A cap on the fees and interest charged by payday lending firms is to go ahead in January in a move designed to protect borrowers from escalating debts.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said default fees will be capped at £15 alongside a limit of 0.8 per cent per day on interest on unpaid balances in order to ensure that those who cannot repay on time will never have to pay back more in charges than the amount borrowed.
The latest clampdown on the industry was unveiled by the FCA in July and confirmed today following a consultation period.
FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley said: "I am confident that the new rules strike the right balance for firms and consumers. If the price cap was any lower, then we risk not having a viable market, any higher and there would not be adequate protection for borrowers.
"For people who struggle to repay, we believe the new rules will put an end to spiralling payday debts.
The FCA said that from January 2 someone taking out a loan for 30 days and repaying the debt on time will not pay more than £24 in fees and charges per £100 borrowed.
The moves have been welcomed by consumer groups, although the industry has raised concerns that the crackdown will limit choice for borrowers who may be forced to turn to loan sharks or lenders operating outside the UK.
The FCA estimates that 7 per cent of current borrowers will now no longer have access to payday loans - some 70,000 people - as a result of the payday cap.
It said: "These are people who are likely to have been in a worse situation if they had been granted a loan. So the price cap protects them."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article