“They make it feel like it’s your fault,” says Cath Wohlers of loan sharks. They use manipulation, isolation and coercive control and they ruin lives, as she describes in this new podcast interview. Earlier this year… Continue reading
News
Recovery Loan Scheme successor announced
The Government announced today (20 July 2022) that there will be a successor scheme to the Recovery Loan Scheme, which will open for applications in August 2022. Responsible Finance has been calling for confirmation of a… Continue reading
Pioneers Post: CDFI lending jumps, call for banks and businesses to invest in CDFIs
1 June 2022: International social enterprise and impact investment magazine, Pioneers Post, featured our Impact Report in its latest Impact Finance Bulletin. Its article covers the total increase in CDFI lending, the jobs, social enterprises and… Continue reading
Responsible finance changes lives – 2022 Impact Report
Our 2022 Impact Report gives a comprehensive insight into CDFIs’ work and the unique effects of fair, affordable finance from our members in 2021. The businesses, social enterprises and jobs we created and grew. The millions of pounds we helped households save in interest. The inequalities we fought.
It covers our purpose-driven members’ social, environmental and economic impacts, and maps how this work contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), today, all over the UK. Continue reading
The Financial Times: Banks and Government should support community finance
Financial Times consumer editor Claer Barrett’s comprehensive article, published in FT Weekend and online, says millions of people are vulnerable to loan sharks and calls on banks to get behind community lenders. Continue reading
Where Next for Guarantees? The CBI and Responsible Finance
A joint blog by Theodora Hadjimichael, Responsible Finance, and Chris Wilford, The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Reports in the Financial Times and other media suggest it’s not a matter of whether there will be a… Continue reading
The FT: Scale-up CDFIs to fill Provident gap
31 March 2022: An FT article about Provident Financial, which closed its doorstep lending division last year after receiving thousands of customer complaints and being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for selling unaffordable loans,… Continue reading
The sharks’ feeding frenzy and how to starve them
Devastating stories in a new report from the Centre for Social Justice show how easily illegal lenders ensnare ordinary people. It finds nowhere is safe from loan sharks and estimates at least a million people are… Continue reading
BBC Money Box: Theodora Hadjimichael interviewed on community lenders
12th March 2022: BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme covered community lenders and their impact, including an interview with Responsible Finance CEO, Theodora Hadjimichael. Presenter Paul Lewis quizzed Theodora about how community finance firms are different… Continue reading
Community finance finds £60m lifeline for low-income households
Thanks to impact-focused responsible lenders, lower-income households have millions of pounds in their pockets they wouldn’t otherwise, a lifeline with such huge increases in the cost of living coming and yet another example of CDFIs – community lenders – helping people build financial resilience. Continue reading