No restriction on when Payday loan ads can be broadcast

[EXC]

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) who write and maintain the UK Advertising Codes, which are administered by the Advertising Standards Authority, have concluded that Payday loan advertisements can be broadcast at any time of day despite concerns on the effect on children.

In their consultation response, Money Saving Expert said that:

Almost 3,000 people responded to our poll, and the response was that more than one in three people with kids under 10 say their children have repeated payday loan ad slogans

Documents https://www.cap.org.uk/News-reports/...x#.V3URbaJuPpp

[Snoopy1948]

Re: No restriction on when Payday loan ads can be broadcast

This makes interesting reading but concludes very little at the end of it all.

Certainly, having worked in a debt related field for many years and having seen at first hand the devastating effects of payday loans ( although to be fair there has always been a high degree of irresponsibility by the borrower ), I would advocate that nobody entertains a payday loan. If they can be deemed to be as bad for your financial health as smoking is for physical health, then perhaps they should not be shown at all. However, it seems that the customer has a personal choice and if nothing goes wrong, then a small, short term loan may be advantageous in some circumstances.

Perhaps the answer therefore lies in the correct education of children rather than keeping them away from the product advertising itself. Certainly, children go to bed at any times nowadays but a child repeating the phrases heard in a payday loan advert is not licence to them going down the same road. And what about those many adverts for equity release schemes that give the impression that there is free money out there?


Payday loans are a modern facility and have evolved alongside recessive times. They give the impression that any acute financial emergency can be fixed this way but they forget to mention that the lack of funds next month will only bring yet another financial emergency. And of course it is always high risk lending as it's freely available and on demand .... however that comes at a price of high rates and charges. But proper parental supervision and discussion should tell their children that they are never a free lunch and to be avoided ... so perhaps it should be down to sensible parenting and not those that control advertising.


And remember the door step 'tally man' where the family grows up with a weekly collection for ongoing debt. How do you stop the effects of that? Provident Personal Credit have been providing such a service for years and their business grows mainly by word of mouth.

[EXC]

Re: No restriction on when Payday loan ads can be broadcast

Perhaps the answer therefore lies in the correct education of children rather than keeping them away from the product advertising itself.

Ideally yes but until financial responsibility makes it onto the curriculum Payday loan adverts ARE part of children's financial education sadly.

I saw Martin Lewis giving evidence before a Parliamantary select committee making the point that children's exposure to the ads fosters the impression that payday loans are the normal, mainstream way of borrowing (given the absence of 'normal' loans being advertised) and that this will have consequences in the years to come.

[Snoopy1948]

Re: No restriction on when Payday loan ads can be broadcast

I guess to the modern culture, payday loans are the norm, as is vaping and McDonald cheeseburgers, but in reality none of them are good for us. As with everything, it all boils to down to niches in the market where people can screw more money out of the system.

Sunny loans have a marvellous TV advert, suggesting that borrowing money in a bright, sunny environment is fine. They advertise their loans as clear and transparent, but in reality the penalties are still there if you don't play the game. And to quote their advert 'With Sunny, good vibes come as standard' .... can't go wrong then and the individual will actually feel good when borrowing. Plus they apparently receive nine out of ten on Trust Pilot as an overall score. So that suggests that of the 978 people who have left feedback, they have been impressed, mainly with the customer service.

And the children who see such advertising, even with borrowing money like this, everything is well in the world. So the only thing to balance such emotive reaction is education and that of course shouts out for financial affairs education to be compulsory in the curriculum. When I was 14 we had a banking official call once a month to talk about savings and we were invited to open basic savings accounts, which many did. But of course in 1962 finances were a lot simpler and you had to have a reference to open a bank account. In fact, anyone with a bank account was 'somebody' as we used to say. How times have changed ...