How to tackle payday lenders: GLC's new Payday Loan Survival Guide

With 90% of the payday lending market failing to comply with consumer protection laws to the severe detriment of vulnerable consumers, Govan Law Centre (GLC) believes there is now an urgent need to help people in the UK fight back against payday lenders.

The payday lending market was recently referred to the Competition Commission, and in 2011/12 there were 8.2m new payday loans made in the UK alone. There is every expectation that this number will continue to rise, and with it the financial exploitation of consumers across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

GLC has therefore decided to publish a free 'Payday Loan Survival Guide' for consumers across the UK. Our new guide explains how consumers can take back control of their finances, challenge unfair interest and charges, stop payday lenders from emptiying their bank accounts, and pay back debts legally due on a reasonable and affordable basis. The guide has been written by GLC's Principal Solicitor, Mike Dailly.

Govan Law Centre's new Payday Loan Survival Guide is designed for all consumers across the UK in difficulty with payday loans, and can be downloaded here (as a PDF) for free.

Our guide is free. It has been produced without funding, and we will be posting a link where charitable donations to GLC can be made by those who would feel able to help our work in this field.

How to tackle payday lenders: GLC's new Payday Loan Survival Guide

Complaints upheld by FOS doubles in two years

The Herald reports that the proportion of complaints upheld in favour of consumers by the UK Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has doubled in the past two years.

FOS upheld 61% of banking-related complaints, 41% of mortgage complaints, 70% of general insurance complaints and 42% of investment-related complaints. Five banking groups accounted for 38,286 cases – over half of all the new complaints received by the ombudsman during this six-month period.

The British Bankers Association (BBA) response to this data was to immediately claim this was a great success as this translated to "less than one upheld complaint for every 10,000 products you can get from your bank".

Of course this may provide little comfort to the 38,286 bank customers who complained to the FOS in the last six months; and if FOS is upholding 61% of these complaints, this is compelling evidence that the banks' complaint handling systems are wholly inadequate and in need of reform.

Clearly, the FOS is providing a practical remedy to UK consumers with financial disputes, and if you want information on how to complain to the FOS please visit here. Although, for a critical 'insiders' take on problems with the FOS see here.

Complaints upheld by FOS doubles in two years