John Glen MP

Economic Secretary to the Treausury

12th October 2018

Dear John,

I am writing to request your detailed response to the email, below, that I have received from a growing number of my constituents. As someone who has repeatedly called for stronger and more effective regulation of payday lenders, it does concern me to read of cases such as that of Mr Cheetham, as reported by the BBC, and I would like to be able to pass your response to my constituents.

I would like to bring to your attention the issue of payday lenders. You may have seen the story of Danny Cheetham on the BBC. Many different payday lenders offered him loans at sky-high interest even though they knew he was a gambling addict. His initial £100 loan spiralled into a debt of £19,000.

And yet the Financial Conduct Authority are asleep at the wheel. They are not enforcing their own rules on affordability that might have saved Danny and millions of others like him from becoming trapped by debt.

I am appalled by this. Please, can you make sure this never happens again? You can do something to help fix it. I’d like to ask you to write to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, and ask him to instruct the FCA to enforce their rules on affordability checks. Please let me know if you decide to do this.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,