Veterans Aid has added its support to the Archbishop of Canterbury in condemning payday loans.
Staff see evidence of the harm they can cause on a daily basis.
Substance misuse counsellor Phil Rogers said, “If anyone needed examples of the unethical practices of payday loan companies and their exploitation of society’s most vulnerable, they need look no further than the clients of Veterans Aid.”
Rogers cites the example of a veteran who went into detox only days after taking out a payday loan of £100 “to finance a last ‘binge’.”
“Veterans Aid ended up paying this off for him. He had no way of meeting the repayment deadline and would have been liable for extortionate levels of interest.”
CEO Dr Hugh Milroy added, “The veterans who seek our help are extremely vulnerable and usually have multiple problems. Paying for detox is only part of what we do. If this man had come out of rehab to face mounting debt it would have completely destabilised him again.”
Milroy has always maintained that poverty, not military service, is what drives veterans to the streets and into financial difficulty.
“Life in Britain today is hard and the attraction of organisations offering a ‘quick fix’ is understandable. Sadly they serve only to create bigger problems .”
Rogers added, “We continue to be shocked by the number of homeless ex-service personnel we see each week who are now trapped by these crippling loans. Don’t let the smiling family portrait on the television adverts fool you, taking such a measure is, for the people we see, an act of extreme desperation; a very short-term fix to pay for food, accommodation, or often to fund a drug or alcohol problem.
“Debt is one of the single biggest contributors to compounding our client’s mental wellbeing. It is crucial that swift and firm action is taken if we truly want to alleviate poverty in this country.”
See Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s full speech to the House of Lords on 20 June 2013 HERE.
