3rd June 1999

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Researchers at the University of Ulster have announced details of a three-year project which will look at local people's experiences of the more personal forms of consumer credit, from mail order or club books and check trading through to pawnbrokers and money- lending.

Historian Dr Sean O'Connell, who is based at Jordanstown, is to lead the research, which will look at how families on limited incomes coped in the past when bank accounts and credit cards were a rarity in working-class communities.

He believes that the work, which has been sponsored by Provident Financial, could have important implications for modern financial arrangements:

"We are living in an age when the closure of local banks and additional use of credit scoring means that increasing numbers of people are being excluded from many mainstream credit facilities.

"By learning how people managed to make ends meet in the past it may be possible to make positive suggestions about how current consumers can make innovative credit arrangements on a limited budget."

Dr O'Connell is keen to hear from anyone with memories of involvement as agents or customers in mail order clubs, check trading, pawnbroking, money-lending or any other system employed to 'make ends meet'.

Working-class people showed great resourcefulness in using these forms of credit in their efforts to stretch what were often very limited family finances.

Nowadays, credit cards, bank loans and the like are often used to finance activities such as house extensions, cars or foreign holidays. In the past people often had to borrow money or pay on 'tick' to buy a pair of children's shoes or a suit to wear as 'Sunday best'. People on limited incomes often turned to credit providers in their own neighbourhood where the mail order agent, Provident agent, pawnbroker and others were very important community figures.

"People who provided these facilities produced a far more personalised form of credit provision than is often the case today with the many anonymous computerised credit systems in use".

Dr O'Connell is aware that the issue of credit and family finances is a sensitive area. For this reason all information gathered during this research will be confidential.

"I would be willing to visit, community groups, day centres or old people's homes to offer a talk about the project and to chat informally with people about their own experiences of 'making ends meet'," he said.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk