Press releases
Biggest doorstep lender ‘should be ashamed’
Release Date: 27/07/2010
More and more poor parents are taking out sky high interest loans
Barnardo’s claims come as the UK’s biggest doorstep lender Provident announces a profit rise to £54 million for the first six months of 2010 – cashing in on rising numbers of families struggling to make it through tough times.
Barnardo’s is calling on the Provident to ease its interest rates to give customers a chance to escape the misery of debt.
Barnardo’s chief executive Martin Narey said: “Millions of children, most of them with a parent or both parents in work are growing up in poverty. That poverty is made unbearable when, in response to a crisis, parents borrow from the Provident.
“This morning, as they announce profits of £54 million, the advertised interest rate on the Provident website is 272.2 per cent. They should be ashamed.”
Provident customers rose from 2.1m in the first half of 2009 to 2.3m in the first half of 2010.
Ends
Notes to editors
Barnardo’s chief executive Martin Narey is available for interview.
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