§ Mrs. DeanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his estimate of the percentage of adults in the UK who are credit blacklisted. [110733]
§ Dr. HowellsMost lenders use credit scoring techniques to help them decide whether they will lend to particular individuals. The Office of Fair Trading research for its 1999 report "Vulnerable Consumers and Financial Services" found that over six million households (out of a total of 24 million) were defined as having low or very low household income. Of these, 3.5 million did not use any form of credit. I would estimate that many of these would not satisfy the credit scoring test.