There is better news this Christmas hopefully coming from Westminster said Down District SDLP Councillor Eamonn ONeill.
He has spoken out in support of his party colleague Mark Durkan MP and the work he has done at Westminster on the upcoming Financial Services Bill which addresses the issue of extortionate interest rates being charged over ‘payday loans’.
Councillor ONeill said: “We are all living in extremely tough economic times when we are constantly made aware of these ‘payday loans’. Loans which can often be charged at an annual repayment rate of 4,000 % per year.
“Many local people – young and old have been tempted by such quick-fix offers and as a consequence enter a cycle that is very difficult to get out of. I therefore fully welcome the work that Mark Durkan MP has done at Westminster  – work which will change the law to allow restrictions to be imposed on the interest charged for so-called “payday loans”.
“This is a victory for all the fair, reasonable and right-minded people who have campaigned for a cap that these individuals, who are effectively loan sharks, are charging for credit.  It is right and just that the Government has intervened in order to protect some of the most vulnerable in our society who find themselves in this circle of poverty.
“I must stress to any individual who is has found themselves caught up in such a cycle – there is help out there and the quicker you speak to someone the quicker the matter will be resolved and there are always options. “
