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The Archbishop of Canterbury wants to take his ‘war on Wonga’ into the classroom using Britain’s network of Church of England primary schools to spearhead an educational campaign against high-cost borrowing. The strategy to teach children the dangers of sinking into expensive debt through so-called payday lenders such as Wonga is being examined by former Financial Services Authority chief and Barclays executive Sir Hector Sants, who now heads the Archbishop’s Task Group on Responsible Savings and Credit.Archbishop Justin Welby has slammed payday lending as ‘usury’ and last year said the Church would try to ‘compete them out of business’ with its own credit operation. The schoolroom strategy emerged as Sants and the rest of the Archbishop’s appointed task force met for the second time on Tuesday – the same day that the Financial Conduct Authority took full responsibility for the payday lending market from the Office of Fair Trading. Sants said: ‘There is the question of whether more could be done to educate young people, equip them to understand how to go about accessing credit in a responsible way and develop their savings culture.‘There is a huge amount of work that has already been done in this area – by charitable institutions, by credit unions and a number of Government initiatives. But I think there is room for more to be done, particularly in primary schools.’..............Read more here
Other News with Archbishop Welby against Wonga:
July 2013:
Archbishop of Canterbury Welby warns of bankers 'lynch mob' LINK
Archbishop warns Wonga it could be run out of business
LINK
The Church of England has ended its investment in the payday lender Wonga.
The move ends an embarrassing situation for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who last year pledged to try to put Wonga out of business by helping credit unions compete with it. It later emerged that the Church had indirectly staked about £75,000 in Wonga through an investment fund. The archbishop told the BBC he was "absolutely delighted" that the investment had ended. When details of the link emerged last year, Archbishop Welby hadadmitted to being "embarrassed" and "irritated". 'Common good'The Church Commissioners for England, which deals with the Church's investments, said on Thursday it was "pleased to announce" the indirect exposure to Wonga as part of its venture capital portfolio had been removed......Read more here