Tag Archives: office of fair trading

Jo Swinson MP

Jo Swinson MP writes…Consumers need to be protected from the predatory behaviour of payday lenders

By Jo Swinson MP | Wed 13th March 2013 - 9:28 am

Every MP has seen tragic cases of constituents struggling with debt problems.

Like Mrs S, whose daughter was granted hundreds of pounds of loans, despite not being in employment and suffering from mental health problems. That young woman is now in arrears with 2 different payday lenders. She is being charged high default fees and her situation is getting worse each day.

The Coalition Government is determined to make sure that consumers are properly protected and that payday lenders stop taking advantage of vulnerable people. The evidence of the scale of unscrupulous behaviour by payday lenders and the impact on …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
Alex Marsh

Opinion: Will fixing the planning system improve the housing supply?

By Alex Marsh | Fri 18th November 2011 - 10:25 am

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Britain has a housing problem. There are problems of shortage and, consequently, access and affordability.

There are three principal mechanisms for dealing with significant housing shortage and indirectly reducing the affordability problems that go with it: (1) You can reduce the number of households needing to be housed; (2) You can increase the number of properties available; and (3) You can improve the utilization of the existing stock of properties.

You can try to do something on all three fronts. A couple of weeks ago LibDemVoice co-editor Mark Pack identified six …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 14 Comments
Lorely Burt

Opinion: Have you ever felt ripped off by your bank?

By Lorely Burt | Mon 19th July 2010 - 11:20 am

Have you ever felt ripped off by your bank? I’m not talking about the scandal of banker irresponsibility which has helped land us into the deepest recession in living memory. I’m talking about the sense of injustice you feel when you get your statement to discover you’ve been charged outrageous fees for having stepped over an agreed overdraft limit.

If this has happened to you, you’re in good company. Which? estimated that we paid over £4bn in unauthorised bank charges last year, averaging £120 from each one of us. If you go over your limit, even by a few pence, you’ll …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 18 Comments
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    I am sure Alan will have the sympathies of all of us. The situation is sad and frustrating. Forgive me for making one small point, Alan: you said that 40 Ho...
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