You Can Only Get Money If You Have Got Money - The Tough New Criteria For Getting Personal Credit

Over the last five years the UK’s booming economy has benefited most people with more disposable income, and more choice on what to spend it on. Advertising has pushed the limits in targeting consumer groups that were once thought to be unable to afford their products. nnPeoples desires started to outstrip their salaries, and a trend has arose to have what you want when you want it rather than when you have the money for it. The availability of cheap credit fuelled the habit and it is only recently when the economy has started to slow down that people are now wondering where all their money went. nnNowadays cost hikes are everywhere. From petrol to food to home energy, prices are rising and they don’t seem to stop. With all these added costs, those with additional personal loans are going to start to feel the pinch. If you have taken out a personal loan prior to 2007 you are probably on a favourable rate, compared to today’s offers. If you needed a personal loan in 2007 you may have struggled to find a deal that was affordable.nnGoing forward the future looks a little bleak with the number of lenders slowly reducing and the eligibility criteria becoming even tougher. It seems that in order to be lent money you have to prove you have a reasonable amount of it already. At the very least you need to be able to prove that you are definitely very good at repaying your debts, as any inkling of a poor credit history will have lenders closing their wallets faster than you can say ‘ personal loan please’.nnBut maybe the banks are right to be cautious. It would seem in Britain we have almost become flippant over our level of personal debt. Students who have spent three years studying at university feel nothing about graduating with a degree and a ten thousand pound debt. These levels of personal debt were virtually unheard of 15 years ago, but that is probably because banks hadn’t really thought about lending that amount of money especially to students. nnOn the other hand can we not be trusted to manage our finances and although the economy is facing some tough times, can we not just try and weather it out. It may take some time for the economy to right itself but we have definitely been through worse than this. Recent reports already show that consumer spending is down from last year and is expected to stay that way. In addition recent Bank of England interest cuts will start to ease the pain of homeowners, and put a bit more cash back into the household kitty. nnGoing forward the decision lies in the hands of the financial intuitions to decide who to lend their money to, but for the time being it would seem having money is the only sure way of being lent more of it.n