TUC welcomes select committee report on pay day loans

The TUC has today (Friday) welcomed calls from the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee to ban pay day loan adverts from children’s television and provide borrowers with more independent advice.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Today’s report is a welcome move towards dealing with the problem of pay day loans.

“Companies must not be allowed to target vulnerable families and advertising on children’s television, especially in the run-up to Christmas, puts even more pressure on parents to borrow irresponsibly.

“Banning commercials and giving borrowers access to independent advice are essential steps but are not long-term solutions in themselves. Pay day loans and food banks are two sides of the same coin. People are becoming more and more reliant upon them because of low pay and declining living standards.

“Ministers cannot ignore this inconvenient truth and must make fairer pay a priority for 2014.”

Analysis published by the TUC today shows that it will take average-income workers until the summer to pay off their Christmas debts because of falling real wages and lower household savings.

The analysis shows that it will take a minimum wage worker all year to pay back £685 – the average amount the TUC estimates adults will borrow this Christmas.

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