Controversial payday loans companies, some charging interest rates as high as 7,000%, have experienced phenomenal growth since the start of the recession.

New research by the Bureau, which analysed dozens of company accounts and websites, found a rush of companies into the industry. At least 24 new ventures have been launched in the high cost credit sector since 2008, some operating several different trading companies and many offering short-term payday-style loans.

But far from feeling squeezed by the increased competition, all but one of the ten largest lenders specifically offering payday loans saw their turnover more than double in just three years – with one lender growing 42 times.

Together, the ten biggest payday lending companies had a total turnover of nearly £800m. Just three years ago these companies had a combined turnover of just £313m. And at the start of the recession only one company had turnover of more than £50m, now there are four companies with turnovers substantially over £100m.

The second part of the Bureau’s investigation into the high cost credit sector follows Wonga’s announcement that it made more than a million pounds of profit a week last year. But Wonga is not the only company operating in the sector to turn a profit – the Bureau’s research shows five of Britain’s top ten payday lenders each recorded more than £10m in pretax profits in their last reported accounts.

The Bureau’s latest research concentrated on the top ten companies specifically offering short-term, high-cost loans, most of which are linked to a borrower’s pay day, to establish how this controversial sector has grown through the recession.

The short-term lending products offered by these companies, usually described as payday loans, have come under heavy attack by consumer groups including the Citizens Advice Bureau. Such groups draw on research into the industry showing the difficulty many people have repaying their loans. These reports attracted the attention of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, earlier this year when he announced that the Church of England intends to support credit unions in an attempt to put payday loans companies ‘out of business’.

Yet despite these widely reported difficulties, consumers do not appear to be shying away from the products on offer.

Wonga, which launched in 2007, reported the biggest profits in the market. It has turned a loss four years ago into profits of £84m in 2012 despite more than doubling its number of employees in the last year. In 2011 the company had 131 members of staff. By the end of 2012 this had grown to 325.

The company reporting the second highest profits after Wonga was MEM Consumer Finance. The US-owned company made a profit of £38.7m last year on a turnover of £123m. It lends up to £1,000 at 2160% APR.

Wage Day Advance, which was bought by US-owned Speedy Cash Holdings in February, has increased its profits 32 times in five years to £20m on turnover of £39.5m. This represents a very healthy 50% profit margin. The company offers payday loans to borrowers at an APR of 7069%.

In terms of turnover, the fastest growing company was American-owned Lending Stream. Its turnover increased 42 times from £700,000 to over £32.7m in three years. It offers payday-style loans in the UK though Zebit, which lends up to £800 from one to seven months at an APR of 1561.7%. The company also offers a fixed-term six month loan through Lending Stream at an APR of 4071.5% – a rate that recently rose from 3378.1%.

Despite its growth Lending Stream is one of the few payday lending companies examined not to be making a profit. Its most recent accounts record a pretax loss of £4.3m, but this was after paying over £5.2m in royalties and general administrative expenses to a related US company. As Lending Stream has not reported a profit since its incorporation in the UK five years ago it has so far paid no corporation tax in Britain. The company declined to comment.

The second largest payday loans company, CashEuroNet, owned by US giant Cash America International, turned over £198m in the UK last year, up from £15m in 2008. It operates in the UK through QuickQuid, which offers loans of up to £1500 at an APR of 1734%. It does not publish any profit figures for its UK operation.

Since last year the industry regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, has been looking at the payday loans sector. A report published in March highlighted many concerns and the OFT has written to 50 payday loans companies asking about their methods of advertising and lending. It has referred the sector to the Competition Commission.

The Bureau’s earlier research examined the 50 largest high cost lenders to reveal that Britain’s high street banks have put millions of pounds into the industry. It also showed that US companies, some banned by law from issuing payday loans in the American states where they are based, are now investing heavily in the UK’s less regulated market.

If you’re under pressure to pay your bills, borrowing a small sum of money for a short period can seem like a good solution.

However, before you’re tempted to take a payday loan, make sure you know what you are getting into.

Here are 10 things to think about before you take the plunge.

1. Interest rates are very high

Payday lenders have to publish an Annual Percentage Rate (APR). This would be the interest you would have to pay if you were to borrow the money over a whole year. 5000% or more is not unusual!

Payday lenders say APR is not the best way to measure short-term loans and quote alternatives like “1% per day” instead.

This sounds cheap until you realise that in about 3 months, you would owe double what you borrowed and there will also be charges for paying late.

2. Lenders get access to your bank account

Most pay day lenders collect repayments from your debit card. These “continuous payment authorities” (CPAs) allow lenders to take payments from your bank without checking with you first.

Though they are quick to set up – online or over the phone – they can be hard to cancel. This can make it difficult to manage your finances.

3. You have a right to cancel payments

Since November 2009, your bank MUST cancel any CPAs on your card if you ask them to. Just tell the bank the name of your lender.

If the bank makes any payments after you cancel, they must refund them to you.

4. What about the bank of mum and dad?

Before considering a pay day loan, talk to friends and family. Can one of them help you out with a short-term loan, paid back maybe in a few instalments?

5. Other lenders may be a better bet

Many other lenders like banks, building societies or credit unions may be able to help you if you need to borrow money.

They will also help you spread out the payments to make it affordable.

Credit unions offer loans particularly suitable for people borrowing small amounts or for those with lower credit ratings.

The Money Advice Service’s tool can help you find alternatives to a payday loan.

6. Payday loans are only for very short periods of time

A payday loan is just that – money to borrow until the next payday, repaid in one chunk.

According to the Office of Fair Trading 30% of borrowers don’t pay back on time and ‘roll over’ the loan – borrowing the same amount of money again and just paying off the interest.

Doing this again and again means you keep paying interest without paying back the money you borrowed to begin with.

7. Look before you loan

It’s important to make sure that you know exactly how much you will need to pay back in total before you apply for the loan.

Some lenders make it easy to see how much the total cost of your loan will be over the time you are going to borrow it.
Our payday loan interest calculator can help you work out exactly what you’ll end up paying

8. Make sure you can afford to pay back

Lenders should make sure you can afford their loan, but the Office of Fair Trading says many are not doing proper checks.

It’s up to you to make sure you really can pay it back when you need to. Do a budget by writing down what money you have coming in and what you will need to pay for.

If the budget shows you can’t pay back, think about how else to make ends meet.

9. If you don’t repay, you may be pestered or intimidated

If you don’t pay on time lenders will want to contact you to find out what the problem is.

Some lenders may contact you repeatedly chasing payments.

The Office of Fair Trading found cases of consumers being bombarded by calls at work – sometimes up to 16 times a day – during its review of payday lenders.

10. Loans are quick, but customer service can be very poor

Loans are granted sometimes within 10 minutes, but the Financial Ombudsman says it receives more than 50 complaints about payday lenders every month – with 3 out of 4 being upheld.

Many complaints are about money being taken from debit or credit cards without permission, or just about unfairness and poor customer service.

When borrowers can’t pay back, the Office of Fair Trading says lenders should consider freezing the charges or offering a repayment plan. If you can’t repay your loan in full when you’re supposed to, ask your lenders if they can do this for you.

The payday loan market is growing fast in the UK. We explain how these expensive loans work and help you find alternative ways to borrow.

What are payday loans and how do they work?

A payday loan is a short-term advance designed to tide you over financially until payday. Online payday lenders include Quickquid.co.uk, Paydaybank and Paydayloan.

Some payday loan companies, such as Wonga.com, allow you to choose the repayment period, rather than basing it on when you receive your salary.

The payday loan is usually paid straight into your bank account, often within 24 hours of your application being approved. The payday loan repayment, plus interest, is then taken directly from your bank account on the due date. The typical charge is about £25 per month for every £100 borrowed. Advertised interest rates (APRs) are typically around 1,750%.

If you’ve taken out a payday loan and struggling to pay it back, read more about your rights with payday loans, including template letters for writing to your payday lender.

Are logbook loans the same as payday loans?

No. So-called ‘logbook loans’ are secured against your car, so if you fail to make repayments you could lose your vehicle, as well as having to pay the high interest charges. As there are often no credit checks, customers who are struggling with other debt could be tempted by these loans, putting their vehicle, and their finances, at risk.
What are the alternatives to payday loans?

If you’re desperate for cash, payday loans may seem like the best choice. But there are alternatives. For example, current account authorised overdrafts are usually much cheaper than payday loans for short-term borrowing. However, unauthorised overdrafts are generally more expensive, so avoid them.

Another alternative is to join your local credit union. Credit union loans take longer to arrange, but are limited by law to an APR of 26.8%.

The government’s Social Fund can also provide crisis loans for emergencies and budgeting loans for those on benefits. To find out if you qualify, contact Jobcentre Plus on 0800 032 7952.

Even credit cards aimed at people with a poor credit history an offer a better deal than payday loans. With a high APR of more than 30%, you’ll still pay less interest with this sort of credit card, but only if you’re disciplined and pay it off over a short period.

If you only make minimum repayments, miss a payment or go over your limit, you’ll not only damage your credit rating, but you could also face penalty charges and your debt can spiral out of control.

The recession drags on, and many consumers facing financial emergencies are looking for quick cash. For years, payday lending — in which borrowers get small loans to tide them over until the next payday — has been a popular option.

Currently, there are about 22,000 storefront payday loan stores nationwide, according to the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, D.C. On average, the industry makes $40 billion in loans and collects $6 billion in finance charges from borrowers each year.

But taking out a payday loan isn’t necessarily a smart financial move for the borrower.

“A payday loan doesn’t solve a financial crisis; it creates one,” says Uriah King, senior policy associate at the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, N.C. “The typical payday borrower ends up in a debt trap because they have to go back and get another payday loan to help repay the first one, then another, then another.”

As the payday lending industry becomes more tightly regulated and industry opponents publicize its shortcomings, consumers may wonder what alternative options are available.

Fortunately, there are other ways to get quick cash.

Credit union loans

Credit union leaders almost always live and work in the same communities they serve, so they were among some of the first financial executives to see the need for payday loan alternatives.

In 2001, the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union launched its Salary Advance Loan program — known as SALO — which offers no-fee loans with a 12 percent interest rate.

Credit union members can borrow up to $500 per month, to be repaid monthly with funds from their next paycheck. Each of these loans is connected to a SALO cash account, which automatically deducts 5 percent of the loan and places it in a savings account to create a “rainy day fund” for the borrower.

In 2005, Prospera Credit Union in Appleton, Wis., launched GoodMoney, a nonprofit alternative to fast-cash lending. A collaboration between Prospera and the local branch of Goodwill Industries International, the program offers payday loans and other financial products with affordable rates to people facing financial challenges.

It also provides access to Goodwill’s Financial Information & Service Center, where financial workshops, money and budget counseling, and debt management plans are offered to help people better understand and manage money.

“It’s in the DNA of credit unions to promote thrift; they exploded in growth during the Great Depression, when Americans had lost their trust in banks and Wall Street,” says Mark Meyer, CEO of Filene Research Institute, a Madison, Wis.-based think tank focused on consumer finance issues. “Credit unions are nonprofit organizations and there’s a genuine interest in helping people eliminate the need for short-term loans.”

The Credit Union National Association’s search tool can help you find a credit union in your area. Not every credit union offers short-term loan programs, but many do. So call to find out the options.

Before taking out a loan, “understand the dollar amount you’ll have to pay back for that short-term loan, and what the interest rate looks like annually,” Meyer says.

Small bank loans

Banks also are beginning to offer lower-cost alternatives to payday loans. In early 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or FDIC, launched its Small-Dollar Loan Pilot Program, a two-year case study designed to illustrate how banks can profitably offer affordable small-dollar loans as an alternative to high-cost financial products, such as payday loans.

The project includes 31 banks across the United States offering loan amounts of up to $1,000 with interest capped at 36 percent and payment periods that extend beyond a single paycheck cycle.

The goal of the pilot project is to identify the short-term lending practices that will work best over the long term and share that information with banks across the country, according to Luke Reynolds, chief of the FDIC’s Outreach and Program Development Section.

“We also want to encourage innovation and get banks to experiment with new products,” Reynolds says.

Citizens Union Bank in Shelbyville, Ky., is one of the banks participating in the FDIC program.

“We were seeing that many (of our customers) were going to payday lenders and paying ridiculously high interest rates and fees,” says Kimberly Davis, first vice president of marketing and product development at Citizens Union Bank. “Our bank was looking to do something to try and help people from being taken advantage of.”

While the small-dollar loans offered by banks like Citizens Union include the same relaxed credit standards as traditional payday loans, they have a lower interest rate (18 percent at Citizens Union) and no closing fees or hidden costs such as prepayment penalties, Davis says.

“Our program also requires the borrower to deposit 5 percent of their borrowings into a savings account to hopefully help them begin a savings plan,” she says. “We also provide financial education materials that our loan officers go over at account opening.”

A number of banks already offer small consumer loans, but they usually require the same rigorous credit scoring that accompanies larger bank loans. The difference with the loans available through the FDIC Pilot Program is that they are true alternatives to payday loans, available even to people who have poor credit.

Banks in 17 states are participating in the program, including institutions in California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

Payday loan lenders are one of the most studied these days, because of the economic downturn, more and more people to go by a lack of cash, and examine for a quick financial help. Such treatment is important if you are. The best opportunity to get money is to examine for some payday loan lenders, and get a quick personal loan. The terms of these loans are quite mild. Generally, they are oriented to a very wide range of people and virtually everyone who is working can benefit from them.

Payday loan is for those with financial difficulties

There are people who take on restricted cash advance loans due to many concepts. Such fears are fundamentally wrong, as the essence of pay check loans. Payday loan lenders provide loans only to those who are gainfully employed and can pay back the loan and are responsible enough to do this in time. It is true that the review of the application documents, payday lenders do not consider credit scores.

Working with serious payday loan lenders

When hunting for payday lenders you have for those who want to share with you the easiest and the best viewing conditions. What is the best here is that you could get money very quickly – within hours. We must recognize that these loans are very convenient in that respect. It turns out that everything you need; it is a computer and internet connection. In addition, of course, there is a convenience of these loans. It is that you could fill out the application form online.

These forms can be found on the pages of the creditors. Then, just within half an hour, you will already have the answer. Just check out your bank study schedule if they get by the time you open your role. It is also highly recommended that you with trustworthy payday lenders deal in such circumstances you will be security for your subjective data and confidentiality be guaranteed.

The industry of lenders who forgive “payday loans” is growing rapidly. These are high-interest loans to the monthly check from social security or social security office. “Get these people their money always, every 30 days, whether it rains or the sun shines”, William Harrod, a former manager of high-interest loan shops says in the Washington, DC.

Although the authorities may not transfer support or pension directly to lenders. Nevertheless, they have found a loophole, by working with banks that transfer money from their debtors to them. Then principal, interest, fees deducted, and the remaining amounts paid to the most elderly. As a result, loan sharks have, calculate the effective annual interest rates of 400 percent or more, almost unlimited control over the finances of their customers.

Critics argue that the customers of the recipients of public payments is not only reliable, but also very lucrative. For elderly or disabled people must usually live on low incomes and cannot repay loans quickly. “It is not so that they can easily work overtime,” said David Rothstein, an analyst of the Economic Research Initiative Policy Matters Ohio. – “These people are in a trap.” William Harrod was a manager of a branch of Check ‘n Go in a social housing estates for the aged and disability pensioners in Washington. He said his superiors had encouraged him to win the elderly as customers. That he did, as he had set for lunch on one of the benches and had come with the residents of the neighbourhood this week.

A few months ago, he chucked his job due to scruples. Harrod joined an initiative to combat payday loans. A representative for Check ‘n Go, an offshoot of the CNC Holdings in Ohio, the nation’s operates over 1,300 stores denies, however, that you broach targeted elderly. An example illustrates the vicious circle: Oliver Hummel from Billings, Montana suffers from schizophrenia. He receives a disability pension of $ 1,013 a month.

In 2007 and was his car repaired, and his 13 year old terrier earned him a big bill from the vet. Hummel took out a loan of $ 200. How many “payday borrowers,” he quickly realized that he could not pay back the loan. Therefore, he went to the next money providers. Within a short year, Hummel had eight loans from eight companies. The effective annual interest on loans is ranged from 180 to 406 percent.

Can influence after a poor credit history or a low rating your chances of most types of loans. Many creditors are wary of lending to people who are less-than-perfect credit rating for the simple reason that they have trouble paying their money back on time. With instant online payday loans, this is not a problem.

Online payday loans are basically unsecured loans, making it one of the easiest loans to get. To qualify, you need only to earn the minimum wage and this is all. If you meet the requirements, you could easily get your approval and loan amount within a short period. Instant online payday loans are unsecured loans. Unlike secured loans, instant payday loans do you need to offer no collateral to get a permit. This means that none of your property and assets will be taken back into the risk of getting if you do not pay your loan amount on time. There is also no need to make a deposit.

All you need is a checking account and some post-dated checks to pay off your payday loan is on the previously agreed dates. Instant payday loans online are available everywhere. A simple search on the Internet gives you access to numerous companies that offer instant payday loans. This means that your decisions not only a limited company and what they have to offer. This is also an opportunity for you to compare offers from different lenders, make sure you get a great deal on your payday loan.

Instant payday loans online are also available for most people, as long as they are legally employed by a company licensed to operate within the United States and that they reached the legal age requirement.In case you need a little assistance, these loans are exactly what they are looking for. You just need to explore the details and take advantage of this opportunity.So, do not hesitate to get the financial help that you need.