Shock Highland payday loan debt revealed in report
A shock report by a debt charity has revealed that a Holyrood constituency which includes Kingussie, Aviemore and other villages in Badenoch has the third highest level of payday loan debt in Scotland among their clients.
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch has an average debt of around £2,418 per person using Step Change, with the national average being £1,398. It comes behind only Uddingston and Bellshill in Lanarkshire, and Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.
Labour Highlands MSP Rhoda Grant said she was shocked to learn the level of debt being run up by those turning to such loan companies.
She has given her support to the ‘Debtbusters’ campaign in the run-up to Christmas.
The initiative is aimed at tackling the uptake of payday loans, one of the fastest growing industries in the country.
Mrs Grant said: "I knew levels of payday loan debt across the Highlands and Islands were high, but I am shocked to learn that constituents in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch are among the three highest across the whole of Scotland.
"This is frankly tragic news, as many people are taking out these loans to pay for the absolute basics such as food, gas or electricity bills and rent.
"In some instances, people are taking out payday loans in order to pay off the credit card that was used for the basics last month.
"As Christmas gets closer, the financial pressure on families and individuals grows, and will push more people into debt.
"This is why it is crucial to make people aware of alternative lenders such as the Hi-Scot credit union, who are able to provide loans at much lower interest rates than the legal loan sharks."
The shock figures are contained in the ‘Step Change’ debt charity report, ‘Scotland in the Red’, which looked at debt patterns across Scotland.
A link to the full report can be found at http://www.stepchange.org/Portals/0/SIR%20report.pdf
