Payday lenders come under a stronger clampdown from today that will ban them from rolling over loans more than twice and restrict their ability to drain money from borrowers' bank accounts.
Firms operating in the industry will also have to place "risk warnings" on TV adverts, which will highlight the problems that late repayments can cause and direct consumers to the Government-backed Money Advice Service (MAS) for help.
The £2.8 billion sector has come under intense scrutiny amid outrage over the way that some consumers have been treated.
Many of the problems found by regulators have revolved around people taking on payday debt they cannot afford, meaning the loan is then rolled over and the original cost balloons. Charity StepChange received nearly 14,000 requests for help last year from people struggling with five payday loans or more.
The industry is currently undergoing a full-blown competition investigation, the full results of which will be published later this year.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) suggested in its provisional findings that an independent price comparison website should be set up to help people compare overall payday loan costs more easily, after finding that customers are typically paying £60 a year over the odds for such loans.
The Financial Conduct Authority will consult this summer on capping the overall cost of a payday loan.
Since the FCA took over supervision of the market in April, payday firms have to provide financial health warnings in some communications - including emails, online and texts - and signpost people to free debt help.
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