2 May 2006
The Competition Commission's conclusion that customers of doorstep lending are being seriously overcharged has been welcomed by price comparison site uSwitch.com.
Customers could be paying £25 too much for an average sized loan, the watchdog said.
"It is reassuring to see that the doorstep lending industry has not escaped the attention of the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and the Competition Commission, and hopefully as a result of this investigation we will see some much-needed changes being made within the industry," said Nick White head of personal finance at price comparison and switching website uSwitch.com.
Mr White indicated that falling costs should not be the only outcome of the investigation.
"While a lot of attention will be focused on the high APRs that are charged by doorstep lenders, and we do expect to see them fall following this investigation, we believe that the most important result would be for doorstep lenders to start sharing information relating to consumers' repayments with the credit reference agencies," he added.
"Sharing this data enables responsible consumers to build their credit history, which should then give them access to cheaper credit in the longer term."
Finding the cheapest loans in the UK is quick and easy with uSwitch.com's loans comparison service
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