Tackling abusive lending
December 22nd, 2006
One part of my work which I mention very little here is a continuing, if small, role in the campaign against exploitative secondary lending by the likes of Provident Financial plc. Their normal loan interest rate is 177%. You read that correctly.
This featured on Primetime on Irish television yesterday.
I welcome their involvement. It is timely. This type of lending peaks at Christmas and leaves parents with crippling burdens in the New Year as they seek to meet the demands of television inspired expectation from their children. I call both the lending and child focused advertising that fuels it the antithesis of corporate social responsibility.
It amazes me that this sort of practice hasn’t been made illegal years ago. All it’s short of is the tallyman coming round with a couple of bruisers in case you can’t pay it back.