ABSTRACT
On the face of it, there may appear to be a contradiction between encouraging financial institutions to lend to people on low incomes in order to overcome financial exclusion, and requiring financial institutions to lend responsibly taking into account a potential borrower’s capacity to repay, in order to avoid over-indebtedness. This chapter will assert that it is in fact the failure of mainstream financial institutions to lend to people on low incomes that exacerbates over-indebtedness and financial exclusion.
