Title: What are the consequences faced by unbanked consumers while coping with their credit exclusion?

Authors: Sohail Kamran

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, 46000, Pakistan

Abstract: This study explored the consequences of the strategies employed by low-income consumers to cope with their credit exclusion and how they feel when they experience such consequences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of 50 unbanked low-income consumers. The findings suggest that low-income consumers coping with their credit exclusion by obtaining loans from various informal sources sometimes enabled them to meet their various needs, which aroused feelings of achievement and belongingness in them. However, they were often unsuccessful in coping with their credit exclusion by utilising informal sources of finance, which aroused feelings of powerlessness in them. This study offers a number of avenues for future research in the realm of financial services.

Keywords: unbanked; credit exclusion; low-income; coping; vulnerability.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2023.127759

Middle East Journal of Management, 2023 Vol.10 No.1, pp.1 - 19

Received: 12 Jul 2021
Accepted: 07 Sep 2021
Published online: 16 Dec 2022 *