Do Quakers use pay day loans to play bingo?

Britain Yearly Meeting has asked Friends to take forward the issue of Economic Justice and Sustainability through their Area and Local Meetings. Friends House give a useful list of resources and suggest some sensible reading. I can’t find any references,however, to economic justice in relation to pay day loans and on-line bingo. Over the last few years pay day loan companies have proliferated in the UK, as have on-line bingo sites. Pay day loan companies charge APR at between 199% and 5569% per annum and obtaining a loan on-line can be done in a matter of seconds. TV adverts for such companies tend to feature attractive young people saying how easy it is to get a loan. Similarly attractive people are used by on-line bingo companies to entice people in with ‘free’ money so that they can be persuaded to take part and pay more.

Both pay day loan companies and on-line bingo companies are likely to appeal to the most vulnerable in our society, people who are already strapped for cash or desperate for ‘easy’ money. At a time of major recession, such people are liable to be persuaded into taking on loans at very high rates of interest or run up debts to on line bingo companies.

Our Advices and Queries No 39 talks about resisting the desire to acquire possessions through unethical investment, speculation or games of chance. These references now seem somewhat outdated. However, bearing in mind that few Quakers probably need a pay day loan or play bingo, I suppose that’s understandable.