General Chat

Surely this could not possibly have anything to do with why loan companies are flourishing and allowed to bombard us with TV adverts and take over our high streets ;-) ;-)

Yesterday the PM sidestepped demands for a crackdown on rip-off credit firms by calling for more support for credit unions.

But Labour MP Stella Creasy, who wants to limit interest charged by firms such as Everyday Loans and Wonga, said: “People struggling to understand what the Government has against capping the cost of credit want reassurances they have not been lobbied by the donors over cosy dinners in No10.”

A Tory multimillionaire makes money as a legal loan shark by charging customers interest of up to 200% – but offers “mates’ rates” to David Cameron.

Banker Henry Angest, 72, has given the Conservatives more than £1million in cash and also made a standing offer to lend them another £5million at just 3.5% interest.

That is a fraction of the rates charged by Mr Angest's Everyday Loans company, a probe by the Daily Mirror and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found.

The revelation he is involved in consumer credit has fuelled claims Mr Cameron will not cap interest rates because he’s in the pocket of wealthy backers.

Arbuthnot Banking Group chairman Mr Angest, with an estimated personal wealth of £45million including a farm in Perthshire, is one the elite group of supporters to be rewarded with intimate dinners at Downing Street and Chequers.

Another major Tory donor, Adrian Beecroft, has a major stake in payday lender Wonga.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/legal-loan-shark-henry-angest-1949278#ixzz2W4aKKR7o

The Tories through my life seem to have had a policy that people are intelligent, ambitious and can manage their own affairs. Labour that we are pretty stupid and need expensive nannying.

I would like to think Tories are right - that we need low taxes, low welfare as a percentage of our national wealth, and a low level of government interference.

But the more I saw how people behaved under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the more I think we need a socialist dictatorship with a firm plan and a stamp of authority. Which brings me to Godwin's Law :-( :-( :-(

:-S :-S :-S

Only someone with a brain the size of a pea would sign up to a loan at a rate of %200 and they deserve to be taken for a ride. If you are in trouble, go to CAB and follow their advice.

But of course, if you want the money for a £250 tattoo or nose, navel, nipple or more intimate body percings, then the only place to go is to companies like Wonga - no questions asked.

Am suggesting we have lost that pride in doing everything for ourselves, not needing a huge amount of state support to live. Not being able to raise children correctly, cook healthy meals, grow our own vegetables, save and not borrow. Borrowing at 4000% is a problem, something that ordinary people would not have allowed to happen in the old days. It is just another sign of modern irresponsibility.

And if we don't snap out of this malaise very quickly and go back to working hard, living modestly and playing hard and healthily, the only solution will be the collapse of our democratic freedoms and and the rise of an initially very popular dictatorship from either the far right or the far left of politics.

payday loan companys are as bad as loan sharks preying on the weak and vulnerable

of course the tories are in the back pocket of the banking / financial companys
he who pays the pier calls the tune

I do not approve of any these online or high street loan companies lending money at exorbitant rates of interest. Any organisation that is allowed to lend money should, in my view, be licensed and regulated, in addition there should be a cap on the mount of interest they can charge.

I agree that there are idiots out there who will borrow money for silly things like StaffyKnot lists and I have absolutely no sympathy with them whatsoever, however there are others who I do have some sympathy with.

I find it disturbing that there are so many people in jobs that pay a wage that just takes them above the threshold at which they might get help with things like housing costs and council tax, in addition they do not earn enough to put anything away for a rainy day. Many of these people struggle from one week to the next to make end meet and when an emergency strikes they find themselves at their wits end when they cannot get a loan from a bank or depending on the type of emergency, they cannot get credit from a retailer, and out of sheer desperation they turn to these companies :-(

What I also find disturbing is that it appears our political leaders are not only wining and dining the bosses of some of these companies, they have also received substantial donations from them. Equally disturbing was the report at the end of last year that Jonathan Luff a senior advisor to David Cameron quit his role at Downing Street to join pay day lender Wonga as head of Wonga's government affairs team :-|

Expenses Scandal, Lobbying Scandal, so what category does this fishy smell fall into ;-)

Its hypocritical to blame just the Tories for being in the pocket of these companies. Look at the money a certain ex-Labour PM has made since leaving office. All politicians are being bankrolled by big business, irrespective of party.

StaffyKnot in this instance I may have highlighted the Tory's - however there are many more threads where I have made it quite clear that as far as I am concerned all parties and politicians are tarred with the same brush and that most of them are more interested in putting their own interests before those of their constituents and the country as a whole.

OFITG - Point taken. I totally agree with you.

"most of them are more interested in putting their own interests before those of their constituents and the country as a whole. "

Really? Most implies more than 50%, even as many as 80%. Is there any hard evidence that 'most' of our 650 MP's are putting their own interests first?