The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has told payday lenders that its powers to immediately suspend consumer credit licences will only be used in “urgent” circumstances. David Fisher, director of consumer credit at the OFT, told delegates at the Consumer Credit Trade Association (CCTA) conference on 8 November that its new powers to intervene would be employed “carefully” and only in order to protect consumers. The organisation launched a consultation on the new powers last month, with final guidance due to be published in February 2013.

Under the new rules, businesses will not be able to continue trading until the end of the appeals process. At the CCTA conference Peter Stimson, managing director of CoreLogic Teletrack, a UK credit reference agency that serves the short-term credit market, revealed that the average income of a payday borrower is £16,600. In his presentation, Stimson said that its data on two million UK payday applicants “strongly indicated” that, on average, they are in lower paid jobs with less career and income progression.....Read more here: OFT says powers of intervention to be used carefully