The statistics in this report paint a stark picture of the scale of appliance poverty and its cost to vulnerable people of living without the basics; both financial, physical and emotional. In order to tackle this, the report recommends raising awareness to alternatives to high-cost credit. A key alternative is the responsible finance industry. Responsible finance providers are a vital source of unsecured credit for households, and give individuals in vulnerable circumstances access to products and services designed around what they need. They offer an affordable option to taking out a high-cost loan for the purchase of white goods, or even going without. In 2019, responsible finance providers saved their customers £7.5 million in interest payments compared to if they had gone to a high-cost lender, an example of how the sector can transform the lives of those facing appliance poverty.
Last year the Government removed the requirement for housing associations to have FCA authorisation for credit broking when referring their clients to sources of affordable credit. In addition to the recommendations contained in this report, we are calling for further collaboration between housing associations and responsible finance providers to put referral channels in place to ensure that tenants who need to purchase white goods and furniture are aware of the responsible finance industry as an alternative to high-cost lenders.
You can read the full report on Turn2Us’s website: https://www.turn2us.org.uk/About-Us/News/Millions-across-the-UK-are-living-without