If you don’t have an established credit history – maybe because you’ve have missed the occasional payment on your credit card, incurred a CCJ, are young, or have migrated to the UK from abroad – the banks will typically think it’s risky to lend you money.
However, even if you do have a credit history but you’ve had trouble in the past repaying a loan or credit-card bill, this will be reflected by a lower credit score. And if you’ve had enough financial trouble that you have a bad credit score – typically a score under 720 – then the banks will still see you as unreliable and you might find it difficult to get a loan.
In the event that you need to borrow money but are seen by lenders as a poor or unreliable ‘bet’, special guaranteed loans for bad credit are a viable option for you.