British borrowing rises

It comes as a recent Citizens Advice survey, indicated that a quarter of UK adults plan to utilise Buy Now Pay Later services to navigate Christmas expenditures. This percentage rises to over half for parents with young children.

Moreover, the surge in borrowing coincides with the prevailing reluctance among many Brits to openly discuss matters of finance, rendering the topic of borrowing and debt somewhat of a taboo. Klarna’s findings highlight that a significant third of the British population feels uncomfortable broaching financial discussions with friends and family. Adding to these concerns, a report from My Pension Expert indicates that a substantial 57% of the public expresses a lack of trust in financial advisers.

Zahra Hassan, co-founder, of Eligible, an AI-driven servicing solution for the mortgage market, commented: “What’s needed is an active two-way dialogue, and AI-powered systems like Eligible facilitate this by initiating interactions with customers and monitoring their responses to gather insights. For instance, we proactively send educational content to customers to assess their anxiety levels and their understanding of their current financial products. Based on this information, we can fine-tune our approach by crafting more personalised educational content and adjusting our tone to be softer, supportive, and empathetic. This way, borrowers can better appreciate that lenders are here to assist them.”