Banks have a "responsibility" to students
Banks have a "responsibility" not to lend more money to students than they can afford to pay back, a spokesperson for HSBC has said. Many banks offer student accounts with overdraft facilities of around £1,500, student credit cards with a credit limit of about £1000 and low-rate loan facilities, and it is not unusual for students to graduate with debts of over £10,000.James Thorpe, a spokesperson from HSBC, said: "A student is borrowing money from a bank because they are unlikely to have a strong income."He added: "Of course we do have a responsibility not to lend them any more money than they can actually cope with." He said that, just as with their other customers, HSBC would try to help students to manage any financial difficulties they experienced. Figures from the Student Loans Company indicate that the total amount of money that was lent to higher education students during 2006 to 2007 stood at £2,954 million, of which £3,865 million was in Tuition Fee Loans.
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