Payday loan rates: UK worst in the world

[Michael Browne]

As the rest of the world curbs legal loan sharks, why not us?

 

 

This map should shame the *politicians and regulators who have left hard-up British families easy prey for the world's legal loan sharks.

 

It shows how we are fast becoming one of the last remaining countries where payday and doorstep lenders are free to charge the equivalent of 4,000% or more annual interest on their loans.

 

More than half of the countries in the European Union have placed caps on how much lenders can charge, including France, Germany, and Spain, according to the Centre for Responsible Credit.

 

Two-thirds of individual states in the USA have done the same, like Florida, where lenders can charge no more than 10% of the amount lent plus a $5 fee.

 

The latest country to crack down on payday parasites is Australia, where lenders are limited to charging 20% of a loan under £1,300 upfront and 4% a month after that.

 

Yet here in the UK, our payday lenders peddle loans costing 4,000% annual interest. They dispute these "annual percentage rate" figures, saying the actual costs are more like 300% to 400% - as if that was fine.

 

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/11/as-the-rest-of-the-world-curbs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mirror%2Finvestigations+%28Mirror+-+Investigations%29