Affordable loans increasingly harder to obtain

17/09/2009

British consumers are struggling to cope with their financial commitments as the availability of affordable personal loans continues to dry up.

That is according to new research which found that the number of such products readily available on the market has fallen by 37 per cent over the past year alone.

Furthermore, according to uSwitch.com, which carried out the study, those loans that are available tend to come with relatively high interest rates, with the average personal loan rate having risen from 9.04 per cent to 9.08 per cent since the start of September.

Louise Bond, personal finance expert at the website, said: "As consumers struggle to make ends meet and manage their finances, loan providers are looking to offer the best rates to those whose financial behaviour they can closely inspect - which are their existing customers."

This comes soon after the Bank of England opted to maintain the base rate of England at the historically-low level of 0.5 per cent.

Tags; Current UK Economy,

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