Pay Day Loan Charges Cap to go ahead - New Rules in force from January 2015

[citizenB]

Payday loan charges cap announced by FCA

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30000472

 

 

A cap on the amount that payday lenders can charge their customers has been announced by the City regulator.

 

Payday loan rates will be capped at 0.8% of the amount borrowed a day, said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

 

In total, no one will have to pay back more than twice what they borrowed, and there will be a £15 cap on default charges.

 

The loan restrictions will start from January, the regulator said.

 

"For people who struggle to repay, we believe the new rules will put an end to spiralling payday debts," said FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley.

 

 

 

 

A cap on the fees and interest charged by payday lending firms is to go ahead in January in a move to protect borrowers from escalating debts.

 

 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said default fees will be capped at £15 alongside a limit of 0.8 per cent per day on interest on unpaid balances in order to ensure that those who cannot repay on time will never have to pay back more in charges than the amount borrowed.

 

The latest clampdown on the industry was unveiled by the FCA in July and confirmed today following a consultation period.

 

FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley said: “I am confident that the new rules strike the right balance for firms and consumers. If the price cap was any lower, then we risk not having a viable market, any higher and there would not be adequate protection for borrowers.

 

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/business-news/pay-day-loan-charges-cap-to-go-ahead-1-6945444

 

 

[citizenB]

What bothers me is that the FCA appear to have legitimised Default Charges by saying they will be capped at £15.00

[citizenB]

Stella Creasey believes this doesn't really change anything. .

 

 

New payday loan rules to cap fees, total cost and default charges

 

Financial Conduct Authority rules will reduce the cost for most borrowers, but debt campaigner Stella Creasy MP says the cap needs to be lower to change behaviour of lenders

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/nov/11/payday-loans-caps-fca

 

 

 

But critics accused the FCA of allowing “legal loan sharks” to slip through the net. “Today’s news will be welcomed as an early Christmas present for Britain’s legal loansharks,” said Creasy. “This cap is just £1 lower than their current charges. This is an industry where some firms are making nearly three quarters of a million pounds a week from British customers – such a high cap will do little to tackle these rip off charges.

 

“We’ve warned regulators this cap needs to be much lower to really change the behaviour of these companies, but today’s announcement shows they are still not listening. Other countries are much stronger at taking on these companies.”

 

[citizenB]

 

The industry has said the plans will drive some firms out of business. It estimates that only four players will remain in the market: three online lenders and one high street chain. “We will inevitably see fewer people getting fewer loans from fewer lenders,” said Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, which represents some of the best-known payday lenders.

 

Wheatley said payday lenders could disappear from the UK high street within a year, although the FCA’s modelling suggested it was more likely that a few players would remain. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We don’t want to close the industry, we want to change it so that it operates in a way that delivers good outcomes.”

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/nov/11/payday-loans-caps-fca

[Conniff]

It has been said a million times how these authorities lack the guts and the will to really reign in these legal sharks. Here is just another example of them pretending to do something and making statements designed to fool the public.

Nothing has changed whatsoever and nothing ever will until they get someone other than whimps and couldn't care less people to run these departments.

[STK]

Will the new rules set out today by the FCA make a difference to existing loans with payday companies or is it just for new loans taken out from Jan 2015???

[dx100uk]

I haven't read it does

 

 

have you?

 

 

dx

[STK]

Na ive not heard anything only im disputing an amount i owe QQ probably due to the interest they charged me and it did come to double what i borrowed in the first place! So was just hoping that it would somehow also make a difference to exisiting loans. Wishful thinking i guess.

[renegadeimp]

When you have an owner of a PDL group, or ex owner, sitting on the governments advisory team AND is a personal friend of Cameron, you havent got a chance in hell of getting anything changed.

[Maverick Man]

In a word: cowards

 

they've bottled it. absolutely bottled it.

[renegadeimp]

When an agency is linked to the government, they'll ALWAYS roll over and do as they are told. Always.

[drob]

It has been said a million times how these authorities lack the guts and the will to really reign in these legal sharks. Here is just another example of them pretending to do something and making statements designed to fool the public.

Nothing has changed whatsoever and nothing ever will until they get someone other than whimps and couldn't care less people to run these departments.

 

Well said.... This country is ran by corporates and bankers and the more and more I read and educate myself the corporations and bankers are corrupt and dishonest.

 

Who funds and regulates the FCA? It's all smokes & mirrors!!

[JOHNINYORK]

Just read this in the Mail On Sunday.Will it really happen before someone finds loopholes to exploit.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-2835835/These-loans-stay-resort-s-payback-time-payday-lenders-s-need-know-interest.html

 

Regards,John.

[citizenB]

Just read this in the Mail On Sunday.Will it really happen before someone finds loopholes to exploit.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-2835835/These-loans-stay-resort-s-payback-time-payday-lenders-s-need-know-interest.html

 

Regards,John.

 

 

 

Other alternatives include fee-free bank account overdrafts, which allow customers to dip into the red without penalty.

 

 

 

The reason people are turning to PDLs is because banks chucked money at these people only to see them lose their jobs, become ill and also irresponsible lending. Once they were unable to pay the banks dumped them.

 

There are also guarantor loans backed by relatives or friends, and credit cards with interest-free borrowing periods.

 

 

Please, please people... do not agree to be a guarantor for a friend or family member. I am sure there must be situations where this does work, however we have seen many people who have agreed, under pressure/emotional blackmail, to become guarantors and they themselves have ended up losing out.. not just financially, but with discord within a family and the loss of "friends" !

[RobbingHood]

I am not sure I really understand what's not good about this cap and why everyone is against it or saying it's not enough?

 

I think the problem is that people look at this one dimensionally, from the point of view of people that default on them.

 

For a casual borrower that repays on time, this is great news. What more do you want the government to do?

 

Now, if I borrow £100 for 10 days to help pay a bill, I will only repay a maximum of £108 - I think that's reasonable? How could it possibly be any cheaper than that, I would imagine lenders wont make much profit on that £8 anyway after they cover their administration costs etc.

 

Exactly how cheap do you want it to be? Any cheaper then they wont exist at all and that would affect a lot of people.

 

They've capped the maximum amount it will ever go to and the default fee at £15. Someone above mentioned I cannot believe they're saying default fees are OK, but if you don't repay your loan on time they have every right to charge something, just like a bank does if you miss a direct debit payment. £15 is better than the hundreds they're charging at the moment.

 

It seems like the only solutions people on here would be happy with is either them all shutting up shop and the industry disappearing or them charging 0% interest with no default fees.

 

I personally think the FCA are doing a great job and are really coming down on them in the way it should have been done years ago. All of these brokers that are dipping into peoples accounts - who in my opinion are worse than payday lenders - will be out of business in a few months.

 

Payday loans are now dead in the water IMO. Nobody will be offering these loans anymore, come Feb/March it will all be installment loans as they're more profitable. That's what people need to watch out for, borrowing more than they need just to get a loan.