Payday loans are suddenly springing up everywhere. They are not there to target the wealthiest, but to target the poorest with ludicrous amounts of interest. They are especially useful for those with poor credit, like myself. I receive about ten texts per day asking me whether I’d like to take out a loan of £250 to £750. They are deleted immediately. I know that the body can live on water for weeks, so even if I didn’t have food in the cupboard or fridge, water would feed me.
Payday loans are legal loan sharks and must be banned immediately. They are there to create fear and a lack based mindset and create even more debt on the person who may have only wanted to take out a small loan. I watched Tonight: Payback Time, which featured people who had used payday loans and racked up more debt prior to borrowing the small loan. I am not sure if they are secured loans, which makes it worse for mortgage owners. Even if you are desperate for cash, borrow from family or friends or visit a credit union, whose rates may be higher than high street banks but far cheaper than Payday Loan companies. Please sign this in support to ban payday loans.
It’s not just payday loans who are focused toward the poor. Increased energy prices are happening for a reason. Energy companies are making enough profit and do not have to put up prices. Even Atlantic state they have to make a profit after I received a phone call from them. Why don’t they keep a £1 profit and give the rest to its customers?
And check out the “Green Deal” coming in 2012. This is another Government funded initiation focused toward the poor where loans of up to £10,000 will be given to homeowners, which will pay for installations to make homes more energy efficient. It talks of the loan being on the electric bill and not the owner, but when a person moves into a new property, s/he does not take on that same bill, as the account is closed and a new one opened, so why would anyone want to take on a debt of up to £10,000. This deal seems a bit scattered to me.
