commitment to responsible lending, Provident will lend a new customer smaller amounts.  Only when a customer has demonstrated they are able to manage the repayments and following a further affordability assessment, will a larger loan be considered.  Therefore it is entirely logical that a customer with a good repayment history may be offered a larger loan. Provident agents lend a much smaller proportion of the amount of credit than our central systems suggest would be affordable.  The agent control works very well in managing the amount of credit available to customers based on individual, personal and in-home assessment of their situation which is always able to over-ride recommendations from the central system.  Provident does not grant home credit centrally: an agent always makes the decision. Managers have targets related to how much money they have on their book and the number of sales made, which can also lead to irresponsible lending. Managers are under pressure to meet these targets. Like most businesses, Provident managers are set targets across the full range of their professional responsibilities.  However, because it is never in the interests of agents to lend to customers irresponsibly because they are paid predominantly on what they collect, not what they lend, this acts to prevent irresponsible lending.