Expert predicts tighter lending trend

Money lenders around the UK are likely to increasingly tighten their credit criteria in the new year, one expert has asserted.

Neil Munroe, external affairs director for Equifax is convinced that more and more people will have their credit applications rejected in the early part of 2008, which could mean many Britons are unable to access a debt consolidation loan.

Furthermore, Mr Munroe suggests that financial service firms will begin to look more closely into a loan applicants’ credit history before making a lending decision.

“Lenders will be tightening up and looking more at minor misdemeanour data that may well have been ignored in the past,” he said.

“Therefore we might find people being rejected and move on to apply elsewhere.”

Figures from Credit Action show that around £222 billion was lent to individuals in the UK over the course of October this year.