Dear partners and colleagues,

This week at Equifax UK we published our 2025 Financial Health Report on the state of the UK’s financial health and the joint challenges facing our industry. Five years on from the global pandemic, we are seeing a complex environment of resilience and vulnerability for UK consumers, one that would benefit from data-informed action. 

While short-term improvements in some credit indicators are encouraging, the sustainability of this resilience should be monitored. Outstanding credit card debt has climbed, now 4.5% up on pre-pandemic levels, while 11% of new mortgage lending is at loan terms of more than 35 years as consumers opt to spread out repayments for longer to manage costs. All these trends are compounded by high inflation and persistent cost-of-living pressures.

At Equifax we are committed to fostering a sector that empowers individuals to live their financial best and, against this backdrop, three critical areas demand attention.

First, the £20bn unclaimed benefits gap. A staggering £20bn worth of support is being left on the table, a surprising amount when considering the challenges facing many UK consumers. We must leverage data and technology to proactively connect individuals with support and simplify access. Our Tariff Connect solution, which helps firms digitally assess consumer eligibility for discounted rates on certain utilities, exemplifies this spirit, but there is more to do and we urge stakeholders to invest in similar solutions, promote awareness, and embrace the ‘tell us once’ approach.

We also need to collectively redefine early debt engagement. Consumers often delay engaging with creditors, exacerbating their distress, but data-driven insights can help identify at-risk consumers earlier for tailored support. Engaging before a missed payment is already the expectation but we are calling on lenders and debt collection agencies to critically examine processes and innovate with data-driven insights, empathetic communication, and accessible tools. 

Finally, we must confront the spectre of economic abuse. One in five UK women were victims of economic abuse in the last year with around one in seven men and women experiencing this in their lifetime. This is a legally recognised form of domestic abuse concerning control of a partner or ex-partner's finances that causes financial instability, dependence and consequences long into the future as well as a significant emotional impact. Addressing this issue also lives at the heart of the government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. We must all implement best practices for credit reporting and debt resolution for greater standardisation and to ensure survivors are not further penalised. Equifax is committed to this and we urge our industry partners to adopt the Economic Abuse Evidence Form (EAEF) and support the transformative work of organisations like Surviving Economic Abuse. 

Addressing these challenges is no easy feat and requires a collaborative effort. As industry leaders, we call upon you to:

• Embrace initiatives like Policy in Practice’s ‘Apply Once’ and the Economic Abuse Evidence Form (EAEF) to help standardise industry approaches for the better

• Invest in financial education to build awareness of issues like economic abuse and unclaimed support, helping consumers and colleagues on the frontline

• Critically examine current approaches to go beyond existing expectations and help redefine early debt engagement

• Develop and adopt innovative tools and data-driven insights to support financially vulnerable consumers 

• Come together, across the industry, to innovate, establish best practice, share knowledge and build a more inclusive financial ecosystem fit for the future 

We are committed to working with our partners to create a sector that empowers individuals to live their financial best and there are plenty of reasons for optimism, with so much work already taking place. But accelerating financial inclusion requires a sustained commitment to innovation, collaboration, and an unwavering focus on consumer financial health, and that is a goal we can only achieve as an industry. By working together, we can overcome these challenges and create a more equitable financial ecosystem.

Let us act decisively and collaboratively to build a better financial future for all.

Yours Sincerely,

Craig Tebbutt

Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer

Equifax UK