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“My washing machine and hoover both went within a week of each other. I applied for a credit card, but that was rejected due to whatever I didn’t have in the bank. If you go with the catalogues, you’re paying huge interest – it’s poor quality and you’re paying more for it.” Lived experience contributor, Give Me Some Credit.

Fair By Design has launched its latest project, an online gallery titled Give Me Some Credit: The Reality of Life Without a Safety Net. You can view the online exhibition here.

For the past year Fair By Design has worked with The Poverty Alliance , Scotland’s network of organisations and individuals working together to end poverty, on this project to show what it is like to have no access to affordable credit.

Fair By Design brought together a group of 14 people, all of whom had experience of not being able to access affordable credit at a time of need. Using camera phones, they took photos and wrote stories to bring to life the day-to-day personal impacts on them.

Each photo and story reveal a unique perspective, from the stress of a household appliance breaking that you can’t afford to replace, to the anxiety of unexpected health emergencies.

Give Me Some Credit: The Reality of Life Without a Safety Net asks: what would you do without a safety net? And how can we build a fairer system where affordable credit is accessible to everyone?

 

Financial Inclusion in the UK 2024

The Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) at the University of
Birmingham was commissioned by the Financial Inclusion Commission to undertake a rapid review of financial inclusion. This report provides the findings of that work, focusing primarily on evidence published between January 2022 and March 2024 due to the significant changes in the economy in recent years, including COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis.

The full review looks at financial inclusion both in terms of the types of products and services
required and the groups of people most likely to be excluded, before making suggestions for
potential approaches to tackle exclusion – preferably within the framework of a national strategy.

This annual overview highlights key findings and possible approaches – again with the intention that these
are incorporated into a national strategy for financial inclusion.