Responsible finance providers are organisations such as community development finance institutions (CDFIs) and credit unions (CUs) who provide access to finance in a fair and transparent way that places people first.
Responsible finance providers create opportunity and change lives. They are not for shareholder profit and mission driven, to bring economic and social benefits to people and places.
There are three main sectors of responsible finance providers:
- Small business lenders – lend to businesses that struggle to get finance fro start up, growth or cashflow from mainstream finance. The businesses lent to are viable but often regarded as too risky or unprofitable to get finance from mainstream banks.
- Social enterprise lenders – lend to social enterprises that have real economic, social and environmental impact across the UK. Many of these are charities bot others are real businesses doing business in a different way.
- Personal lenders – provide affordable credit and financial capability support to individuals. This helps people on low incomes with no savings to avoid taking on high cost unmanageable debt. Some of our members provide finance to homeowners to make urgent home repairs or energy efficiency improvements.
If you are looking for a loan from a responsible finance provider, you can search here.