Number of payday loan users has quadrupled The number of people taking out expensive payday loans has quadrupled over the last four years, a new report by Consumer Focus highlights. Consumer Focus is warning that banks need to offer affordable short-term loans as alternatives, as well as recommending stronger safeguards to protect consumers from spiralling payday loan... [more...]

Bankrupts denied access to basic bank accounts A report by Citizen’s Advice details how an increasing number of bankrupt people are being ‘wrongly denied’ access to a basic bank account, with only two (Barclays and the Cooperative Bank) out of seventeen banks that provide basic, no-credit bank accounts, offering services to this group. The report criticises banks for... [more...]

Councils benefit from financial inclusion A new report from the LGA sets out a strong case for local authorities to support financial inclusion activity. ‘From Recession to Recovery: The importance of personal finances’, uses a collection of case studies to show how financial inclusion services have had a hugely positive impact on peoples’ economic and emotional wellbeing... [more...]

Capturing the promise of mobile banking in emerging markets Very poor people in emerging economies not only have a surprising degree of interest in financial services but also, when possible, use them enthusiastically. McKinsey Quarterly: FEBRUARY 2010, Christopher P. Beshouri and Jon Gravråk, Source: Telecommunications Practice Exhibit 1: Less than 10 percent of unbanked... [more...]

Dear Madam, Dear Sir, This is a reminder for the MuLFI Final Conference. Please find enclosed the invitation for the European Conference on Mutual Learning and Financial Inclusion. This conference will take place in Brussels, on November 05-06, 2009. In order to optimize the organisation of this event, please register following the instructions inside the program. You... [more...]

http://fairrecovery.org/whyfairrecovery/specialissues.html For a comment in German see German page on verantwortliche-kreditvergabe.net or click from sister websites The Consumer Financial Protection Agency – a key to safe and sound access to credit by Gregory D. Squires Of the many factors that have made the United States the world’s premier capital marketplace for 80... [more...]

On Friday 6 February, the European Commission launched a public consultation on "Financial inclusion: Ensuring access to a basic bank account". This initiative is a follow-up to the 'Single Market for 21st Century Europe' package, in which the European Commission had highlighted the need to ensure that nobody is denied access to a basic bank account. The recent DG EMPL... [more...]

By Babel Strasbourg on Thursday, October 30 2008 (14 September 2008) By Vincent Lebrou , Translated by Rob Compton Small loans, or so-called microcredits, are increasingly being used in the fight against poverty and exclusion. Whether considering the situation in countries of the former Eastern bloc or Western European countries, it is clear that microcredit is... [more...]

PENSIONERS AND MANAGERS, FIRST VICTIMS OF NEW CREDITING RULES Romanians drawing income from rentals, pensions, copyrights, management, agency or administration contracts will be the ones who will have a harder time taking out loans following the implementation of the new crediting norms drawn up by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), Credit Zone reports in a press... [more...]

ecdn Press release, 31st of October 2008 FINANCIAL CRISES: BASIC BANKING SERVICES NEED TO BE GUARANTEED EUROPEAN CONSUMER DEBT NETWORK CALLS FOR EUROPEAN ACTION DAY ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND FOR THE RIGHT TO A BANK ACCOUNT While banks have been very inventive in introducing complex financial products that contributed to the current economic crises, the majority of them... [more...]

Almost half of citizens in the new EU member states have no bank account says the European Commission-funded report published yesterday. Should there be a right for all citizens to access basic financial services?. The credit crunch crisis has placed financial education and inclusion higher on the EU political agenda. ECRC wants to make sure responsible credit is also... [more...]

Below is a list of upcoming conferences: One on Financial Inclusion, one on Microfinance, and one on Ethics in finance ------------ "FINANCIAL INCLUSION: IMPROVING ACCESS TO BASIC FINANCIAL SERVICES" Dear Madam/Sir, We are pleased to invite you to a high-level conference organised by the European Commission on "Financial inclusion: improving access to basic... [more...]

1. Conclusions and recommendations 1.1 In the absence of any Community guidance in this area, the various Member States have developed their own national legal Systems for preventing individuals and families from falling into over-indebtedness, processing the cases of those who do, helping them get out of debt and providing them with support. l .2 Faced with the... [more...]

P5: WHICH TYPES OF BANKS CAN BEST SERVE THE COMMUNITY: PRIVATE, PUBLIC OR COOPERATIVE BANKS? Harro Norder (NVVK, Netherlands, Chair); Maryellen Lewis (NCRC); Bob Schmitz (ULC, Luxemburg); Anja Peltonen (kuluttajavirasto, Finland); Benoit Granger (MicFin, France); Judith Wittig (Deutsche Bank); Norma Benoni (Cassa Rurali Trentine); Karol Sachs (FEBEA) (On Saturday... [more...]

P5: WHICH TYPES OF BANKS CAN BEST SERVE THE COMMUNITY: PRIVATE, PUBLIC OR COOPERATIVE BANKS? STatements from Davida Lachmann-Messer (Government, Israel);Anja Peltonen (kuluttajavirasto, Finland); Norma Benoni (Cassa Rurali Trentine) [more...]

NCRC our Partner in the US published a Study on the two Faces of Racial Discrimination in Lending: ACESS and PRICE DISCRIMINATION. EXCECUTIVE SUMMARY A looming foreclosure crisis confronts America as lending institutions have engaged in new forms of dangerous high-cost lending. Most of the high-cost or subprime lending made in recent years feature adjustable rate... [more...]

CREDIT AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY (English et Francais) Preliminary Draft Opinion of the Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship on Credit and social exclusion in an affluent society (own initiative opinion)(Brussels, 1st June 2007 – SOC/265 – rapporteur: Pegado Liz) Hearing “Credit and Social Exclusion” (25th June 2007 – European... [more...]

In response to a recent report by the French Central Bank on alleged outcomes for SME's as a result of lowering usury ceilings, we encourage experts to give ECRC (and the French Parliament) their opinion on this research, including experiences from outside of France. USURY CEILINGS IN FRANCE In France usury ceilings limit the interest banks can charge to consumers and... [more...]

ECRC’s founding Dutch member Harro Norder from NVVK (Dutch council of municipal banks) shares with us the latest initiatives he and his bank have led in their efforts to make Dutch credit markets more socially responsible. LIMITED INTEREST RATES Over-indebtedness is strongly related to small loans with high interest rates. Financing cars, home video sets and so one are... [more...]

source: Brand Strategy Maeve Hosea discusses the challenges facing global brands marketing in developing communities and asks how companies can provide and support this vast group of underserved consumers Pierre Baptiste takes a sip of beer and a mouthful of fried green plantain while he moves to the hard-grooving, voodoo-influenced Haitian drum patterns of the... [more...]

A recent report by one of ECRC’s many supporting organisations nef (new economics foundation) will reinvigorate the debate on bank disclosure in the UK and help create a better understanding of why it should be demanded of banks. In a country like the UK where income disparities and social vulnerabilities are significant, a focus on improving the publicly available... [more...]

Below is an article from the FT which gives further argument as to why the UK consumers deserve better laws and more balanced credit relations. If the nation is going to promote innovation that is driven and created by consumers, should regulations not also assist citizen innovation by providing safety to those that sometimes fall victim of unplanned events? As consumers... [more...]

source: The Gloucester Citizen There are 8,000 rural branches in the 14,500-branch post office network. Almost all, 6,000, are understood to be losing money and the whole network loses £ 2 million a week. These loss-making branches are subsidised by the Government's annual £ 150 million Social Network Payment. Despite the losses they are making, many sub-post offices... [more...]

source: Financial Mail Despite a developed-world banking system, a large proportion of South Africans don't have access to bank services. This makes it difficult to save, especially with the high crime rates. Fortunately, progress is being made. The percentage of people banked increased to just over half of the adult population in 2006 - a significant and positive... [more...]

Although praise should be given to the UK's providers of banking services following their positive response to the nation’s general treatment of its poorer consumers, free access to cash machines will not however compensate the UK authorities’ lack of action in reducing the vulnerability of these same customers at the hands of extortionate lenders. Nor will it feel like... [more...]

WHY SA’S CREDIT APPETITE SHOULD NOT BE BANK’S BIGGEST CONCERN AHEAD of this year’s final meeting of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee tomorrow, we’ve heard a great deal about consumers’ seemingly endless appetite for credit — and how the bank will have to keep hiking interest rates to purge the horrible habit. It is worth a quiet, but emphatic, reminder that... [more...]

source: New Era Bank Windhoek clients with Cheque, EasySave or Transaction accounts, who have mobile telephones can register to access the service through which one can pay their bills, transfer money to family and friends, enquire about their balances, get a mini statement and top up airtime wherever there is MTC network. The new initiative was developed by Bank... [more...]

Source: American Banker In banking, as in most services, the competition for customers is largely a zero-sum game, so it's rare for the growth of a new bank to come at relatively little cost to its rivals. But in and around Atlanta, that's exactly what is happening as the 12-branch El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad expands in the city's community of Latino immigrants by... [more...]

source: FT.com Citigroup is rolling out a network of biometric automatic cash machines aimed at illiterate Indian slum dwellers,using the latest technology to woo the country's millions of "unbanked" poor. The machines will recognise account holders' thumbprints, eliminating the need for a personal identificationnumber, and will have colour-coded screen instructions and... [more...]

source: Börsen-Zeitung Der politische Druck auf die Kreditwirtschaft zum Angebot eines "Girokontos für jedermann" steigt. Aus der CDU/CSU-Fraktion, die bislang die Selbstverpflichtung der Banken und Sparkassen zur Führung eines Kontos auf Guthabenbasis gegen Forderungen nach einer gesetzlichen Regelung unterstützt hat, kommen zunehmend kritischere Stimmen. Die... [more...]

source: San Jose Mercury News Charge it with your cell phone Rather than swipe a debit or credit card, Atlanta Hawks season ticket-holders waved Nokia cell phones equipped with near-field communication (NFC) chips an inch from a reader to pay for hot dogs, soda and other concessions in a 2005 test by Visa USA of Redwood City. In October, MasterCard Worldwide and... [more...]

source: The San Diego Union-Tribune LAS VEGAS -- A share of an estimated $200 billion in mortgages is up for grabs for any lender who can safely evaluate the nontraditional credit habits of Hispanic families hoping to own a home, according to a group of Latino housing professionals. The thousands of Hispanics who have achieved their ownership goals have done so largely... [more...]

source: The Scotsman BARELY a day goes by without news of another financial institution making a donation to the Farepak Response Fund - now an official charity. It is devastating for the families who put their savings for Christmas into the Farepak scheme before its high-profile collapse - in which GBP 40 million of people's money vanished. But is giving a bit of money... [more...]

THE Financial Sector Campaign Coalition has called for free banking services for the poor, saying the fees and interest charged by banks are "punitive, exploitative and unjust". Appearing before the banking inquiry yesterday, coalition representative Jan Mahlangu, who is retirement funds co-ordinator at trade union federation the Congrees of South African Trade Unions,... [more...]

MILLIONS of people are still paying bills in cash through the post office, despite the Government's insistence that this facility is no longer necessary. All Pay, one of the networks that handle post office bill payment, said that the number of people paying council tax, parking fines and other household bills through the post office had remained steady in the past five... [more...]

Cashplus Gold, the UK's first gold-coloured prepay card, has a higher maximum load limit to attract more 'mainstream' consumers. It aims to reduce the embarrassment of using a financial-services product associated with what the banking sector refers to as 'the un-banked' - consumers who cannot get bank accounts. Designed by PWLC, the card will be aimed at consumers... [more...]

"We have passed a milestone in our commitment to the goal of halving the number of adults in households without a bank account by November 2006," said Ian Mulen, chief executive of the British Bankers'Association. Basic accounts are designed for those on very low incomes as wel as the "unbanked"-those who would rather keep their cash under the mattress than in a financial... [more...]

In a study on basic bank accounts the World Savings Banks Institute reveals that countries like France, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, the UK, and Germany have legal obligations to supply basic bank accounts to all citizens. While in some countries this is a general right other countries oblige public institutions to supply such services or offer commitments from the banking... [more...]

Based on a report by Elaine Kempson from the PFRC, pawnbroking figures speak of a revival in this simple (but backward) way of borrowing money. The number of sub-prime borrowers in the UK is rising again as the 9m British being denied access to mainstream credit resort to desperate measures. The lack of alternatives available to the poor and indebteded is shocking, as they... [more...]

A new-style payment card aimed at children and people who do not have a bank account was launched today. The SNAP card works in a similar way to pre-paid mobile phone cards, with people charging their card up with cash before using it to make payments. The cards are available from thousands of shops across the UK including newsagents, supermarkets and petrol stations,... [more...]

They're made out to be greedy and expensive but can we really live without banks? Jason Bryce and Ian Rogers explore the alternatives. CAN you live without a bank account? It's possible but may not be for everyone. Some readers may remember when a bank account was an option not a basic necessity. But during the past thirty years employers and our social security system... [more...]

BRAZIL LENDING JUMPS IN MARCH ON LULA'S MORTGAGE PLAN (UPDATE2) (By Guillermo Parra-Bernal, April 25 (Bloomberg)) Brazilian bank lending rose in March at the fastest pace in three months as declining interest rates and government steps to spur home ownership and housing construction led to a surge in mortgage loans. State and non-state bank loans rose 1.4 percent to... [more...]

ORTIZ TO REQUIRE MEXICAN BANKS TO DISCLOSE ALL CREDIT CARD FEES (By Carlos Rodriguez and Adriana Arai, April 5 (Bloomberg)) Mexican central bank Governor Guillermo Ortiz said he will require banks to disclose all charges when they advertise credit cards, part of an effort to push down lending rates that have restrained economic growth. Banks in Mexico charge as much as... [more...]

UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER EXPERIENCE WHEN OPENING AND USING BASIC BANK ACCOUNTS Known as the Millward Brown Research (13/03/2006) INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES HM Treasury and the banks have agreed a shared goal which is to make significant progress towards halving the number of adults in households without bank accounts by November 2006. Research is required to understand... [more...]

Scarborough Research, the leading market research firm for identifying the shopping, media and lifestyle patterns of adults in the United States, released an analysis of " Unbanked " consumers -- adults who do not make use of any bank or financial institution in their household. The analysis finds that almost one-quarter (22 percent) of the Unbanked used a credit card... [more...]

MILLIONS of elderly people and those on low incomes were being prevented from opening current accounts because of over-stringent security checks and high banking charges, campaigners warned yesterday. Nearly 3million Britons do not have a bank account and many rely on expensive high street cheque-cashing stores or borrowing from doorstep lenders to obtain cash. With all... [more...]

BANKS ARE YET TO DELIVER ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION, SAYS CITIZENS ADVICE REPORT Posted by Lucy Cochrane on Tuesday, January 24th, 2006 at 05:01 PM Banks are merely paying lip service to helping their most vulnerable customers and would-be customers. BANKING BENEFITS A bank account is now essential to everyday life: yet one in 12 households - 2.8 million adults - in the UK... [more...]

La Commission européenne doit publier lundi son Livre blanc, définissant son programme d'action dans les services financiers d'ici à 2010. Ce document d'une trentaine de pages, dont «Les Echos» se sont procuré une copie, est le résultat de la consultation ouverte par le Livre vert dévoilé au printemps («Les Echos» du 4 mai). Concernant les activités de marché, le texte... [more...]

What the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks did for payroll cards, Hurricane Katrina is doing for prepaid cards. Payroll cards got a big boost after 9/11, when planes were grounded and paychecks could not be flown from headquarters to sites elsewhere. The logic of electronic payment became clear. Likewise, prepaid debit cards received huge mainstream media attention after the... [more...]

Mired in the battle to bring customers into the mainstream: while banks can point to the 5.7 million 'basic' accounts taken out since 2000, critics say the products are poorly sold and should offer a penalty-free overdraft. There are also calls for more affordable credit ADAM SORENSON Can you imagine managing your money without any sort of bank account " no debit card... [more...]