Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rules surrounding high cost credit and the fairness of the present situation for customers.

The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, including high-cost credit, transferring regulatory responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014. This more robust regulatory system is helping to deliver the Government’s vision for a well-functioning and sustainable consumer credit market which is able to meet the needs of all consumers.

The Government welcomed the FCA’s recent update on high-cost credit, including a proposal to cap the cost of rent-to-own. The Government will continue to work with the FCA to ensure that all high-cost credit customers are treated fairly.