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Recent claims by Uswitch that eight out of ten applications were approved by banks without proper checks being made on information provided by the customer are simply ludicrous.

Although banks routinely carry out these checks through comparing information they already hold on existing customers, using credit reference agency data and by sharing of positive data, this would not be apparent to the customer. It is difficult therefore to reconcile the claims that Uswitch have made.

The Banking Code is very clear that before lending money or increasing a customers overdraft, banks will assess the customers ability to repay. After all, its in no-ones interest to lend money to someone who cant repay.

The level of salary alone doesnt necessarily directly reflect a customers ability to repay borrowing. A person on a salary of, say, £10,000 but with very few outgoings each month may be in a better position to meet repayments on a loans than someone on, say, £ 50,000 but who is already heavily committed with paying school fees etc.

Uswitch also accuses banks of not complying with recent changes to the Banking Code. The fact that part of the new Code arrangements took effect after the Uswitch report had been compiled adds further doubt to the survey's reliability.

The context of claims made is not clear either; as an example, Uswitch takes issue over five people being lent between 100% and 125% of their salary. For bridging facilities or longer term loans, such as property improvements, this would not seem unreasonable, providing that a suitable repayment structure is in place.

When Uswitch last reported on a survey among bank customers, its conclusions were based on a low number of respondents and an ambiguously posed question. Used correctly, survey results can provide very valuable and useful information to a wide range of interested parties, but using them simply for sensation seeking purposes only serves to undermine them.

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