UK credit 'needs to be more inclusive'

By Sarah Engle, Tue 23 Mar 2010 - Published in Loans

Lenders should open up the UK's credit market to stop people becoming disenfranchised from financial services, it has been suggested.

Speaking at the Institute of Economic Affairs conference, AA Financial Services director Mark Huggins claimed that Brits are becoming divided into two camps - those who have access to credit and those who do not.

He also said that this risks creating dissatisfaction among people who cannot obtain credit or face high interest rates on loans and claimed this could force more borrowers to resort to door-step lending.

"This will further damage the already-tarnished reputation of our industry and it is time that the market worked together to offer affordable lending solutions to the majority of people," Mr Huggins told the conference.

The director added that the financial services industry needs to adopt a responsible approach to lending, but claimed it must not become so cautious that creditworthy consumers are excluded.

Paul Jones, senior researcher at the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion at Liverpool John Moores University, recently said that more needs to be done to create accessible financial services in the UK.

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