Irregular income, freelancing and entrepreneurship

Credit assessment systems depend on consistent, comparable information. However, the financial lives they were designed around are changing. More people earn irregularly, work for themselves, or move between countries.

These consumers may be managing their money responsibly, but the evidence available to lenders does not always provide a complete picture. Regular rent payments may not appear on a credit file, income may not arrive as a predictable monthly salary and a financial history established overseas may not transfer to the UK.

Participants questioned whether the system takes too long to recognise positive behaviour while allowing past difficulties to shape access for too long.

Others felt that significant and consistent commitments were overlooked because they did not take the form of conventional borrowing.

Modernising the system means finding better ways to recognise financial stability, positive payment behaviour and the different ways in which people now earn, live and manage their money.

Irregular income, freelancing and entrepreneurship

Freelancers, gig workers and entrepreneurs make an important contribution to the UK economy, but their income does not always fit the assumptions built into traditional affordability assessments.

In 2026, Loqbox commissioned Censuswide to survey 500 freelance creative professionals. The findings revealed significant financial pressure. 70% said they had borrowed to cover everyday living costs, 74% had taken a second or side job, and 25% had used buy now, pay later to fund their first collection or equipment.¹

For some, creative careers were being sustained through personal borrowing and additional employment rather than business finance, grants or investment. This risks pushing talented people out of their industries and limiting the ability of small businesses and independent workers to grow.

Respondents also described barriers beyond borrowing. More than a third (37%) said they had been declined for a rental property, while 36% had been declined for a credit card and 33% for a business loan. Higher income did not remove the problem entirely: among respondents earning more than £55,000, 25% said they had still been declined for a rental property.

These self-reported findings cannot establish why every application was declined. However, they do indicate that people with irregular incomes can struggle to demonstrate affordability and stability through systems that work most easily with predictable monthly salaries.

Two people may earn the same amount over a year and manage their commitments equally well. But when one receives a regular salary and the other is paid through fluctuating freelance work, the evidence presented to a lender or landlord can look very different.

Loqbox cannot change how every provider assesses irregular income. It can, however, give members an additional way to demonstrate consistent payment behaviour, establish a routine and build a financial track record alongside a less predictable pattern of earnings.