. And then the profit after the all reds were paid, I wanted to give it to charity. I thought it can't be that
difficult. It was so difficult that everybody wanted to stop me, and the big banks hating me with a passion and still do everybody wanted to try and put me in prison. The regulators, it were just everywhere a looked. It was really, really tough. And it's on in a movie. Now that's how we got started. Yeah, well the day Fish is the subject of and the name of the movie is The Bank of Dave. Now, Dave, do I understand correctly? Here in the States we have a thing
called the FED, the Federal Reserve Board that sets interest rates. Is there a similar entity in Great Britain? Yes, there's a thing. I mean, there's a Bank of England in Great Britain that set the interest rates. But really I think the banks just have a chat between themselves decide what they're going to charge, and that everybody has to pay it, because mortgages for everybody have doubled, and yet interest rates for evings if not want hope.
So how does that work? You know, people who rob banks get to prison, but banks who robed people get paid bonuses. That's just so wrong, you know, and it has to change. Dave Fishwick, the Bank of Dave is the movie. It's out now, and it's about his story
forming his own bank, his own regional bank, as it were. That's one of the things that are many financial advisors here in the state's advice if you possibly can do as much business with a local bank, someone you can look in the eye, shake a hand of someone who'll get to know you and what you need financially and then help provide that for you. It sounds like that is something that the citizens of Great Britain were hungry for as well.
Absolutely, I just would like to see everybody in America and all your listeners, I would love to see them doing something similar in their community. I'd love to hear from them. They can catch me on Twitter at Fishwick Day of It, or on TikTok at Bank of Dave, and people can get in touch and say what they're you know, the situation that they're in
and what they'd like to see. Because if the Americans all got together in each community and all opened a bank of Lee pristancing your community, and there was a couple of entrepreneurs who had the money, who willing to risk their own money into it, so then they make sure everybody else's money is safe because every penny in Birny Savings and Lawns guaranteed band me and my business is
backed up. So there's no limit of what can be guaranteed, only what I'm allowed to do, which is I only lend out what I can afford to back up. The big banks don't think like that. They want to chop my left leg off and lose a penny of Granny's money. Where the big banks they think nothing about that. They're looking for twenty thirty million dollars bonuses. And what I'm looking at doing is the profit that I make. I feed children in food banks locally to Burny Savings Laws the Bank of Dave.
So on one side, we're feeding kids. On the other side of the banks are looking for millions in bonuses. Things have just got out of whack, out of kilt. It's very similar to It's a Wonderful Life, a fantastic movie you've got there in America where where the manager there of that bank, George, I think it's called he helps the local community. And this is this is like that. I'd not seen the movie until after i'd made mine, but when I saw it, I thought, that's saw similar
you know, I saw similar in so many ways. You know, it's it's the idea has been around a long time, but the big banks now they're making so much, so many billions of dollars, but it's just not going back into the community and not helping the people they were there to serve in the first place. It's all chronicled in the new movie Bank of Dave. It's about Dave Fishwick to whom we are speaking now, can you give be an example, Dave of maybe one of your customers in your mini van
business that they couldn't get a loan at all? But what how different was the interest rate? For instance, if they had been able to secure a loan from one of the big banks, what would the interest rate have been versus what you ended up charging. Well, we end up charging a flat rate, so we end up charging a couple of percent more of than what we give in interest, So we're cheaper than some of the big bangs.
But the people that borrow off me are people that normally would have to go to a payday lender, one of the one of the terrible companies out there, because they can't borrow from the big bangs. So some of the interest rate. They may have to pay four or five thousand percent. Now, I did a documentary. I made lots of documentaries that have gone around the world, and one of the documentaries I made were called The Lone Ranger, where I took on the pay deal on industry and I got the big one
in Britain clothes down that we're praying on the poor and vulnerable. So that the thing is the interest rate we charge is very low compared to anything else they can get. All we charge is a touch more than what we give me for the interest in the first place, So granted gets the best interest rate for horrible net We put two percent on and then lend it out to the customer. We paid the bills and anything left over we feed children.
So that is what we do. It can be replicated anywhere in the world as long as you've got a local entrepreneur, and you will have tons of those in America in different communities who will just put their name forward, put their money up as a guarantee and security. They can do the same as me, and I would love to see that in America. I would gladly come out and help people do the same in America. Maybe we can do a meeting on your show and we can chat to some people who maybe want
to do something similar. Dave Fishwick is his name, and the movie is the Bank of Dave, a fascinating true life. It's a wonderful life story and Dave again, where listeners can get in touch with you to learn more about the Bank of Dave. Yeah, so either can catch me on Twitter at Fishwick David, or on tiktop at Bank of Dave, or just google me. You know, I'm there. The guy that plays may Rory Kinnea, he's at a bond Tanner at a Bond and he looks more like me
than I know. So he were a really good pick. And then you've got Phoebe Deniver out of Bridgeton, that was their their biggest hit on Netflix. She's she plays a big part as well. You've got Joe Hartley out of Afterlife with Ricky Gervais. You've got Joel Fry out of the Game of
Fronds, You've got Hugh Bonneville that's out of everything. Yeah. The cast, the cast is just awesome, you know, and I mean normally that they spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get a number one, moving and remind it hit number one in a few days time, and it was we were so lucky because they didn't spend hundreds of billions on mine. But it's people have just took it to the heart and I love that the fact.
I mean people can can can can see it on Amazon now, they could see it on Apple, they could see it in the cinemas, and they can see it across America. And I would just love to hear from people. Any money that we received goes into Bamy savings and loans and faces children. So I'm doing it for the right reasons. The movie is just a lot of fun and hopeful that people will enjoin in America too. Dave Fishwick the subject of the new movie Bank of Dave, available everywhere you get movies.
And we thank you for bringing us the story Dave Fishwick, and for joining us today. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeart Media Presentation