A new report has warned that lenders have been approving credit cards indiscriminately, without checking the applicants actual income against what they claimed their income to be.
Price comparison site Uswitch.com carried out the research which revealed that 84 per cent of customers who obtained a credit card last year were not asked by the credit card company to prove the income which they put on their application form.
That works out as almost 5 million credit card holders whose income has not been verified by their lender.
On top of this, a whole 14 per cent of credit card holders who were approved in the last year say that they were not even asked what they earned or questioned about their spending habits during the application process.
This slack attitude by the lenders has meant that many people have been approved credit cards who really would not have been ideal candidates, as five per cent of credit card holders admitted that they did actually lie about their income on the application forms.
Simeon Linstead, head of personal finance at uSwitch.com, said: "Back in April, we uncovered that £20.9bn was advanced in personal loans in the previous 12 months without any income checks being carried out, so this problem is not exclusive to the credit card market.
Mr Linstead suggested that the reason companies are failing to carry out adequate credit checks is due to the expense involved: “Further credit checks could be a costly exercise for the lenders and could lead to a decline in the number of accepted applications,” he said.
"However,” he continued, “ it could be a small price to pay if it helps to curb bad debt write offs and personal indebtedness. We cannot ignore the fact that the credit crunch has forced lenders to tighten their belts and reject applications that may lead to further write-offs.”
He stressed the point that “The fact remains that just because a consumer appears to have a ''suitable'' credit score, it doesn''t mean they are always honest about their income and actually have the cash available each month to pay the bill.”
Rod Ashley, of Glasgow financial co-operative Scotwest Credit Union, agreed that lenders have behaved irresponsibly, causing problems for both themselves and borrowers by taking on unsuitable clients.
“We often deal with people who have exhausted every form of credit and have got themselves into trouble, often through credit cards,” he said.
"To give people credit without checking is totally irresponsible, and isn't fair to anyone. It is dangerous for the lender and dangerous for the client. In today's climate credit is a necessity, but there has to be an onus on lenders to make sure they lend responsibly,” he concluded.
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