The article is devoted to the substantiation of risk management methods of banks’ lending to individuals. Existing approaches to understanding the nature of consumer loan are considered. The classification of loans to individuals is provided. The paper proves that consumer lending should be considered in the context of the entities, object, currency, and principles. Consumer lending by its nature as a financial phenomenon refers to the provision of funds by the lender to individuals to obtain goods, works, or services, the acquisition of which meets the specific needs of consumers by redistributing cash flows in the present and future on the principles of maturity and payment. Consumer lending is a subtype of lending to individuals along with mortgage lending. The process of formation of consumer lending in Ukraine is considered: the main periods are identified and the key events and patterns that determine the current state of affairs in the consumer lending by banks are identified. The dynamics of lending to individuals is presented along with the total amount of loans granted. The nature of lending risk and its components are given. The loans are classified into 5 groups depending on the level of credit risk. The volumes of loan debt and loan risk are calculated for all groups: the largest volumes of loans issued to individuals account for the 1st and 5th groups. The amounts of loan debts and loan risk are calculated for all groups: the bulk of the debt is concentrated in the first group - that is, these are the most reliable loans, and the amount of loan risk is the largest in the fifth group. The analysis of the structure of foreign currency loans suggests that the 1st group is formed by new loans in the domestic currency issued to entities with a strong financial condition, and the 5th - old loans, most of which are issued in foreign currency, where debtors are characterized as unreliable with critical financial condition. The lending, operational, and country risks are the main risks of lending to individuals. The classification of risk management in lending to individuals is proposed. Methods of minimizing operational risk in the course of lending to individuals are considered. 

consumer lending, lending to individuals, risk, credit risk, operational risk, scoring models, country risk