Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to support, promote and increase the ethical personal lending market as an alternative to high-cost credit providers.

This question was answered on 29th March 2018
The government is committed to delivering a well-functioning and sustainable consumer credit market which is able to meet the needs of all consumers.

In March, the government hosted the first meeting of the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum, a new key initiative bringing together government, regulators, industry and the third sector to coordinate action and provide leadership in tackling these challenges. The Forum’s mission is to ensure that individuals, regardless of their background or income, have access to useful and affordable financial products and services, including affordable credit.

The government also supports credit unions, which provide an affordable alternative to high-cost credit. In the Autumn Budget 2017, the government announced its intention to help the sector expand by increasing the number of potential members of credit unions from two million to three million. In addition, from this year a greater proportion of funds recovered from illegal money lenders will be allocated to incentivise vulnerable people to join, save, and borrow with a credit union instead of turning to loan sharks.