Over the past two years there has been increasing concern about levels of illegal lending. But estimates of its scale vary widely. This study involved secondary analysis of the FCA's Financial Lives Survey for 2020. The findings highlight that recent small-scale surveys indicating a significant rise in illegal lending are likely to be unreliable, and that over-indebtedness and previous, legal, high-cost credit use are dangerous drivers that need to be addressed.
The Financial Conduct Authority is in the final stages of consulting on its proposals for a new Consumer Duty, which focuses on ensuring improved outcomes for users of financial services and products. In this briefing we consider how the proposed duty could help to address long-standing problems associated with ‘relending’ in the UK’s consumer credit markets.
In 2008, as the financial crisis hit, our Executive Director, Damon Gibbons, teamed up with Ian McCartney MP to write a briefing focused on the need to protect low income borrowers. The report coined the term 'credit dependency', to describe the relationship with high cost legal lenders, and called for caps on the cost of credit, greater focus on affordable lending, and action to tackle illegal lenders.
In 2012 we undertook a study tour to Japan and investigated the impact of their measures to cap the cost of credit and prevent irresponsible lending. Our report highlights the positive effects of these measures, and drew out the implications for the UK.
We need urgent action to address Britain’s household debt crisis. Even before the Covid‑19 pandemic 7.2 million people (fourteen percent of the population) were heavily burdened by debt.
This report provides an assessment of the social benefits that have been created by Fair for You: a Community Interest Company providing affordable credit to families with incomes in the lower half of the income distribution throughout the UK.