In 2013, amidst growing concern about high cost credit and illegal lending, NICVA commissioned POLICIS and Liverpool John Moores University to explore options for an alternative affordable credit model. This report contains the results of their research.
The project was structured as a collaborative development with an advisory board of key stakeholders. It was informed by qualitative interviews with stakeholders, credit union leaders in Northern Ireland and the CEOs of various affordable credit organisations in GB and secondary analysis of consumer data on high cost credit. The project was originally conceived as an alternative to payday lending but on the basis of the evidence on the profile of payday lending users and the desire of the stakeholders for an affordable credit model to serve the most disadvantaged, was reframed as seeking to provide an alternative to home credit and illegal lending. The report concludes with a recommended affordable credit model for Northern Ireland.