Media Release: Resolver warns of ‘a tidal wave of bad credit’ as complaints hit record levels

Today, the chief executive of the Financial Services Authority announced that young people are having to borrow to cover basic living costs, Resolver’s latest borrowing figures suggest that people across all demographics are feeling the squeeze as money gets tighter.

Credit card complaints are up 113% in the previous six months, from 1,237 cases to 2,629 from April to September 2017, with concerns about interest, charges and affordability most often cited.

High-interest lending has come in for particular criticism – and payday lending complaints are up too, with 1,546 cases, an increase of 35% on the previous six months. Traditional loans have increased by 12% to 1481 complaints.

 

James Walker, founder of Resolver says:

As a nation, we’ve almost become used to high levels of debt. But before we sleepwalk into another crisis, we need to acknowledge that many people are on the borderline of defaulting on their financial commitments – and ask what we can do to help get them get back into the black.

Young people, in particular, are paying the price for job insecurity, ‘the gig economy’ and rising rental costs. That so many young people are turning to high-cost loans to make ends meet should worry us because it ‘normalises’ borrowing to break even. So while tighter regulation is a good thing, we need to look at what we can do to help all people who are only ever a wage packet away from going under.

 

Key credit and debt statistics

Case Service type	Apr 16 - Sep 16	Oct 16 - Mar 17	Apr 17 - Sep 17	Totals	% increase / decrease
Credit cards	746	1237	2629	4922	113%
Mortgages	600	1352	2164	4793	60%
Payday loans	670	1147	1546	3937	35%
Loans	1014	1317	1481	4861	12%