Payday lender tricks borrowers into hoarding Christmas debt with promise to enter raffle to win iPhone
The Mr. Lender company texted past customers offering high-interest loans to spend on food and gifts – and a chance to win the coveted device.
Last night the move was attacked by Labor MP Frank Field, a payday lending critic, who said: “It is appalling. I hope the representatives will show up at the doors of the people disguised as wolves, because that is their behavior.
Mr Lender is offering loans of up to £ 1,500 at a time to people who can no longer borrow from payday lending giant Wonga, which collapsed in August. Since then, other high-cost lenders have entered the market, anti-poverty campaigners say.
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Debt charity StepChange claims 1.4 million people took out high interest credit last year, with the average debt being £ 1,519. Mr Lender’s parent company PDL Finance made a pre-tax profit of £ 2.6million last year, up from £ 2million a year earlier.
His boss Adam Freeman boasts on his LinkedIn profile page: “Mr. Lender currently receives thousands of applications every day. Marketing director Stuart Proudfoot said: “We disagree that the promotion will make people take out a loan that they don’t need and there is no evidence that this would be the case.”
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Earlier this year, The Mirror reported that complaints about high-cost credit lenders reached an all-time high as struggling people demand scam fees. More than half were for payday loans, with clients complaining about irresponsible lending and unaffordable lending.
The Financial Ombudsman Service has warned that complaints about high-cost credit increased 40% in the last fiscal year to just over 36,300. New payday loan complaints increased 64% to 17,200 .
