Our Financial inclusion strategy

The UK Insolvency Helpline’s financial inclusion strategy is a sustainable one;  to work toward ending financial exclusion. We are already the leader in debt and money advice in the UK helpline over 2 million people since 1986. We aim to continue punching above our weight in this important field, with a particular focus where appropriate on low income families.

We have five central objectives:

1. To maintain a strong high street presence in advice centres, hospitals, library’s and local councils.
2. To maintain and develop our leading market share in the provision of debt and money advice.
3. To encourage the provision of debt advice for those on low incomes by offering support to expert organisations
4. To actively support the provision of financial advice and education by working with specialists in the not for profit sector.
5. To extend our presence in local communities, offering employment opportunities and support for local projects.

Over a million adults in Britain still live their lives without the most basic of financial products. Some 6-9 per cent of all households do not have any kind of bank or building society account and 14-23per cent live without the flexibility of a current account. There is a large minority of people for whom the financial services revolution has effectively passed them by; they are financially excluded.

The aim of financial inclusion is to see everyone have access to appropriate financial products, and the confidence and capability to use them to make a positive difference to their lives. The UK Insolvency Helpline is now working with financial-inclusion.co.uk, which is a financial comparison site for consumers to purchase financial services products such as general insurance, low cost credit cards & loans and savings accounts.

Many people, particularly those living on low incomes, cannot access mainstream financial products such as bank accounts and low cost loans. This financial exclusion imposes real costs on individuals and their families, often the most vulnerable people in our society. It also has costs for the communities in which they live.

For many families debt means that substantial parts of their weekly income are spent on servicing loans, and usually for goods already consumed, such as food, petrol or clothing. The consequences of servicing high levels of debt are financially crippling, and have disastrous effects on these families’ health and wellbeing. Access to affordable and available credit would go some way to ameliorating this situation.

The lack of access to affordable credit leads to unaffordable debt for low-income households. This debt has social and economic consequences, including higher incidence of depression, poor health, relationship break-ups, crime and unavailability for paid work. [more...]