This morning I caught a glimpse of daytime TV and boy was it depressing and that was before I even got to the actual programmes!
Yes it’s the adverts I’m talking about – all those disheartening commercials about insurance claims, loans and debts, which seem to be on a 15-minute repeat cycle.
I remember these ads well as they used to make me feel so low when I was on maternity leave and broke and wondering how we’d cope. Now in times of economic stress, where nearly every mum I know is cutting back and struggling with her cash flow these adverts just make me furious.
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Having the ads on mainstream TV makes it all the worse as they look bonafide when in fact their sole aim seems to be to entice over extended people with short term cash fixes at over 4000%APR.
So why do the Financial Services Authority allow these companies to charge this rate and secondly why are they allowed to advertise on TV?
The idea (they say) is to help people stretch their finances until payday but in reality it’s only someone who is utterly desperate who will agree to such bad loan terms.
Labour MP Glenda Jackson is calling for these ads to be cracked down on and she’s right, with unsecured debt among British females totalling more than £13 billion (compared with more than £10 billion for men) the government needs to do something to help families from being taken for yet another ride.
What do you think? Should these loan companies be held accountable or should we all be more sensible about who we borrow from? Let me know your experiences.
Anita
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