The need for financial literacy could be key in improving young people’s attitudes towards their finances, an industry expert has suggested.

According to Becky Boden-Wilkes, spokesperson for National Debtline, the provision of greater education in regards to monetary products, for example personal loans, “is a really big thing” and can help young Britons develop greater responsibility in managing their money. By doing so, Ms Boden-Wilkes suggested, borrowers will have a better understanding of how fiscal schemes and accounts work, what terms such as annual percentage rates mean and how they can have an impact on their finances. Consequently, in developing their financial literacy consumers could be able to search for competitively-priced borrowing, such as cheap loans, more effectively.

The National Debtline representative added that, when used wisely, personal loans and other forms of borrowing can often help Britons to manage their money during various financial peaks and troughs. She said: “It is important to learn how to budget and how to use credit responsibly. Debt isn’t a bad thing by any means, most of us use credit and have a personal loan, credit card or mortgage. Credit is there to get you through the ups and downs.”

In addition, Ms Boden-Wilkes advised of the need to set up and stick to a budget as a “prime example” of one way in which adults can start to get to grips with their day-to-day financial management. By creating a document charting how much money they have coming in and their level of expenditure, consumers could be able to identify how much disposable income they have left at the end of each month. This in turn could help them to recognise how much cash they will be able to put towards servicing loan repayments or set aside into a savings account for use in later life. “Financial literacy and budgeting could make a massive difference,” she added.

Speaking at a meeting held at the Liberal Democrat party conference earlier this month, Stephen Sklaroff, director general for the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), reported “better financial education remains a high priority” in terms of helping more consumers to become “responsible borrowers”. In spite of recent events in the financial industry, such as the global credit crunch and the difficulties experienced by bank Northern Rock, Mr Sklaroff claimed that loans, overdrafts and other forms of credit can be “a force for good”.

He also suggested that the availability of loans could help a wide number of people from all branches of society to benefit from the growth witnessed in the British economy over recent years. The FLA director general reported that although the credit industry makes use of data sharing techniques to ensure it issues money responsibly, those people considering getting a loan or any other type of borrowing should always make sure that they will be in a comfortable financial position to make repayments.

However, those Britons who have had a history of struggling to make debt repayments may find that their access to cheap loans offered by mainstream lenders when they next apply to borrow has been restricted as a result of damaging their credit history. Consequently, such consumers who remain confident that they will be able to make regular payments may wish to consider taking out a bad credit loan to help them manage with their finances.