What did Fair4All Finance's research on illegal money lending reveal about the scale of the problem in the UK?

Fair4All Finance commissioned novel research combining a quantitative study conducted with Ipsos Mori and qualitative work carried out by an organisation whose co-founder had previously been an illegal lender — granting extraordinary access to those still actively offering illegal loans. The headline finding: up to three million people in the UK are potentially borrowing from illegal lenders today.

The qualitative strand of the research was particularly striking. Because the organisation running it had insider credibility, researchers gained on-camera testimony from individuals still operating as illegal lenders. One participant stated plainly: "I try not to use actual violence because the threat of violence is more potent." This is not anecdote — it is primary research that puts a human and deeply troubling face on the scale of coercion embedded in illegal lending.

The Ipsos Mori quantitative work then translated that reality into a number that challenges the entire financial inclusion sector: three million UK borrowers who have no access to legal, affordable credit and are instead turning to lenders who operate through fear. This research is part of why Fair4All Finance has broadened its mission beyond credit alone, looking at resilience and savings as part of a system-wide answer to financial exclusion.