Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear
Many of you (without those no junk mail stickers) may have got up this morning and sleepily cleared away the assorted pizza/clairvoyant mystic/handyman leaflets that enterprising and early rising deliverers thrust through our doors, chucking them into the recycling bin with barely a glance.
So you may have missed this leaflet below from a bona fide loan shark with its jaunty cartoon and its tempting offers of small sums of money.
So what? Just chuck it away. Anyone with half a brain knows that you should steer well clear, right? Or maybe it's nobody's business if someone needs a bit extra.
So why does this leaflet trouble me?
We know that money can be had any time by popping along to a high street money store. Phoning a number on daytime TV or going online can mean money in a bank account within minutes. Pawnbrokers and payday lenders are mushrooming on high streets. This isn't much different, is it?
They offer small sums. These sums seem manageable. Even if you are too sick or disabled to go out, maybe elderly, or quite simply too ashamed to be seen going into a money shop, this might seem like an attractive proposition. It's even got a freephone number. People come to you to collect. You have to give them permission in writing
They are members of the consumer credit association which has a lovely swanky website.
They might *not* indulge in the practices reported elsewhere of these 'home loan' companies who encourage people to borrow more to cover arrears, who immediately offer larger sums to people who ask for small ones, or hassle you to borrow again if you manage to pay them off.
Okay, now look at the other side (sorry, I ripped it up before having a think about this).
What is missing?
Yep... no mention of APR any where.
Considering that a lender has recently had an ad pulled by the ASA for failing to display clearly their APR, surely a complete failure to mention it all is worse?
Emine Ibrahim picked up my tweet on this and helpfully phoned the company to enquire about APR. Eventually, someone was able to tell her it was 1559% (yes you read that right). She also discovered that an agent will call weekly (shades of hiding from the tally man?)
So, was I right to feel that this ad was troublesome? Citizen's Advice who were running a #paydaywatch discussion certainly thought so when I asked them and I have taken their advice to report this via their simple form which helps them to collect data on payday loan sharking before they forward it to the ASA.
If anyone wants to help highlight irresponsible advertising by payday loan companies, or needs advice over a payday loan, you can find out more here
Tags for Forum Posts: leaflets, loan sharks, pay day loans
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Watched the BBC documentary on iplayer today, Young, British and Broke: The Truth About Payday Loans with Miquita Oliver. Very good documentary. Top APR; over 27,000 %.
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on
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I called the freephone number believing genuinely that I would smoke them out as The Provident under a new guise (as they have many) and expose the classic doorstep money lenders for failing to advertise APR. No such luck, this is a far shoddier operation. I called the number asked if they were the Provident the woman said no. I then called back the mobile number, the same woman answered so I asked her what the APR, she she didn't know as she said she was just helping a friend out on reception!!! (Alarm bells ringing very loudly) She took my number and few hrs or so later I get a call from a rather chirpy chappy from a mobile trying to sell me the loan. After stopping him mid sentence 3 times asking for the APR he finally admits its 1559% and a "friendly agent" brings the cash and then picks it up at £10 per week.
I remember as a kid the Provident man was a regular visitor to neighbours doorsteps as regular as my mums Littlewoods Pools lady - she kept away from money lenders but I know now that in the run up to Christmas many vulnerable families find it a struggle to get through and are targeted.
Compared to these charlatans the Provident man looks positively cuddly! Their disgracefully high 399% APR looks a absolute snip comparatively!
Well done to Liz for bringing this to light. This is classic loan shark territory.
Emine Ibrahim
The Labour Party Candidate (Harringay Ward)
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Street View shows this address as a private house. No company plate with a list of 'Units'. Does the taxman know?
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Permalink Reply by Abi on
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Hmm, so presumably no bustling 'reception' with people sitting in for their buddies either, then. If you plan to do as myself and others have done and complain via the CAB form, why not mention that bit of information too?
Also...cute pad!
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Many thanks to Emine for doing the legwork on this and filling us in on what she discovered - chasing sharks is not for the faint-hearted.
Also to Pam for having the nous to look it up on Google Street View.
I think there is a complaints procedure for the CCA mentioned on their leaflet. I think I may just pop a complaint in to them as well.
This might be a good time to point people in the direction of the London Capital Credit Union as well
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Hi Liz, you may already have this info but it's been suggested to me that the local trading standards may be interested to hear about this.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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The more I see of Emine's local campaigning on these real issues, the more I realise what a travesty it was that she was vote-rigged out of being a candidate for St Ann's. (And no, this isn't about my supporting Zena.)
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Granted. I believe I've read your explanation before on this.
However, there was no APR listed, big, small, fair or unfair on this leaflet and companies with much better 'reputations' that this one are being fined by the ASA for not making their APR clear *enough* i.e. there but not obvious. This company doesn't mention it all and therefore is likely to contravene accepted standards.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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I saw a graph comparing Wonga et al to High Street bank unauthorised overdraft charges recently as APR and Wonga looked cheap... Operating a current account near your overdraft is exceedingly expensive.
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By the time you notice it's a bit more than £30. They then continue to allow you to make debit card transactions and cash withdrawls but charge you £100 for a refused direct debit.
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