Anti-instant cash loan campaigners took to the streets recently, bringing their message to the doorsteps of firms believed to be some of the worst offenders when it comes to providing instant cash loans with unsustainably high interest rates.
Over 20 Haringey, Islington and City Credit Union members marched on payday advance lenders in the region this past Thursday, with protesters handing out leaflets and waving placards outside two lenders in Holloway Road and Archway Road. The protesters, which included three Labour councillors, said that providers of short term loans trap local residents into unmanageable levels of debt by interest rates higher than 1,700 per cent APR that cause borrowers to have to take out increasingly larger debts in order to keep treading water.
Protesters gave out leaflets to more than 700 people in an effort to drum up interest in less expensive lending alternatives such as credit unions, as these lenders also encourage their members to save for the future as well. Councillors Raphael Andrews, Troy Gallagher, and treasurer Richard Greening marched alongside the protesters in order to raise awareness of the issue and to encourage others to make use of the local credit union instead of taking out expensive payday lending.
The credit union’s manager, Martin Groombridge, said that people need to be discouraged from using these high interest rate lenders. The government needs to take action in order to make lenders operate in a manner that is more fair and transparent and not drive the vulnerable into taking out loans with such massive interest rates, charges, and fees that they cannot repay them with ease, Mr Groombridge also said.