A couple of news items caught my attention last week. One was about the number of empty shops on high streets and in shopping centres across the country. The economy is still in the doldrums, and people are just not spending. Apparently one in five retail units currently lies empty. It’s not all doom and gloom, however – recessions and depressions bring business opportunities for some, and it’s boom time for pawnbrokers and ‘pay-day loan’ companies. It seems these enterprises are springing up all over the place – perhaps our only growth industry, even.
The other piece of news was the Westminster government’s crackdown on these very same companies – the top fifty have been ordered to get their house in order or face closure by the summer.
The Office of Fair Trading said that the £2 billion a year industry has got to clean up it’s act. OFT Chief Executive Clive Maxwell said: “We have found fundamental problems with the way the payday market works and widespread breaches of the law and regulations, causing misery and hardship for many borrowers”.
He added: “Payday lenders are earning up to half their revenue not from ‘one-off’ loans, but from rolled-over or refinanced deals, where unexpected costs can rapidly mount up. This irresponsible lending is not confined to a few rogue payday lenders – it’s a problem across the sector. If we do not see rapid, significant improvements by the fifty lenders we inspected, they risk their licences being removed.”
For most, payday loans are something to avoid – everyone knows about the eye-watering interest rates being charged. Pay day loan companies often only quote what a loan will cost you in pounds and pennies, but take out a typical payday loan and you could find yourself being charged at a rate of anything between 1,600 % and 2,700%.
And that’s all the more shocking at a time when personal loans from ordinary high street banks have never been cheaper, available for as little as 9% APR – assuming, of course, that you can get one. But for those that can’t – an increasing number of desperate people –payday loans are the only option, the last resort. And these same people then often find themselves mired in a nightmare spiral of ever-growing debt, sometimes facing the distinct possibility of losing their homes – local advice organisation like Granton Information Centre have reported a significant increase of people tackling serious debt issues.
So a crackdown on payday loan companies – however welcome – won’t help the thousands of people who are currently tied in to horrific loan arrangements. What can they do?
Firstly, seek independent advice, from an organisation like Granton Information Centre or your local Citizens Advice Bureau. DON’T take on another loan to cover your last one.
And think about going a Credit Union. Credit Unions were set up to help people just like you, offering mutual and ethical savings and affordable loans. Credit Unions are regulated ‘Not for Profit’, Member-Owned (mutual), Financial Service Co-operatives and can best be described as organisations that encourage their members to save together and lend to each other responsibly. This allows these members the opportunity to gain greater control over their finances.
Community-based, community owned and community operated, two Credit Unions operate in the local area – North Edinburgh Credit Union in Wardieburn Drive and Capital Credit Union in Stockbridge.
Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL) Chief Executive Mark Lyonette said last week: “Given the anecdotal evidence we hear from credit unions that help payday loan customers pick up the pieces, we are not surprised that the OFT has found evidence of such large scale poor practice in the payday lending industry.
“Loans repayable in full within a few weeks are rarely appropriate or affordable because this only stores up problems for later. If a loan is needed, spreading repayments over a few months will usually make more sense. Credit unions are a great source of affordable credit and many have helped people get out of the expensive habit of using payday loans. They can also help people to look at their finances and get into a savings habit so that they do not have to rely on a short-term loan next time they are short of money.”
North Edinburgh Credit Union’s Annual General Meeting
will be held on Thursday 21 March at 6pm at the NECU office on Wardieburn Drive.
Go along and support your local credit union
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