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Many low-to-middle income households see maintaining a “good” credit score as vital, often sacrificing essentials to protect it. Credit score apps and dashboards can amplify this pressure. A survey of 3,400 households and 30 interviews shows credit score dashboards can often encourage overborrowing and deter help-seeking. The cost-of-living crisis has exposed a credit reporting system favouring lender interests over borrower welfare and reform is urgently needed.
New CfRC research indicates that some lower-income borrowers are highly sensitive to their credit scores, and this could be negatively impacting their financial behaviours: causing them to prioritise credit repayments over the payment of household bills and other essentials. People in financial difficulty may also be receiving inappropriate messages that encourage them to take on more credit than they can afford.
This project assessed the extent to which applicants to the FlexMyRent scheme were honest about their financial circumstances, and which disclosures were most predictive of success. Qualitative interviews indicate that the framing of FlexMyRent generated trust and this encouraged honest disclosure. Quantitative analysis points to the self-disclosure of existing debt burdens and rent account starting balance as the most important predictors of success.
The pandemic's impacts have been extremely unequal. And there are implications for the way we should assess credit risk. In a briefing paper for the University of Birmingham's Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management ('CHASM'), we call for credit scoring systems to incorporate social justice considerations.
