SIGNIFICANT SHORTS : Credit squeeze on minorities

People from ethnic minorities are having to rely on less traditional means of getting credit because they are unlikely to be offered - or do not want - a loan from a bank or building society.

A survey by the Policy Studies Institute found that Afro-Caribbeans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis relied on a mixture of loans from friends and relatives, credit from shopkeepers and advances from local savings and loan schemes. Glenda Cooper