A credit union set up to help North East people struggling to access mainstream loans is turning down more than half of applications because struggling families would not have enough money to pay them back.
Joanne Angus, the chief operating officer at NEFirst Credit Union, said demand for low-interest loans to pay for essentials such as food and heating had increased since the start of the cost of living crisis, and she expected this to continue to rise as people were overwhelmed by rising costs.
"Most of the people who come to us can't borrow money from anywhere else as something has gone wrong for them financially in the past, such as a divorce, a bad relationship or domestic abuse," said Joanne. "We are often their last resort, but we are finding that we are having to turn more away.
