Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill

Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes Excerpts

Monday 9th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes (Con)]

Before the Minister sits down, perhaps I may remind him that earlier this year the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, and I tabled an amendment to a previous financial Bill. A long-sought clarification, which is very important in these payday loans, is that the consumer should know not only in percentage terms but also in money terms how much it is going to cost them. Will the Minister therefore remind the FCA that there is a new EU directive, effective from 1 January 2013, wherein the very difficult and confusing equation is to be replaced by an actual amount in money? The only bad thing about this is that it has to be printed in a smaller print than the actual interest amount. Please will the Minister make sure that the FCA is knowledgeable about this and that it will see that it is brought to the attention of consumers as early as possible in the loan procedure?

Amendment 21 (to Amendment 20)

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