The Government needs to do more work to make sure that qualifying people who need them are not denied access to personal loans, it has been suggested.

Mark Huggins, director of AA Financial Services, said that lenders must take a more “responsible approach” to choosing customers in the current economic climate.

However, he also expressed concern that there is an increasing division between consumers who can secure credit and those who are refused products by companies.

“The credit market trend is increasingly disenfranchising large numbers of the population who now either can’t obtain credit at all, or can only do so if they are prepared to pay very high interest rates,” Huggins said at the Institute of Economic Affairs conference in late March.

Huggins suggested that the market should work together to “offer affordable lending solutions” and protect consumers from resorting to doorstep deals with sky-high interest rates.

Chris Tapp, director of debt charity Credit Action, also claimed recently that Britons are increasingly turning to companies offering expensive payday loans as they cannot secure credit through mainstream lenders.