Are you financially excluded?

Financial inclusion is about ensuring that everyone has access to appropriate financial products and services, enabling them to manage their money on a day-to-day basis, plan for the future, and deal effectively with financial distress.

These products and services can include:-

• Access to appropriate bank accounts
• Access to face to face debt advice
• Access to affordable and responsible credit
• Access to savings facilities
• Access to basic home contents insurance

 

Some shocking statistics

• 1 person is declared bankrupt or insolvent every 4.35 minutes
• 1 property is repossessed every 10 minutes
• Low income households pay on average £1000 per year in additional charges (known as a poverty premium) for pre-payment meters, access to cash (ATM charges), phones, insurance and credit
• 35% of households on low incomes have no home insurance whatsoever.  Despite Social housing residents are 133% more likely to be burgled
• 1.5 million adults do not have access to a current or basic bank account.  60% of these people are living in social housing
• 7.8 million adults in the UK do not have access to affordable mainstream credit
• The average household debt (excluding mortgages) is £9,500
• The average APR charged by home credit providers (Provident etc) is 177%
• People without direct debit facilities pay an extra £70 per year for their energy bills
• A third of low earners have no savings

 

Implications of being financially excluded

• Exclusion from affordable loans leaves people who need to borrow money with no option but to use high-interest credit
• A lack of insurance and savings makes families vulnerable to financial difficulties following unexpected events such as burglary or flooding. A lack of savings can lead to poverty in old age.
• Many employers will only pay wages into a bank account
• Cheque cashing agencies may charge 7 to 9 per cent of the value of the cheque plus a fee for the transaction
• Not having a bank account with a direct debit facility excludes people from this method of paying bills. Most utility suppliers charge more for using other methods of payment, such as pre-payment meters, pay-point cards in convenience stores, postal orders or cash

Financial exclusion reinforces social exclusion. It is not just an individual problem: a whole community can suffer from under-investment in financial services.

 

What can lead to customers being financially excluded?

• Low levels of awareness and or confidence
• Very low income levels and financial difficulty
• Poor credit history which may include County Court Judgements
• Poor standard of education, 7 million people in the UK have the literacy standards of an 11 year old
• Excluded customers have less exposure to or experience of financial services
• Social housing tenants are targeted by expensive doorstep lenders / loan sharks.  2.3 million people use home credit
• Lack of financial capability and awareness
• Generational issues
• Low levels of trust

 

How is Coastline helping?

Coastline's Income Management Team are committed to helping customers to receive as much help and advice as possible, and it focuses largely on early intervention and prevention.  Many customers are living on very low incomes and approximately 76% of Coastline's customers claim housing benefit. 

A number of customers are in financial difficulty, are borrowing from expensive doorstep lenders, have multiple debts, do not have access to bank accounts, and are unable to deal with their finances because they have a low standard of education or a poor level of financial capability or awareness.

Often these customers have a number of issues and some are the most vulnerable people in society.  The Income Management Team focus on delivering a service which is fair and accessible to all.

Coastline Housing now also has its own Financial Inclusion Strategy which clearly maps out its targets for the coming 12 months. To download a copy click on the link on the right hand side of this page.

Help for the financially excluded                                  

For helpful tips, money saving advice, and very useful information and comparisons for all products and services a visit to Martin Lewis - Money Saving Expert is a must.  This fantastic website provides huge amounts of really useful information, and you can subscribe to a free electronic newsletter.

 

For free help and advice with claiming benefits, debt problems and other financial issues:-

Please click here to access a number of agencies in our Independent help page

 

For basic bank accounts:-

Here are some links to a good comparison websites:-  Money Facts - Basic Bank Accounts

or Money Supermarket - Basic Bank Accounts or Compare Prepaid

Or some links to common high street bank basic bank accounts:-

Natwest Basic Bank Account

Halifax Easycash Account

HSBC Basic Bank Account

Barclays Cash Card Account

Co-operative Cashminder Account

Lloyds TSB Cash Account

Alliance & Leicester Basic Cash Account

RBS Basic Account

 

For more affordable borrowing when you have a poor credit history:-

Cornish Community Banking – For free advice on free banking, savings and affordable borrowing.

Tel: 0800 0556873 or 01872 222644

Website: www.cornishcommunitybanking.co.uk

Cornish Community Banking’s office is based at:-  11A Frances Street , Truro, TR1 3DN

 

For help to improve your financial capability, basic knowledge and education including literacy and numeracy:-

Information on free Link into Learning courses can be found here.

Coastline Housing Ltd also run a number of in-house free training courses for its customers (see pic below).  More details of our courses can be found on our training page by clicking here.