A coalition led by Evlo, the personal loan provider dedicated to widening financial inclusion, has submitted a formal proposal to HM Treasury ahead of the Autumn Budget 2025. The coalition is calling for fundamental changes to the way credit histories are assessed in the UK.
Under the Financial Freedom for Everyone campaign, the group is advocating for the government to make it mandatory for rental payment information to be factored into credit scoring systems — a reform that could benefit millions of renters across the nation.
The submission highlights the growing urgency of tackling financial exclusion in Britain. According to campaign data, 20.2 million UK adults are now financially underserved — a 50% increase since 2016. One in three cannot access mainstream credit, while over three million people have borrowed from illegal lenders in the past three years. Another 5.6 million remain “credit invisible”, unable to prove their reliability to lenders.
Sam Foster, Head of Marketing and Communications at Evlo said: “The current credit scoring system contains a significant inconsistency that disproportionately disadvantages renters. Whilst mortgage payments are routinely included in credit assessments and contribute positively to homeowners’ credit profiles, rental payments, which represent one of the largest monthly financial commitments for millions of households, do not consistently count towards building a credit history.”
“This disparity creates what we describe as a systemic disadvantage that reinforces existing inequalities in the financial system. The irony is particularly stark given that credit reference agencies already capture data on far smaller recurring payments, such as mobile phone contracts and utility bills, yet the substantially larger rental payments often go unrecorded or unused in credit assessments.”
The Financial Freedom for Everyone campaign’s proposal is straightforward in concept but potentially transformative in impact. Evlo and its co-signatories are calling for all credit reference agencies to be required to include rental payment data in their credit assessments.
Furthermore, they propose that landlords and letting agents should be mandated to offer tenants the option to share their positive rental payment data with credit reference agencies. By creating pathways for millions of people to build robust credit histories through their existing financial behaviour, the reform could reduce reliance on high-cost credit and illegal lending, promote greater economic resilience, and level the playing field between renters and homeowners.
Sam Foster added: “The timing of this representation is particularly significant as it precedes the UK’s first-ever National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which is expected to be published soon. The diverse range of organisations backing this campaign reflects broad recognition across the financial services sector that the current system is not working as it should. Their united front on this issue underscores the severity of the financial exclusion crisis and the pressing need for reform.
“As the Autumn Budget approaches, the Financial Freedom for Everyone campaign’s proposals offer policymakers a practical tool to address financial exclusion and create a fairer, more inclusive credit system that recognises the financial responsibility millions of renters demonstrate every month.”
For more information about the Financial Freedom for Everyone campaign, visit www.evlo.co.uk/about-us/social-impact/.
