39% of adults in the UK applied for at least one form of credit over the past 12 months, according to a survey conducted on behalf of mortgage and secured loan broker Ocean Finance by OnePoll.
This is an increase on 2013’s results, when 33% of people applied for one or more of the most popular credit products on the market.
Men (44%) are more likely to have applied for credit than women (34%) in the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the age group most likely to make an application to borrow are those aged between 25 and 34 (60%) – compared with 17% of people aged over 55 years old.
The credit product applicants were most likely to be turned down for was an overdraft, with 19% people who applied for one over the last year revealing they were rejected by their bank. At the other end of the scale, applications for car loans and car finance had the lowest rejection rate, at 11%.
An application for a first mortgage was something lenders were most likely to accept. 85% of first mortgage applications were accepted over the last year, according to the survey. However, the type of credit people had the most chance of securing was a peer-to-peer loan, which had an acceptance rate of 86%.
Many respondents revealed that rather than be accepted or rejected for a particular product, they were offered it for a higher interest rate than they had applied for. For instance, nearly one in 20 (4.6%) credit card applicants were offered the product for a higher rate than they had originally hoped for.
Ian Williams, spokesman for Ocean Finance, said: “It’s interesting to see that the number of people applying for credit products has increased in the last year, which may be a sign that consumers’ confidence continues to grow in the wake of the credit crunch.
“However, large numbers of people are being turned down when they apply for products like an overdraft or personal loan (16% of applications rejected).
“In many cases applicants’ credit ratings could be standing against them, even if they don’t know it. It’s therefore worthwhile checking your credit score before you apply for credit so you can see what your lenders see and – if it’s necessary – take steps to improve your rating before you apply.”