The Payday Lending Pandemic

Hi Scott

As instructed I sent an email to the Honourable Mr Michael Sukkar about putting a muzzle on payday lenders. I’ve never told anyone this because it’s embarrassing, but I once fell victim to these predators when I was struggling financially. Then I found your book and got back on track. So while I'm worried about getting COVID-19, financially, I'm as healthy as I can be. And for that I thank you.

Linda

Hi Linda,

Well done for getting back on your feet, and for sending an email to the Assistant Treasurer, who is the responsible Minister for implementing reforms on Payday lenders.

Right now we’re facing a payday lending pandemic, as millions of Aussies stress about their finances.  And these predators are marketing their loans heavily on social media: ‘Need instant cash? Approved in 60-seconds!’.

(Fine print: interest rates for a one-month loan, 407.6% per annum).

Once you sign up, they use sophisticated screen-scraping technology, which allows them to time their direct debits to scoop in and take any money that hits your account ... before it can be spent on food, medicine or school books. Then they offer another loan, and the cycle repeats. Right now the Government is taking bold steps to protect our health -- and we need them to do the same to protect our most vulnerable families financial health.

My view? At the very least, Payday lenders should be temporarily put out of business, for as long as we’re out of business.

Many of my readers agree: this week I’ve received thousands of emails from Barefooters in support, so I can only imagine how many Sukkar got. Yet sadly, at the time of writing, I haven’t heard from him. Perhaps the highly paid lobbyists that these payday lenders employ really have won.

Scott