High street banks and building societies have curbed the supply of credit to consumers by more over the past three months than at any time since records began in 2007, according to the Bank of England.
Years of rising growth in unsecured lending to British households has come to a sharp halt after lenders reacted to warnings from the Bank that the rising debt level among consumers was a danger to financial stability.
The Bank’s latest survey of credit conditions among retail banks shows that a net balance of 38.7% of lenders said they had made unsecured credit less available over the past three months, rather than more.
