The OFT has yet to contact many payday lenders, two months after damning report pointed to widespread breaches of rules.

Almost two months after issuing a damning report on the payday loans industry the Office of Fair Trading has still not contacted all of the firms it believes could be breaching rules on responsible lending. The high-cost credit industry has boomed in recent years, with an influx of lenders offering short-term loans, often at interest rates in excess of 4,000% APR. Consumers have reported being offered discounts to take out further loans, and facing spiralling charges which have turned small loans into huge debts. A year-long review of the £2bn industry by the regulator found widespread evidence of irresponsible lending and breaches of the law which were resulting in "misery and hardship for many borrowers". The OFT said it would be writing to 50 lenders representing 90% of the market to outline changes they needed to make to their business practices, giving them 12 weeks to change their ways. However, more than seven weeks later, not all of those letters have been sent out. A spokesman for the OFT said it hoped to have sent out all of the letters by the end of next week. A firm receiving a letter the following week will have until late July to respond.....Read more here

some of previous Blog entries:

Wonga responds to OFT’s payday report - allaboutFORUMS

OFT acts against leading payday lenders - allaboutFORUMS

Stricter rules expected for payday lenders - allaboutFORUMS