4 December 2021: “The FCA has encouraged the growth of not-for-profit alternatives such as credit unions and community development financial institutions — CDFIs…demand for emergency credit is not going to go away.” Nicholas Megaw, Journalist at the Financial Times.
This substantial long read article about the social impact of ‘subprime’ lending was published in the 4-5 December (weekend) edition of The Financial Times.
The article describes the rise in the number of UK adults with elements of financial vulnerability and how this is expected to rise at the same time as the number of legal credit providers catering to the so-called subprime market is falling.
It says this means the success of ethical alternatives including community development finance institutions (CDFIs) is crucial, otherwise more people will be pushed to illegal operators.
It notes the positive impact of personal lending CDFIs with an excellent story about a Salad Money customer. Her experience with our member was a stark contrast to an earlier experience with Provident Financial.
And the article includes commentary from CDFI Moneyline and from Responsible Finance CEO, Theodora Hadjimichael, as it examines perceptions about the CDFI sector and the potential challenges of scaling-up to meet demand.
If you are an FT subscriber you can read the article here.
What next?
- Personal-lending Community Development Finance Institutions helped 31,000 people save £11 million in interest recently. Read our “Building a Better Future” report
- Media / journalists: Responsible Finance, our members and clients have featured in TV, radio, national and regional newspapers, magazines, online and in podcasts. We were able to connect a CDFI customer with the Financial Times journalist for this article.
- We can offer interviews, comment and case studies about access to finance / affordable credit / financial inclusion / debt, relating to businesses, social enterprises and people. Please contact [email protected] // 07904 272 200 to request interviews and case studies.