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Ignore Wonga’s spin; they’re still targeting students
Following our revelation that payday loan company Wonga was targeting students for its 4000 per cent APR loans, they have taken down the page that we highlighted. In its place is a message from the...
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Legal loan sharks are licking their lips as the social fund is scrapped
By Pete Jefferys, policy and campaigns officer at the Co-operative Party Amongst the more pernicious elements of the government’s welfare reform bill is the effective scrapping of the social fund, an...
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The next credit crisis will hit consumers, not banks
Recently, I reviewed Stewart Lansley’s new book The Cost of Inequality. In it, he notes that the share of the net income of the UK’s top 1 per cent shrank from 12.6 per cent in 1937 to 4.2 per cent...
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Cash for policies anyone? Beecroft, Wonga, millionaire Tory donors and...
. Tony Burke, assistant general secretary of Unite, delves a little deeper into millionaire Tory donor Adrian Beecroft’s lust to strip workers of their rights The “cash for lunches” scandal has...
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Tories refuse to support cap on high interest pay day loans
. Only 46% Conservative MPs want to impose a cap on pay day loan credit charges that are leaving consumers in spiralling debt, a ComRes survey reveals today. The parliamentary panel survey,...
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Why are Wonga speaking at a Labour policy meeting on household debt?
Hat-tip to Richard Murphy for noticing this. It appears that a representative from Wonga is speaking at a Labour Policy Review meeting on household debt. Here is the email: “Monday 13 May How should we...
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The wait for action on unscrupulous Payday lenders goes on
Payday lending is back in the news today as two reports are released, one after the other, on changes to the regulatory architecture that oversees the industry. The report by the Office for Fair...
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The payday lending industry punishes people for its own faults
Despite the formal investigation being carried out on the industry by the Office for Fair Trading, payday lending has once again made headlines today for failing to uphold standards of responsible...
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Osborne’s budget gift to payday lenders
We’ve a gaffe-prone chancellor in George Osborne: before it was the 4×4 in the disabled parking space, then it was the fine for not having a first class ticket. Now he’s caught out by The Sun for...
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Canada provides a shining example of how to regulate payday lenders
By David Barclay, faith in public life officer at the Contextual Theology Centre The chorus of disapproval is starting to become deafening on payday lending. First the Office for Fair Trading came out...
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The government needs to take the growth of payday lenders more seriously
Payday lending has historically been referred to as fringe banking in the United States, but you couldn’t deny it’s anything other than big business today. In 1992 there was one solitary outlet of The...
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Stopping payday lenders advertising won’t make the problem go away
Labour-run Plymouth council has sought measures to stop payday lending companies such as Wonga and The Money Shop from advertising on its billboards and bus stops – a move that will sit alongside...
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Welby’s Wonga comments are a welcome intervention
The Archbishop Justin Welby is back in the news today after it emerged that he met with Errol Damelin, the chief executive of payday lender Wonga.com, to tell him he wants to put the company out of...
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The Archbishop and Wonga: busting a few myths
Issue 1: The Archbishop competing Wonga out of business The misunderstanding: So, the Archbishop has given up on legislation and regulation of the payday lending industry? The reality: What Justin...
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Wonga are trying to pull the wool over our eyes
TweetWonga are on a mission to pull the wool over our eyes on their very expensive credit product and the customers who they serve. The much talked about Wonga film, released today, shows 12 customers...
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Osborne’s cap on the cost of credit presents a challenge we have to meet
TweetStewart Owadally is a community organiser with Movement for Change £15,000 – that was roughly the increase in the amount of savings at Swansea’s LASA Credit Union in the three months prior to the...
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Today’s news on payday lending is welcome, but enforcement matters as much as...
TweetThe campaign to tackle the payday lending sector has been gifted another small victory today as the Department for Business, Industry, and Skills publishes a report calling for more focussed...
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It’s official: payday lending is the most harmful type of debt
TweetRepresentatives of UK payday lending, an industry that has grown from being worth around £900m in 2009 to £2.8bn today, will always say that their product is a responsible one. Russell...
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While payday didn’t cause the financial crisis, it does benefit from it
TweetToday the Financial Conduct Authority will take over from the Office of Fair Trading to become the regulator of the consumer credit industry. This includes oversight of over 50,000 businesses and,...
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Wonga has been caught out. But why didn’t the regulator act earlier?
TweetIf the regulator had been firmer before then some borrowers might not have been treated unfairly The payday lending industry has received an extraordinary amount of attention in recent times,...
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