Close · Our call
Building better borrowers does not mean widening access to credit at any cost.
Credit should be appropriate, affordable and provided when someone is equipped to manage it. Yet for many people building or rebuilding a credit history, the first step on offer is a high-cost credit card. We believe good credit building should go further, helping people build savings, knowledge and confidence alongside a track record of responsible credit management.
01
Offer more than one way in:
High-cost cards should not be the default route into credit, or back into it. Anyone pointing people towards credit building should show other options alongside credit builder cards, including saving-based credit building, rent reporting and free steps like joining the electoral roll.
02
The FCA should restart its work on minimum payments:
We support StepChange’s call to lift the minimum payment to a level that prevents persistent debt, and to require repayment screens that show the real cost of each repayment choice. Any change would need to be phased in carefully, so that people already struggling with repayments do not face a sudden increase in what they have to pay.
03
Guidance should change with the market:
MoneyHelper, the credit reference agencies and the comparison sites commonly describe a credit card repaid monthly as the standard way to build a credit history. We would welcome that guidance being updated to reflect the range of ways people can now evidence repayment behaviour, and to be clearer about the potential cost of the products most often recommended.
What we commit to:
a way to build credit without using a revolving credit balance with high interest rates;
education and coaching alongside saving;
reporting payments accurately, including missed ones; and
continuing to report on our outcomes.
Many people excluded from mainstream finance are not poor credit risks. They are simply difficult for the system to assess: new to credit, rebuilding after financial difficulty, earning irregularly or establishing themselves in the UK.
Loqbox exists between exclusion and readiness. It gives people an opportunity to make positive financial behaviour visible, build savings discipline and strengthen their knowledge and confidence.
The evidence in this report shows that Loqbox membership is associated with stronger credit profiles, wider access to mainstream products and improving repayment behaviour. The greatest improvements were seen among members who maintained their commitments consistently. Their stories demonstrate what those changes can mean in practice: securing a phone contract, recovering from debt, moving home or simply feeling in control again.
But greater access is not always a better outcome. Credit must be appropriate, affordable and provided when someone is equipped to manage it. Sometimes responsible inclusion means widening access and sometimes it means helping someone prepare before they borrow.
That is why we’re calling for a better way in: an end to high-cost credit as the default first step, restarting the FCA’s work on minimum payments, and guidance being updated to reflect the range of ways people can now evidence repayment behaviour while being clearer about the potential cost of the products most often recommended.
The task is not to lower the standards for accessing credit. It is to give more people a fair opportunity to meet them.
By recognising progress, rewarding responsible behaviour and matching access to readiness, we can build better borrowers—and give credit where credit is due.
Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Loqbox Impact Report 2026
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