Friday 1 May 2015

AFFORDABILITY AND CREDITWORTHINESS

AFFORDABILITY AND CREDITWORTHINESS

1.        This procedure sets out the Firm’s approach to lending with regard to affordability and creditworthiness.
2.        Loans issued by the Firm will be repayable in accordance with their term. In order to ensure that the loan is affordable to the borrower the Firm must make an assessment of the borrower’s creditworthiness and affordability.
3.        Creditworthiness must be undertaken by way of sufficient information from the borrower and a credit reference agency check where required and is used to determine whether the borrower is a credit worthy individual.
4.        Affordability requires an assessment of the borrower and a decision as to whether the credit is affordable for the duration of the product.
5.        Creditworthiness and affordability assessments will be made on every application including repeat customers.

RESPONSIBLE LENDING

6.        Loans must not be issued by the Firm unless it is clear as a result of the creditworthiness and affordability assessments that the borrower is both worthy of credit and is able to afford the repayment of the product for its duration.
6.1.   Such decisions should be based upon:
6.1.1.           Any adverse information known or discovered about the borrower including that relating to anti-money laundering or financial crime.
6.1.2.           The borrower’s current income and expenditure
6.1.3.           The borrower’s likely profile of income and expenditure over the term of the product
6.1.4.           Any liabilities of the borrower which will become repayable during the term of the product
6.1.5.           Any redeemable assets of the borrower from which income will be obtained during the term of the product.
6.1.6.           The borrower’s historic record of repayments on credit agreements

LENDING DECISIONS

7.        The majority of lending decisions are programmed within the Firm’s lending software system and no decision to lend must be made unless the borrower meets the criteria or a manual decision to lend has been made by a nominated individual.
8.        The nominated individual is a nominated underwriter.
9.        As members of the Consumer Credit Trade Association, we will allow customers to appeal any decision to refuse credit if the customer believes that refusal to be unreasonable. We will ensure that customers are informed of this right on our website and when the decision to decline is communicated to them.

RECORD KEEPING

10.     A record of all information used in the making of the lending decision must be retained by the Firm for a duration of six years after the repayment of the product.

PUBLIC INFORMATION

11.     The Firm’s website will contain the following information about its Responsible Lending Policy:

Here at WageDayCash we take our responsibility towards you seriously. This means providing you with all the information you need so that you can decide whether the loan is suitable for you before you decide to complete the application. Our loans are designed to assist you with short term financial needs and that they can become expensive over the longer term. That’s why there are warnings on our website and information about gaining access to free forms of money advice. At the bottom of this section, we include other options for you to consider if you are in financial difficulties.

It also means that we will conduct extensive checks on your creditworthiness and ability to repay your loan on time without causing you significant financial difficulties. These checks will be based on information you provide us within the application process and extra information we take from other sources such as credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies etc. You can see our Privacy Policy for more information on the type of information we collect, how we collect it and who we share it with.

As members of the CCTA, we also have specific responsibilities towards you. Please click here to read more information about the CCTA and what it means to you that we are members.

Our commitments to you:

·         We will provide you with adequate information for you to assess whether the loan is suitable for you;
·         We will assess your application fairly based on information provided by you and from other sources;
·         We will communicate our decision to you in writing as soon as it has been made; and
·         We will allow you to appeal any decision to refuse you credit to a senior risk manager if you believe it to be unreasonable.

When making our assessments as to creditworthiness and affordability we consider a large amount of information which will include:

·         How much you want to borrow and for how long;
·         Your income and expenditure information’
·         Your credit history, for example whether you have been meeting your bills as they fall due;
·         Any existing financial commitments you tell us of or we can see via a credit report; and
·         Any information which might indicate whether you are in financial difficulty or are vulnerable.

Please find below a list of organisations you can contact if you are in financial difficulty:

·         Money Advice Service: For free, unbiased and easy-to-access money tools, information and advice, visit www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk or phone 0300 500 5000 to speak to a Money Advisor.
·         Advice UK: Member centres offer debt advice including specialist advice for minority communities and people with disabilities – www.adviceuk.org.uk or phone 0300 777 0107.
·         Christians against Poverty (CAP): For free debt advice in your home, check post code coverage at www.capuk.org then call 0800 328 0006.
·         Citizens Advice: For advice and information on debt and other topics, visit your local Citizens Advice Bureau (address in the phone book) or go to www.adviceguide.org.uk.
·         National Debtline: If you live in England, Wales or Scotland phone 0808 808 4000 or visit www.nationaldebtline.org for debt advice and information.
·         StepChange Debt Charity: For debt advice throughout the UK Phone 0800 138 1111 or visit www.stepchange.org

6.        This information will be reviewed every six months and/or updated as necessary.

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