Credit firm Lowell warns more Britons exposed to financial shock than before coronavirus struck
More Britons are exposed to a financial shock than before Covid struck, credit firm Lowell has warned.
Households are becoming more vulnerable as a result of rising debts, a lack of savings and increased reliance on benefits.
According to Lowell and the Urban Institute research group, the number of ‘vulnerable’ customers has risen by more than a tenth during the pandemic.
Concern: Households are becoming more vulnerable as a result of rising debts, a lack of savings and increased reliance on benefits
But they warn that the trend had taken root before Covid.
Their analysis of 7.1million accounts found that credit use has risen from 39 per cent of customers to 48 per cent since September 2017.
And reliance on benefits has soared from 4 per cent of customers to 15 per cent over the same period.
The figures come just as the Government’s Covid-19 support tapers off. John Pears, UK chief executive of Lowell, said: ‘We can already see vulnerability ticking up.’