Financial Awareness to Help Reduce Social Inequalities

Provident Financial Services says it has been working for many years to reduce the number of people for whom there are no financial solutions available for temporary or permanent financial problems. An important aspect of the issue of widespread access to home loans is the conscious financial education of those affected.

Provident has programs to help financially vulnerable people to make lasting positive changes in their lives. On the occasion of Social Justice Day, Provident is raising awareness of the inequalities in our daily lives by establishing a press award for journalists and media that do a lot to raise awareness.

Peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, empathy and solidarity are the values that the Social Justice Day, launched by the United Nations in 2007, aims to raise awareness of. Every year, 20 February is an excellent occasion to highlight the fact that reducing gender, ethnic, cultural or even financial and social inequalities is a shared responsibility. Financial sector actors can not only play a key role in economic growth, but can also actively contribute to promoting social justice by making financial services accessible to disadvantaged groups and, along the same lines, by offering support programs to help them become more financially aware.

Since its inception, Provident Finance Ltd. has paid particular attention to the financially disadvantaged in society to ensure that all citizens have access to credit based on transparent and fair financial structures. Today, in Hungary, 6% of the adult population, i.e. around half a million citizens, have no access to classic credit market products, which makes this already very vulnerable social group even more vulnerable. Without credit, the possibility of social mobility often becomes even more out of reach for the poorer sections of society, and the risk of solutions leading to debt traps, including recourse to illegal credit products, increases significantly. Through the Invisibles programme, the financial services provider aims to help those who are unable to save due to their limited living conditions, who are excluded from traditional financial services due to their age or financial situation, and who have not received the education they need to make responsible decisions about their finances.

Provident has been working in partnership with the Hungarian Interchurch Aid for many years to increase money management awareness among disadvantaged people and families, including by providing them with a body of knowledge that can help them to gain useful skills and make informed decisions about their everyday finances and spending. Over the past two years, Provident staff have delivered financial awareness training to members of low-educated and low-income groups in 18 municipalities, with Provident experts providing the necessary professional background on topics such as taxation, responsible borrowing, savings and family budgeting.