Coronavirus Crisis – Mitigating the effects on UK households of lending by banks and other lenders
The Fairbanking Foundation is dedicated to improving the financial well-being of consumers. We believe that financial institutions owe a duty of care to their customers, and to the country as a whole and should work to improve the financial well-being of their customers.
The coronavirus pandemic has already had a huge impact on the financial well-being of consumers, millions of whom were already overburdened with debt, including to high cost lenders, and had no savings to fall back on to deal with a shock to household income. As the UK enters what could be the deepest recession since the 1700s the impact on consumer financial well-being will be very significant.
Beyond the lockdown Covid-19 will cast a long shadow over people’s lives. The Government and many financial institutions have provided very welcome short term relief – the job retention scheme, payment holidays and debt collection forebearance to name a few. But payment holidays do not make debts disappear. More and more enduring measures will be needed to support consumers over the coming years. We have already seen unprecedented situations demanding unprecedented policy responses.
In a new paper published today our Founder, Antony Elliott advocates significant intervention by government and regulators now to restrict high cost credit and limit the cost of credit, effectively extending the type of controls which already apply to affordable credit from credit unions to a wider range of credit lenders, including bank overdrafts. This is one idea for the present which could help to prevent some greater debt problems down the line.
We are keen to hear thoughts on Antony’s proposals, and play our part in the coming months to advocate for a wide range of policy responses which will be needed to improve consumer financial well-being. Click here to keep updated.
To read the full report by Anthony Elliott, OBE and founder of The Fairbanking Foundation and learn more about the 'Coronavirus Crisis – Mitigating the effects on UK households of lending by banks and other lenders"
