Policymakers have demonstrated a lack of understanding when it comes to payday advance lending firms, according to a recent research study from the Consumer Finance Association that found customer satisfaction rates are high.
The YouGov survey, commissioned by the CFA, sought the opinion of both 300 MPs and 300 customers of instant cash loan companies in order to determine how wide the gulf was between those who regulate the payday lending industry and those who actually make use of such lenders. This gulf was massive, with an overwhelming 95 per cent of the surveyed policymakers feeling that lenders treat their customers with a distinct lack of respect and dignity, but at 93 per cent, a nearly identical number of customers thought the exact opposite.
However, industry experts say that the sample size of just 300 instant cash loan customers may be entirely too small to gain an accurate understanding of what the majority of the nation’s borrowers actually have experienced at the hands of short term lenders. Recent independent research from Consumer Focus has said that there may be as many as 1.2 million people taking out short term loans in the UK.
The CFA, which is the industry body responsible for regulating one of the largest payday lenders in the UK, has been on the defensive for quite some time in an effort to change the public image of the instant cash loan industry, one that has been accused of offering loans at exorbitantly high APR interest rates to those who may not have the ability to repay the lending on time and in full. Many opponents have thus received these new survey results with a rather large grain of salt.