James Moore: The need for lessons to deal with payday lenders

Outlook First the Financial Conduct Authority introduced a price cap. Now the Competition & Markets Authority has further tightened the screw on the payday lending industry. Its demands include that payday lenders list their offerings on price comparison websites and provide customers with a detailed breakdown of the charges they’re going to incur for late payment. It’s all designed to encourage the consumer to shop around.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen. What is troubling is that the CMA concludes that millions of customers will continue to rely on payday lenders, and that most take out several loans a year.

While the price cap will help, and the CMA measures might, it should still remain a concern that so many people of limited means are hooked on a ruinously expensive form of credit. Perhaps the only way to solve that is through better financial education. But who’s providing it?