One of the most important considerations facing us as an industry is how we manage responsible lending.

Last year (2017), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began consulting on proposed changes to their rules and guidance on assessing creditworthiness in consumer credit. The initial Consultation Paper suggested that organisations will need to reconsider the tools they use to measure a consumer’s creditworthiness.

Alongside this consultation, the introduction of Open Banking this year means the banking and financial services markets will now be subjected to much higher levels of competition. Lenders are able to carry out real-time analysis of bank account data.

This paper explores and expands on our views and beliefs of where the opportunities lie for better affordability assessments, and what good customer outcomes could, and should, look like.