Payday loans were in the hot-seat this weekend…

Due to the extensive coverage and in homage to our one and only Mr Ian Thomas (founder of http://2356percent.co.uk/) we thought it was apt to cover the Consumer Focus report recently published.

Mark Bridge in The Times focused on the report highlighting that banks need to offer affordable short-term loans as alternatives and that concern over these types of loans has lead to some US states banning them.

Simon Read in The Independent warned consumers are turning to payday loans again and again rather than use them as a last resort as the government funded Consumer Focus calls for the industry to be reformed. In his comment for the Independent on Sunday he fully put the blame for consumers turning to these lenders on the banks shoulders and their ‘couldn’t give a damn attitude’.

In other news, there were oodles of investment stories in this weekend’s money sections, accounting for over a third of all PF stories. Although the range was expansive what caught our eye was the focus on emerging markets opportunities in the FT Money and Mail on Sunday.

Our one to watch this week will be the publication of the latest ONS figures on inflation, rumours are it’s not looking pretty…

Round up of topics was as follows:

Charity                  0%

Credit cards        4%

Fraud/scams      4%

IFAs                       0%

Insurance           9%

Investment       39%

Mortgages         12%

Pensions            7% 

Regulation         1%

Savings               8% 

Tax                       9%

Utilities               7%