People from Liverpool who are employed by the NHS are the most likely to take out a payday loan according to research undertaken by CashLady.
Payday loans are short-term loans originally designed to tide people over until payday.
The money is paid directly into your bank account, and you repay in full with interest and charges – at the end of the month.
Increasingly though, you can borrow for longer periods – typically three months (but longer loans are available) and repay in instalments.
The cost of payday loans is capped by law, under rules made by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The rules limit the amount of interest and default fees you can be charged.
Someone taking out a loan for 30 days will pay no more than £24 in fees and charges per £100 borrowed, and if you don’t repay on time, the most you can be charged in default fees is £15 plus interest on the amount you borrowed.
An overall cap means that you will never pay back more than twice what you initially borrowed.
Statistics made available on the website show that in the month of June there were some 516 applications from residents in Liverpool to the company with the average loan being for £335.00. The number of applications from the previous year fell by almost 30% but the amount requested increased by 8.77%.
Interestingly the average wage has decreased by 15.81% to £1521.36. Reasons cited for applying for emergency loans included unexpected expenses and special occasions.
William Hill who have 7 stores within Liverpool City centre are second in the list of employee’s applying for Payday Loans.
WarrenCare who work in partnership with Sefton Council and are a provider of healthcare at home services are thirds on the list of employee’s who have accessed the services of Payday Loan providers.
Employees of the NHS are set to see an increase in their wages after a pay deal was reached following months of strikes and meetings with unions. Staff at the NHS are set to see a two stage increase. The cost of living award will be back-paid from the 1st of April 2018 but some staff will be forced to wait up to eight months, until their increment date, for the remainder of the rise.