LEYTON: School 'should sever ties with loan company' (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

LEYTON: School 'should sever ties with loan company'

8:58am Thursday 11th September 2008 in

By Sarah Cosgrove »

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A CREDIT union which works to reduce debt and help people to escape from loan sharks and high interest lenders has criticised a company for advertising itself through a local school.

High interest lender Oakam advertises its connection with Norlington School for Boys in Leyton on its website.

The two parties work on community projects together.

But Waltham Forest Community Credit Union has called on the school to sever the connection, fearing hard-up parents will think it endorses the company.

Chairman of the credit union, Simon Wright, said: “Our biggest headaches are the companies that charge extortionate interest rates to people on low incomes, on benefits or with poor credit ratings who cannot access bank loans.

“Oakam, which has a shop on Walthamstow High Street, advertises an appalling 442 per cent APR interest on its "payday loan".

“Unfortunately, many people do not understand APR rates and find their debt getting out of control very quickly. Compare this with the 12.6 per cent that credit union members can get from us, even people who are turned down by banks and building societies.”

The credit union has called on the headteacher and governors of the school to end the relationship, and make parents aware of the dangers of borrowing from high interest lenders.

For more information about the Credit Union see wfccu.org, and for Oakam, visit oakam.com.

Comments(4)

Technomist says...
5:06pm Thu 11 Sep 08

Well done to the Credit Union for highlighting the wicked interest 442% rates being charged by this company.

They are greedy financial predators of the worst kind. Oakam moved into the area a few months ago and have been using very sophisticated marketing and PR techniques to ingratiate themselves with other unwary local institutions (even our local police force at one point) to wrap themselves themselves with a borrowed and wholly unwarranted veneer of respectability.

The nasty truth is that these people are targeting the very poorest in our community (and in Dalston where their other branch is) and charge truly appalling interest rates.

No amount of dressing themselves up in 'green' livery and decorating their premises with balloons can hide the real misery companies like Oakam cause.

I wish they would shut themselves down, but as they no doubt have no shame whatsoever about their activities, I hope that Parliament will one day bring in legislation to make it a criminal offense to charge these kinds of evil interest rates. There really ought to be effective caps in place.

In the meantime, lets hope that their poor victims get some specialized legal advice and can take this firm to court. These shocking interest rates need to be subjected to judicial scrutiny as soon as possible.

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Walthamster says...
11:09pm Thu 11 Sep 08

Oh God almighty, is there anything people can't get away with in Waltham Forest? I know that education was taken out of the council's hands because the council was deemed too incompetent to run it. But surely it's got the right to control outrageous advertising like this, at a school?

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positive not cynical says...
3:25pm Fri 12 Sep 08

Oh you are incorrigible, Walthamster. I am sure you know this already but for those who may not:

Acceptance of advertising, by display of posters, distribution of leaflets or any other direct method, by a school is at the discretion of the head teacher and the board of governors.

Should the decision be made to accept advertising in principle, the decision regarding what can and cannot be advertised is also at their discretion.

I suppose this is me being an apologist for the council again though!

But I do share your indignation and horror that the head and governors should have found this to be appropriate and would hope that the council will now make very clear to them that it does not regard it as appropriate. But there has been local management of schools since 1990 so the council can and should express their very strong views that this is outrageous but can they order a school to take down such advertising? Sadly not. Thank goodness for the credit union who are a great organisation - if some good comes from this episode let us hope that it brings them to the attention of more people who might be in need of them in today's economic climate.

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Never Kissed a Tory says...
1:29pm Sat 4 Oct 08

The best thing people can do is to join the local credit union and promote it. If people would just band together and support the local community, we can drive away these kinds of companies. You can join online at http://wfccu.org

LEYTON: School 'should sever ties with loan company' (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

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