Stella Creasy tables amendment to Financial Services bill calling for the new financial regulator to be able to set a maximum amount payday lenders can charge for credit.
An attempt to give regulators the power to cap the cost of payday loans and other high-cost forms of borrowing will be voted on in parliament today. The Walthamstow MP, Stella Creasy, has tabled an amendment to the Financial Services bill calling for the new financial regulator to be given the power to set a maximum amount lenders can charge for credit, in a move she says will offer greater protection to consumers even if it is never used. The bill, which covers a range of measures including a reform of how banks are regulated, will see the creation of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to replace the Financial Services Authority. This body will also take regulation of consumer credit away from the Office of Fair Trading. The FCA will be expected to protect consumers from being mis-sold poor financial products, but Creasy's amendment seeks to allow it to set a maximum price for loans with a view to curbing costs in the short-term loans market....Read more here---: Payday loans set for parliamentary vote
Ian Porter, Sales and Marketing Manager of Ferratum UK, said: “Ferratum UK would agree with Stella Creasy that there is a need to clamp down on a small minority of rogue lenders operating in the payday lending market. “We have highlighted ourselves some of the more unscrupulous practices we have heard about including the taking of upfront fees before a loan is even processed and the aggressive selling of rollover loans. “However, Ms Creasy is also misleading her fellow MPs and members of the public by tarring the entire industry with the same brush.
“More than 2million people in the UK have applied for a payday loan and this is expected to rise to 3.5million people by the middle of this year. This trend has not come about purely by chance. Rather, it is about professional, properly licensed companies such as Ferratum meeting the demands of the consumer who find Ferratum payday loans far more flexible and responsive to their needs than more traditional lenders....Read more here--: MPs attack on payday lenders branded a misleading by Ferratum UK