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Loan firm’s wonga buys the ears of ministers
Conservative ministers agreed to hold meetings with the controversial payday loans company Wonga in exchange for payments to the party, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
The meetings took place at the Tory Party conference last week despite the new party chairman, Grant Shapps, previously describing the activities of some payday lenders as “obscene”.
A Cabinet source privately admitted that “moneymaking” was a key goal of this year’s conference, with companies paying thousands for exhibition stands and events. Controversially, business executives were charged £1,250 for face-to-face meetings with ministers at which they were invited to help “develop” business-friendly policies. Wonga confirmed it had sent a representative to meetings with ministers from the Department for Business and the Treasury.
Payday loans firms have been described as “legal loan sharks” for preying on the poorest workers who cannot make their income stretch from one pay cheque to another. The lenders are worried that the Government or financial regulators will cap the interest rates they charge, which can add up to 4,000 per cent a year.
Wonga was censured for employing “aggressive and misleading” debt collection practices by the Office of Fair Trading earlier this year.
The Daily Telegraph learnt that ministers including Sajid Javid, the economic secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, the Treasury’s exchequer secretary, and Michael Fallon, the enterprise minister, were available for the meetings. Each spent 20 minutes at a table with representatives of businesses that had paid to send delegates to the conference. Participants nicknamed the sessions “speed dating” because executives were given a short time to express their views.
A Cabinet source told The Daily Telegraph that there was “a lot of money” to be made from charging for exhibition space and events at the conference.
Stella Creasy, a Labour MP, said the debate over payday credit firms should be transparent. “Cosy chats with a minister at conference are bad, public debate about the issues is good,” she said. A spokesman for Wonga confirmed that it had sent a delegate to the Conservative conference to speak to ministers.
“The conference was attended by many of the UK’s leading businesses,” the spokesman said. “Of course we engage with the Government, as do most companies in the UK.” A Conservative Party spokesman said: “It is essential for good regulation that ministers and others meet with and listen to the views of the businesses they regulate as well as those who campaign for tougher measures.”

They shouldn't cap the interest rates, they should outlaw the entire "industry"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... sters.html

Pay day Loan companies are really loan sharks and under a honest Government they would not be allowed to operate. The Tories allow them to charge what they like even more than 3,000%. They are not allowed to do this in Europe, so why here ???
robin123, leeds, United Kingdom, 21/10/2012 7:16

'It's like a heroin addiction': Payday loan borrower's warning as MP expresses fear over soaring 'toxic' debt cases
By Dana Gloger
PUBLISHED: 22:34, 20 October 2012 | UPDATED: 07:39, 21 October 2012

The number of people seeking help after getting into trouble with five or more payday loans has trebled in just three years.
Among the desperate borrowers were 200 people with at least ten loans each, and one couple who had lost control after taking out 36 loans between them.
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service says that more than 2,000 people with five or more loans have sought help this year – up from 716 in 2009.

Consumer group Which? estimates 800,000 UK households have taken out payday loans.
Labour MP Stella Creasy, who has campaigned for stricter rules on such lending, said the numbers were just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
Ms Creasy added: ‘Payday loans are a toxic form of credit. It’s a big problem and will get worse.’
The most severe case the CCCS has dealt with is the couple with 36 payday loans, totalling £17,947. It has also advised a woman whose 18-year-old son was borrowing money to buy drugs.
In another case, Ami Jarman, from Hertfordshire, initially borrowed £150 for a new car tyre but later it soared into a £14,000 debt.
The 22-year-old hospital care assistant took out the first amount in April 2009 but then borrowed £8,000 which, with high interest rates, increased to £14,000.
Last week her mother lent her the money to clear the debt.
‘It was like having a heroin addiction,’ Miss Jarman said. ‘It made my whole life crumble.’
Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, which represents 70 per cent of payday lenders, said: ‘Our members turn down nine out of ten applications and thoroughly check customers before lending to them.
'We don’t look to lend to people who can’t pay back.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z29v4w4G4e