1. Stella Creasey’s Consumer Credit Bill Why It Should Become Labour Party Policy

2. The Issues…. Stella’s Ten Minute Rule Bill and subsequent Westminster Hall Debate had its genesis in Ed Miliband’s proposals whilst we were in Government to make Loan Companies accountable directly to the BIS Department for the interest rates and the repayment plans that they set. Research from the Rowntree Foundation shows that in Autumn 2010, four in ten people are worried about their current level of debt, with three million fearing redundancy and two million having taken on more debt in recent months. One in ten people frequently struggle to make it to payday, with money tending to run out on the 20 th day of the month. Around three million people use the high-cost door-to-door or home credit lending market. One in ten UK payday customers have incomes of less than £11,100 per year.

3. 70% of these customers are women. Some Examples…. Wonga have launched an iPhone application which allows a borrower to have a short-term loan directly transferred into their account within the space of a few minutes – this comes with a whopping APR of 2689%. - Door to door lenders charge up to £82 for every £100 borrowed when you include all the arrangement and admin charges. - Lenders such as Provident Personal Credit charge up to 589% APR on loans, or their new nifty way of getting people into debt is to offer them ‘Love to Shop’ High Street Vouchers – preying on some of the neediest households in Britain, especially using the guilt trip of the festive season.

4. From Stella’s Constituency Mail Bag…. An elderly lady desperately needed to get her hands on some cash to buy a new fire for her living room – a new fire, not a fancy dress, or an expensive holiday, a fire so she could heat her home and keep warm at winter. She borrowed £500 in good faith from the jolly chap that came knocking on the door. She genuinely did not realise the trouble she was about to get into. That lady ended up paying back over £2000 for that loan. So she might have a new heater this Christmas – but I doubt she’ll be able to afford to use it. That lady could easily be your mum, your aunt, your Nan or your neighbour. Because all over the country there are people just like her who are having to choose between heating their homes or servicing their unaffordable debts. That is the stark reality for many people at the hands of legal loan sharks in Britain today and it is why we must do all we can to put a stop to it. This is happening right across our country and it is a travesty.

5. Keep in mind that the current bank base rate is just one half of a percent – payday lenders’ rates topping 2689% are over five thousand times this. A cap on the total lending rate that can be charged for providing credit and imposing additional interest on late payment and default charges. A levy on the sale of credit cards and store cards to set up a fund providing grants for the provision of debt advice and financial management services. Powers for local authority planning committees to enable them to restrict the provision of premises for licensed consumer credit agencies within a local area. This can form a key part of our Manifesto for the Local Elections right here in the East Riding. Requirements for the Post Office network to provide back-office functions that integrate its services with credit unions, thereby helping consumers access credit union loans, current accounts and savings accounts through Post Office branches.