Payday Loans - an effective solution?

Payday loan providers are there to serve a local need in terms of low-income consumer survival. However, attempts at justifying the 2,000-3,000% interest rates by reference to high servicing costs of small amounts borrowed, coupled with ‘high’ risk of default are inevitably attracting government attention. In practice, much of this risk is eliminated by effectively taking ownership of borrowers’ salary/wages cheques until loans have been repaid, with any default-losses well covered by the usurious interest rates charged to those who pay…. In the end, the eventual changes to legislation will be too late and inadequate-for-purpose in restraining providers that in the old days would simply have been run out of town…

An effective solution

Instead, the government should acknowledge that those members of the community in need of income-supplements between paydays should be offered government-backed temporary loans using the payday loan model. This could include taking ownership of pay-cheques/income supplements, but offering low-level interest rates, a move that could help to stabilise household finances and freeze out current payday-lenders overnight…..