Hotel and restaurant staff topped list in payday loan applications during lockdown

Hotel and restaurant staff top the list of payday loan applicants during the pandemic, new industry data has revealed.

Analysis of customer trends Petit-Prêt.com found that staff in the hospitality and leisure industry made the most requests for short-term loans this year, with employees in the industry borrowing an average of £ 1,532.

Strict restrictions on the hospitality industry during the lockdown resulted in many hotel employees, wait staff and hospitality roles in general being heavily affected due to the venues being closed. People working in construction and manufacturing industries were also affected by restrictions, with workers in that industry making the second highest number of payday loan applications.

Surprisingly, NHS staff and health workers came third on the list of industries that have seen staff apply for payday loans.

Greater London, West Midlands and Lancashire top the list of regional applications, with most short-term loan applications coming from these regions.

The data was released by Little-Loans.com, an FCA regulated credit broker, a loan comparison website that allows users to compare small loans from over 40 lenders to get the lowest possible APR. .

Commenting on the data, a spokesperson for Little-Loans.com said: “It is interesting that the occupations that have made the most payday loan applications this year have been employees in industries heavily impacted by the restrictions. of Covid-19 and blockages. It is therefore understandable that personnel in these industries may need additional financial support. ”

They added: “The average loan amount for clients this year has been £ 1,531. Short-term loans allow customers with poor credit scores to quickly access small amounts of money, for things like household emergencies, such as boiler repairs or car breakdowns. They should not be used for unnecessary expenses, such as vacation shopping. “

Customer data trends were based on payday loan applications for the period April 2021 to June 2021, which included a sample of 197,000 customer applications.

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