The chief executive officer of one major payday advance firm has said that providers of instant cash loans must not exploit customers in financially dire straits, as doing so taints the image of the entire industry.
The chief executive, Gary Miller-Cheevers, remarked that responsible providers of short term loans have no desire whatsoever to make the lives of anyone in the UK worse off, especially those of students or lower income earners that are already struggling with debt. His words came on the heels of recent reports of loan providers seemingly targeting groups, such as students or the military.
Mr Miller-Cheevers called upon lenders to limit their activities to borrowers that have the ability to repay the loan without the risk of spiraling debt. There are enough of these genuine borrowers, he added, that payday lenders surely do not need to plumb the depths of whatever minority group they choose to trawl through in order to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.
The chief executive also added that his lending firm is managed in a responsible manner, stating that it will only lend to those with full-time jobs. The firm also restricts its lending to a level that would be affordable to repay according to the borrower’s pay rate, Mr Miller-Cheevers also said, commenting that even with all these safeguards in place, his firm still declines as much as 90 per cent of loan applications.
In addition to his recent words condemning the practices of shady lenders that prey on the less fortunate or less financially savvy, Mr Miller-Cheevers has also stepped forward to voice his support for MPs who have called for short term borrowing interest rate caps as well.