Reference Case Number: FOI9877
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
Please provide data on the high-cost credit market, specifically the number of firms operating in that space and the value and volume of lending being issued.
- How many firms do you currently regulate within the HCC sector.
- How many firms did you regulate at the start of 2020.
- What is the value of lending being issued in that market during the last reporting period*.
- What was the value issued in that market in 2020.
- What volume of new lending was created in that market during the last reporting period*.
- What volume of lending was created during 2020.
* In terms of the reporting period I'm happy for this to be last full quarter or full year, whichever is easiest.
FCA response:
When reviewing the data, please note that we hold product sales data (PSD) in relation to credit agreements entered into by regulated firms which meet the definition of high-cost short-term credit (HCSTC) or home credit loan agreement. These PSD cover agreements which meet the definitions of HCSTC or home credit loan agreement and have been used to produce this response.
The PSD content used reflects the data as submitted to us by firms. Firms submit PSD on a quarterly basis, providing us with details of the loans they originated in the quarter concerned. The datasets used for this analysis covers the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020* for the responses to questions 4 and 6, and from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022** for the responses to questions 3 and 5.
We estimate that the population of firms included in the dataset represents 90%+ of the HCSTC and home credit loans agreements market (based on the number of new loans originated).
For the “value of lending” we have provided the total money lent by these firms in the period. For the “volume of lending” we have provided the total number of unique agreements entered into by these firms in the period.
For this response we have not carried out the full data cleansing performed for the report. We have, however, excluded clearly erroneous transactions which would substantively skew the aggregate data.
Turning now to your specific questions, we will address each point in turn.