MPs add their voices to calls for controls on the marketing of payday loans

There were calls for controls on the marketing of payday loans as well as more support for credit unions when MPs debated high-cost credit.

The debate, which came during a backbench business session, saw MPs express concern about the number of payday loan businesses opening in High Street premises and the lack of credit checks on potential borrowers.

Tonty Baldry, MP for North Oxfordshire, told the House that while £38million was being invested in credit unions by the Government, a similar sum was being spent on advertising in a year by the big name payday lenders.

There were calls for controls on the marketing of payday loans as well as more support for credit unions when MPs debated high-cost credit.

The debate, which came during a backbench business session, saw MPs express concern about the number of payday loan businesses opening in High Street premises and the lack of credit checks on potential borrowers.

Tonty Baldry, MP for North Oxfordshire, told the House that while £38million was being invested in credit unions by the Government, a similar sum was being spent on advertising in a year by the big name payday lenders.

He said that credit unions should be made “fit for the 21sty century” with “adequate” IT infrastructure.

Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt & Personal Finance, said that payday lenders were targeting under-18s with their advertising, and called for high-cost loan ads to be restricted to after the watershed.

While Justin Tomlinson, MP for North Swindon and chair of the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education, said there was a need for greater protection to empower consumers to make informed, affordable & savvy decisions.

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