Access To Affordable Credit

EDM number 1280 in 2007-08, proposed by David Drew on 31/03/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Financial services, Incomes and poverty, Loans and Service industries.

That this House notes that the global credit crunch is now impacting on the ability of UK consumers to obtain access to affordable credit; notes that high cost and irresponsible forms of lending such as pay day lending, which charges in excess of 1,000 per cent. APR and traps people on lower incomes in a cycle of credit dependency, are now expanding rapidly as a result; further notes that Dollar Financial, one such US pay day lender, now has over 200 Moneyshop stores providing these loans in the UK; regards this development as extremely worrying for the Government's ambition to eradicate child poverty; and urges the Treasury, the Department for Business and Regulatory Reform, the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority to conduct a joint inquiry into the growth of high cost lending, including pay day loans, in order to inform future regulatory action against irresponsible and high cost lenders and to contribute to the Government's aim of ensuring greater access to affordable credit.

This motion has been signed by a total of 53 MPs, 2 of these signatures have been withdrawn.