MP for Worcester, Robin Walker, was guest of honour at the official opening of a new \'loan shop\' to support people on low incomes.
The Worcester-based My Home Finance branch, part of a National Housing Federation scheme, provides low-cost loans for borrowers who are forced to seek expensive credit from doorstep lenders and loan sharks.
A realistic option for those who are unable to access loans from high street banks or have poor credit ratings, the shop also offers debt advice, help to open a bank account and access to home contents insurance.
Local partners and National Housing Federation colleagues looked on as Robin Walker MP and the National Housing Federation\'s head of region, Gina King, welcomed the initiative to Worcester City Centre.
Robin Walker, MP for Worcester, said: \"I am pleased to support this new service which will provide reasonably priced finance to people who really need it and protect more people in Worcester from loan sharks.
\"Nobody should have to pay the exorbitant rates of interest that some of these unscrupulous people charge and I am glad that people in Worcester will now have another option. This is a great initiative bringing together housing associations, government and banks to provide a better service to people most at My Home Finance, which is currently being piloted in the West Midlands, was launched earlier this year by The Right Honourable Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Led by the National Housing Federation, the initiative is backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), 20 housing associations, the Wates Foundation and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The My Home Finance branches provide affordable loans of a typical APR of 29.9%, compared to the rates charged by illegal and doorstep lenders, which can range from 200% to 2,000%.
Gina King, head of region with the National Housing Federation, added: \"My Home Finance will provide an affordable, convenient and trusted option for people on lower incomes looking to build up their savings and borrow modest sums.
\"By offering fair loans at fair prices, we hope to offer an alternative to both loan sharks, who cynically prey on hard up families, and doorstep lenders, who are all too willing to lend cash to the desperate at hugely inflated rates of interest.
\"This ambitious not-for-profit sustainable scheme shows the determination of the housing association sector, the government and RBS, to help financially excluded consumers join the financial mainstream by saving and borrowing in a fair and responsible manner.\"
As part of the pilot, ten branches are being opened across the West Midlands and, if successful, will be rolled out to the rest of the UK from next April.
Branches are now open in Coventry, Hereford, Walsall, Northfield and Wolverhampton, with shops in Tamworth, Dudley, Birmingham City Centre and Erdington to follow. |
