"My Lords, yesterday I had tea with a dear friend here in your Lordships’ House. Unsurprisingly, the subject of payday loans came into the conversation. He told me about his son, who has mild attention deficit disorder, is frequently unemployed and had taken out two payday loans. The loans were …..." Lord Mitchell - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who took part in this discussion, particularly those who are co-signees of the amendment. It has been a powerful and focused debate and I hope that the payday lending companies are listening. My guess is that they are glued to their screens.
"My Lords, Funding for Lending is the very latest of a whole plethora of programmes announced by the Government to stimulate SMEs. But here is the truth: very little of the money is getting through to the SME community. Why is that? It is because the chosen method of distribution …..." Lord Mitchell - View Speech
"My Lords, by any criteria, 4,214% being charged on a personal loan is outrageous. It is usury par excellence. Yet this is the rate of interest being charged by one of our largest and most popular online payday lenders. There are many others who are charging similar amounts. This amendment …..." Lord Mitchell - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have participated in this short debate. To the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, I say that credit unions are very interesting. They have started very slowly. As to the rates of interest they charge, I think that it is presently 2% per month of …..." Lord Mitchell - View Speech
"My Lords, I suppose this late in the debate it is stating the obvious to say that this Financial Services Bill is probably the most important Bill that is to go through in this Parliament. The stakes are high—it goes to the heart of our economy and our well-being, and …..." Lord Mitchell - View Speech
"My Lords, 11 years in your Lordships’ House and for the first time, I have lost my speech. Actually, it was left on the Northern line, so while somebody was having a lot of fun reading it, I was having a quiet panic in the Bishops’ Bar, trying to reconstruct …..." Lord Mitchell - View Speech