Interest Rates Charged By Doorstep Lenders

EDM number 1068 in 2005-06, proposed by Andrew Dismore on 17/11/2005.

That this House is appalled by the extortionate interest rates that doorstep lenders charge low-income households; welcomes the Pathway to Financial Inclusion campaign launched by the National Housing Federation and Debt on Our Doorstep; calls on honourable Members to support its three step approach; urges the Government to reduce the average annual percentage interest rate of 177 per cent. charged by doorstep lenders by placing a ceiling on interest rates; recommends that the Government provide a pathway into financial inclusion by requiring doorstep lenders to register borrowers' repayment records with credit reference agencies, thus allowing them to build up a credit history; and recommends that the Government investigate legislation which will introduce the right to a basic bank account for every UK citizen, giving the one in 12 households without access to a bank account, 60 per cent. of them social housing tenants, access to mainstream banking.

This motion has been signed by a total of 106 MPs.