Creditworthiness Assessment Bill [HL]

Key Points

• Aims to expand what lenders must consider in credit assessments beyond the basics of income and debt.
• Various attempts in the Lords sought to soften the duty—from mandating it to allowing it or merely considering it, but these were withdrawn.
• Proposals to focus evaluation on renters and people who pay council tax—via references to renters’ creditworthiness and related rules—were discussed but withdrawn.
• Ideas to create or shorten a regulator-led review of the rules (including potential termination) were proposed but not enacted.
• A change to the bill’s wording from 'Require' to 'Enable' (and related tweaks like changing 'must' to 'may') signalled attempts to make the policy less prescriptive; all such amendments were withdrawn or not moved.

Progress

Amendments proposed in the Lords were withdrawn or not moved in Committee, so no policy changes have been enacted yet. The bill is currently at the 2nd reading in the Commons and continues its passage through Parliament.