A special award has been given to high street bank HSBC, who have the accolades to go with their fair play approach.

The bank have secured the title of Responsible Lender of the Year at the Credit Today Awards 2009. The award has been provided in recognition of HSBC careful approach to lending to various customers.

Joe Garner of HSBC UK said: ‘‘We are proud to be recognised for our approach to responsible lending. To us, responsible lending is about knowing your customers so we make informed lending decisions, and ensuring we provide support if things do go wrong.”

He added HSBC’s conservative and prudent approach to lending has been key to our survival through the credit crunch."

In separate news, those who are actually looking to obtain a loan must ensure that they tell the truth when completing the application.

According to Equifax, honesty is the best policy when it comes to taking out loans as fraudulent policies could be cancelled at any time. UK fraud prevention service CIFAS have echoed this by revealing that an increasing number of Britons tell lies on paperwork. They warned that lying is never a good idea as they will almost certainly be found out.

Neil Munroe, external affairs director for Equifax stated that "In bad times, there is a temptation to manipulate the information on an application form but it will get discovered by the lender. At the very least, the application being rejected could, in itself, work against someone's credit score.