That’s according to a new study carried out by polling experts YouGov on behalf of lender Pepper Money. The research found that 13% of respondents have experienced some form of credit problems over the last three years, from missed payments and defaults to county court judgements (CCJs) and arrears.

That works out at around 6.81 million people across the country.

Of those respondents with an adverse credit history, the Pepper study found that around 16% are thinking of buying a property within the next year. That suggests there are around 1.09 million aspiring home buyers with a patchy credit record.

The lender highlighted that this actually represents a drop of almost 250,000 from the last time Pepper Money conducted its Adverse Credit Study, back in February, when around 1.34 million people with adverse credit were considering a home purchase over the following 12 months.

The study also highlighted that a significant proportion of these borrowers are worried about being turned down for a mortgage, with 69% admitting to being concerned about their chances of securing a home loan.

Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money, said that it was welcome that the number of people with adverse credit had fallen since the last time the lender conducted this study, before Covid-19 had taken grip of the UK.

“This could be connected to the fact that many people spent less money during lockdown and so more people than before took the opportunity to try to repay their debts.”

However, he cautioned that it was a concert that so many borrowers were pessimistic about their chances of securing a home loan, and called on advisers to “engage with the specialist market and communicate the opportunities with their customers”.