You can’t turn on the TV these days without being hit by a mini-tsunami of adverts for PayDay loans.
Of course, what the adverts don’t tell you is the shocking rates of interest these loan sharks charge their unwary and often vulnerable customers - 4,000 per cent per year is all too common!

Sadly, more and more people feel they have no choice but to take a PayDay loan. After all, if it’s that or no money to feed the kids, £120 next week is a price worth paying to get £100 of groceries today.

But here’s a piece of advice for anyone you know who is in the grip of the PayDay loan sharks:

When they get someone on their books who is basically credit worthy, the last thing these companies want is for them to pay off their loan. After all, it's the debt that makes them their money.

More and more of them are therefore using the trick of ´losing´ settlement cheques so as to keep their customers in the high interest trap for even longer.

With the high rates of interest PayDay loan firms charge, the week or so that it takes the unfortunate customer to find out that their cheque "didn't arrive" is enough to allow them to bung another big chunk of interest on the loan.

So if you are unfortunate enough to have an outstanding PayDay loan, make sure that you hand in the repayment cheque in person or send it Recorded Delivery.