As part of our mission to maintain monetary and financial stability, we need to understand trends and developments in credit conditions. This quarterly survey of bank and building society lenders is an input to this work. The survey covers:
- secured and unsecured lending to households; and
- lending to non-financial corporations, small businesses, and to non-bank financial firms.
This report presents the results of the 2025 Q1 survey. Lenders were asked to report changes in the three months to end-February 2025 (Q1), relative to the period between September and November, and expected changes in the three months to end-May 2025 (Q2), relative to the period between December and February. The survey was conducted between 3 March and 21 March 2025. Any impact from more recent developments will therefore, not be captured.
The results are based on lenders’ own responses to the survey, and are reported as net percentage balances. The changes in balances are described as an ‘increase’ if greater than 10 in absolute terms, as ‘slight’ if between 5 and 10 and as ‘unchanged’ if less than 5. The results do not necessarily reflect our views on credit conditions. You can read a full guide to interpreting the survey and copies of the questionnaires at the end of this page.