More People Taking Out New Bank Accounts
It may be fairly difficult to imagine life without access to a bank account of any kind for the majority of individuals in the UK and most of us take for granted the services which are offered through our bank, such as billing services for regular monthly payments, use of cheque books, debit and credit cards, a secure home for our savings, as well as access to personal loans and home owner loans, amongst other services.
But quite surprisingly, there are still a large number of individuals living in the UK who do not have any access to a bank account of their own, or even within their household.
In 2004, the Government and the main high street banks set a target to reduce the number of people without a bank account by half and despite the recent turmoil in the banking sector and general lack of trust in banks, they have achieved their target.
Five years ago, there were a staggering 2 million people without access to a bank account, but by 2007/08 this number had fallen to just 900,000. This now increases the number of individuals who have access to the services which most of us take for granted. Of course, now these people have bank accounts, they will be eligible for and encouraged to take out credit agreements in the form of personal loans, credit cards and home owner loans, thereby adding to the ever increasing personal loan debt of the nation.
Sarah Mc Carthy-Fry from the Treasury commented on the increase in bank accounts, she said “We welcome the announcement that this very important goal has now been achieved. The shared goal is a great example of government, industry and third sector parties working together to ensure that everyone can access the financial services they need to get by day to day.”
