Customers who are being turned away by high street banks for loans are banging down the door of Provident Financial, the doorstep lender, which is reporting a big increase in business in the midst of the credit crunch.
Chief executive Peter Crook, said: "The group is very well funded and able to take full advantage of current market conditions at a time when an increasing number of consumers in the UK are having difficulty obtaining credit from high street lenders."
The group reported an increase in the level of new customer applications for loans in the second half of 2007 but the group insisted that not all of these had been granted loans.
Customer numbers are up 3.8% to the end of November, on the same period last year, even though it said it has turned away one-third of the applications it has received.
In an attempt to reassure the stock market, Provident Financial stressed that its level of impairments - the charge it takes to customers failing to repay loans - was growing at a lower rate than revenue and receivables in the second half of 2007.
Its shares were down 16p at 792.5p at midday.