Last month, Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched a review into whether or not payday lenders are complying with the Consumer Credit Act and the Irresponsible Lending guidance for creditors.  

If payday lenders are not doing what they are supposed to, the OFT will take enforcement action against them. But they cannot do this, if you do not tell them what is going on and it is impacting on your clients. For example, the firms your clients borrow from might be:

§      Giving out loans without first checking adequately that the borrower can afford to repay them.

§      Inappropriately targeting particular groups of people with clearly unsuitable or unaffordable credit.

§      Rolling over loans so that charges escalate and the loans become unaffordable.

§      Not treating borrowers that get into financial difficulties fairly.

These are all things the OFT want to hear about. The have put together a consumer complaint form for members of the public so you and your clients can tell them what’s going on. 

 The review closes on Friday 18 May 2012.