"Supercomplaint" lodged with OFT in relation to home credit card industry

The National Consumer Council (NCC) has lodged a "supercomplaint" with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in relation to the home credit industry. NCC's report argues that users of home credit are a vulnerable consumer group with few options for meeting their credit needs. Although small-value home credit cash loans are popular, convenient, and valued by consumers, the NCC considers that a number of features of the way the home credit sector operates are potentially problematic. The concerns identified by the NCC include high prices, barriers to entry, high levels of market concentration, and low rates of switching. The OFT now has 90 days to decide whether to act on the complaint. Frontier (London) is advising a provider of home credit.