 |
| Link to The Guardian |
"Every crisis brings its opportunities. It's paradoxical, but not surprising, that the credit crisis has provided an opportunity for the 'alternative credit industry'. Not many new businesses are opening in the nation's high streets. But payday loan companies have never had it so good. The payday loan sector is now 'worth' £1.7bn, having expanded five-fold in recent years. This week, brash and breezy payday loan company Wonga announced that it was moving into small business loans. This is yet another sick symptom of the continuing bind that the economy is in.
"It's appalling enough that such companies were allowed to operate pretty much as they pleased during the boom, when credit was cheap and plentiful. Back then, it's fair to say, there was a prevailing, if delinquent, view that those who delivered themselves into the clutches of 'alternative usurers' had only themselves to blame. Now, in recession, that's a harsh argument to make. These alternative loan businesses have expanded in direct response to the economic crisis.
"Anyone can see that this new post-crash penury is intimately connected to woeful general circumstances, not personal moral failings."
No comments:
Post a Comment