I have been a true believer of this wonderful company over the...

I have been a true believer of this wonderful company over the years. Its been a rocky ride. Thank you Bill Shorten for providing me with a wonderful opportunity to buy shares in this company at ridiculous prices. You are on my XMAS mailing list. Well done.

I have spotted this article on a respected industry website that might wet you appetite in relation to the UK business.

One in five will seek payday loan
Over a quarter of young adults are likely to take out a payday loan in the next six months, according to findings published today.

One in four adults aged between 18 – 24 years old will seek a payday loan in the next six months, according to R3, which warned the product was increasingly being used as a debt solution and not a financial solution.
Citing data compiled by ComRes the insolvency trade body said there had been a 50% increase in the number of UK adults (5 million) who say they are likely to seek a payday loan in the next six months, up from 3.5 million individuals a year ago.

R3 said this increase came as levels of indebtedness soared, citing figures from 2011 which showed one in three payday loan customers had to take out a second payday loan to repay the first one.

In an even more worrying trend, R3 said in some instances payday loans were now being used to pay for other loans instead of essentials such as food and bills.

R3 council member Louise Brittain said: “If used in the right way a payday loan does have a place. However they are increasingly being taken on as a debt solution instead of a financial solution.

“We know from last year that one in three couldn’t pay off the first payday loan so had to take out another one – and now 12% of 18-24 year olds have prioritised paying back this debt over buying food in the past six months. This is surely not what the payday providers intended.”

But the Consumer Finance Association (CFA), which represents some of the UK’s largest payday lenders, said higher demand for payday loans merely highlighted the convenience of the product as a short-term borrowing option that was lower risk than an overdraft or credit card.

CFA chief executive Russell Hamblin-Boone also expressed concern at R3’s findings that customers are prioritising payday payments over food.

He said: “Our members are committed to lending responsibly and to delivering significant new protections for consumers through the new Good Practice Customer Charter. Clear explanations, robust affordability assessments and help for any customers in financial difficulty are the bedrock of the Charter, which comes into force on 26th November.”

The CFA’s new customer charter updates a previous customer charter introduced in 2011 by former CFA chief executive John Lamidey.

The updated charter features bulked-up consumer protections such as greater transparency on the cost of a payday loan and how it works, affordability assessments and assistance for customers in financial difficulty.
It follows a period of intense media and regulatory scrutiny on the payday loan sector.

The Office of Fair Trading is due to report the findings of an in-depth compliance review of the sector before the end of this year.