Tesco banks’ loans, student loans interest rates, CYBG’s pledge on lending

Tesco Bank has defended its decision to launch larger loans of £25,001 to £35,000, saying they are subject to a ‘robust affordability assessment’, after The Daily Mail suggested it had ‘spearheaded a consumer borrowing binge over the past year’. The bank’s total unsecured lending, comprising credit cards and personal loans, grew almost 15% to £7.9bn last year, while the market grew 10%.
Department for Education has announced that interest rates on student loans are to rise by about a third from 4.6% to up to 6.1% this autumn, alongside an increase in tuition fees to £9,250 for universities in England. The rates will be confirmed in September 2017
R3 has reported that 41% of adults are at least ‘fairly worried’ about their borrowing, up from 38% of those surveyed in September 2016. Credit card debt is of most concern, with 49% of respondents saying this is a worry
CYBG has pledged a minimum of £6bn of lending over the next three years to help fuel the growth of UK SMEs.