Expanding access to affordable credit not a silver bullet

12 June, 2013

In response to the government’s announcement on increasing access to affordable short-term credit, StepChange Debt Charity director of external affairs Delroy Corinaldi said:

“Today’s announcement is welcome news for financially vulnerable consumers who in these bleak economic times have seen an unprecedented squeeze on incomes and household budgets. In too many instances these people have been left with nowhere else to turn but high-cost forms of borrowing such as payday loans and home-credit, which often simply make a bad situation even worse.

“Expanding access to affordable credit is crucial to improving the position of financially vulnerable consumers, however, today’s announcement is not a silver bullet. Increased access to affordable credit needs to take place alongside actions to ensure that people do not borrow money they cannot afford to repay”.