One major payday advance lender has warned that UK consumers need to guard against less-than-honest firms that may be nicking cash from their accounts.
The no credit check loans industry, which has been increasingly under fire from consumer groups and the Government, struck back against unscrupulous firms that are giving honest instant cash loan providers a bad name. Rogue operators are taking advantage of growing demand for short term loans, the payday advance lender said, with its sales and marketing manager, Ian Porter, remarking that the lender has heard ‘horror stories’ from many customers as they relate the terrible things they’ve experienced with dishonest lenders.
Mr Porter related the tale of one customer who actually alerted the police after paying one of these lenders a £100 ‘loan processing fee,’ only to find that not only was the loan not forthcoming but hat the firm had used his bank details to clean out his bank account. The shortfall in the customer’s account prompted him to call in the police, and as a result the company is currently under investigation.
Mr Porter was critical of campaigners who he said focussed on ‘bogus’ issues, such as high interest rates, especially since the relevance of an annualised interest rate on a short term loan is nonexistent. Instead, the sales and marketing manager said that these campaigners need to shift their focus to rooting out the dishonest operators that are attempting to take advantage of one of the swiftest growing financial sectors in the UK.
Industry experts predict that, over the past 12 months alone, as many as two million Brits have availed themselves of payday advance lending.