lending bank utterly obscene.
We heard a vast chorus of hate directed at Wonga not so long ago, they were exploiting the poor and
making a profit from the destitute with their money grabbing and cartoon adverts.
As I said way back then, Wonga may be a bunch of money grabbing scum but they are not creating the
situation, merely exploiting it. Wonga is not making people too poor to pay their bills. That would be low
wages and ever increasing costs of living that leave far too many with too little to live on.
Now we have act two of this farce. On a stage this would be a combination of Greek tragedy and slapstick
comedy. Here in the real world it is far far worse.
Major retailers representing, we are told, four point eight million workers are supporting the creation of a
new payday loan company that will lend money to the underpaid staff of those same companies until the
next payday comes around.
4,800,000 people. In the retail industry. Finding it hard to make ends meet and so looking at payday loans
as an option.
So instead of maybe taking a good hard look at the amount these people are paid, the hours they work and
the standard of living they have as a result of being employed by these companies, instead we see these
companies making it easier for millions to join the never ending debt spiral.
Yes it’s a lot cheaper to borrow money from this new pay day loan scheme but the situation does not
change, people cannot afford to pay bills and need to take out a loan. This means they pay that loan out
of next month’s pay meaning they have less money next month to pay the bills so may need another loan.
On and On and Down and Down.
How many people are trapped in this situation not by trying to pay off emergencies but instead by big bill
that come in quarterly or yearly. How many people find themselves using payday loans to stretch out the
month then paying it back so they cannot last next month.
Going into competition with the likes of Wonga in a fair way could have been done and should have been
done a long time ago. But the fact that this scheme to provide cheap loans is being supported by the very
companies that pay so little that their employees are in need of these loans is what gets me.
Maybe if these big retailers paid a living wage their staff wouldn't need to go to Pay Day loan sharks in the
first place.
//Rant off