Dundee Council Bans Payday Sites

Janie4Now

Whilst I do think that PDLs are the invention of the devil, they are not illegal. Neither is it illegal for them to advertise their "services".

Banning access to any legal website is censorship and is, I believe, therefore inherently wrong.

paddedjohn

I'd bet that for every person who ends up in dire straights with a payday loan there are hundreds of happy sensible customers who have used common sense and only borrowed what they could afford to pay back at the agreed time.

TurnaroundTim

paddedjohn wrote: »

I'd bet that for every person who ends up in dire straights with a payday loan there are hundreds of happy sensible customers who have used common sense and only borrowed what they could afford to pay back at the agreed time.

I agree. I went through the Payday loan spiral, at one point from 6 or 7 different lenders at the same time. I didn't default and although I was paying huge interest rates and struggling, I don't have anything against the companies. People can offer whatever deals on lending they want, it's up to the consumer to accept them. My financial problems were completely of my own doing.

iolanthe07

antrobus wrote: »

Well, no actually; by definition PDL's target those people who actually have a payday; that's why they're called payday loans.

Well, that's the theory, but I have read posts from people on here who obtained pay day loans while on benefits. Perhaps they lied when they applied, or perhaps PDL companies just don't care.

GhIFA

Surely if Dundee council (and others) concentrated more in giving good Financial Education in schools then less people would have a need for these companies. Just a thought......

antrobus

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Well, that's the theory, but I have read posts from people on here who obtained pay day loans while on benefits. Perhaps they lied when they applied, or perhaps PDL companies just don't care.

Yes, but;

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

.. these companies target mainly those who cannot pay them back at the rate they set, mainly those in financial direstraits and on benefits,..

PDL companies target people with paydays. The fact that people without paydays succeed in getting hold of 'em is something else. But then again, people are often very successful in getting hold of loans they shouldn't, PDLs or whatever

barbarawright

Janie4Now wrote: »

Whilst I do think that PDLs are the invention of the devil, they are not illegal. Neither is it illegal for them to advertise their "services".

Banning access to any legal website is censorship and is, I believe, therefore inherently wrong.

You are happy for people to use PCs in libraries to access pornography then?

I work in a public library. I've never noticed anyone using a PDL site on one of our PCs (though I wouldn't necessarily recognise the sites at a casual glance in the way I do if people are using Facebook or Gmail). We don't block them but we do block a lot of other sites without much controversy - !!!!!!, spyware, torrent sites for example and more on the children's PCs. A lot of these are perfectly legal sites but we still think they are inappropriate for our PCs for various reasons.

Janie4Now

barbarawright wrote: »

You are happy for people to use PCs in libraries to access pornography then?

I work in a public library. I've never noticed anyone using a PDL site on one of our PCs (though I wouldn't necessarily recognise the sites at a casual glance in the way I do if people are using Facebook or Gmail). We don't block them but we do block a lot of other sites without much controversy - !!!!!!, spyware, torrent sites for example and more on the children's PCs. A lot of these are perfectly legal sites but we still think they are inappropriate for our PCs for various reasons.

Pornographic sites are for 18+ only and it is entirely understandable that these must be blocked in public areas because that law can't be policed!!! Other blocked sites are done for PC/network safety and often legal reasons, therefore, once again completely understandable. What you choose to restrict your children to viewing is entirely up to you. Blocking sites purely because you don't like a product/service/idea/belief is not at all the same thing.

UsetheFORCE

Janie4Now wrote: »

Pornographic sites are for 18+ only and it is entirely understandable that these must be blocked in public areas because that law can't be policed!!! Other blocked sites are done for PC/network safety and often legal reasons, therefore, once again completely understandable. What you choose to restrict your children to viewing is entirely up to you. Blocking sites purely because you don't like a product/service/idea/belief is not at all the same thing.

Whilst I wouldn't generally agree with restricting access to sites, library PC's are more likely to be used in my opinion by people on benefits/low income...PDL's are legalised loan sharks and allowing people who are already on a low income to take out loans and require a relatively scandalous rate of interest to be paid is a recipe for disaster.

If they really want to apply for a PDL, they can find other places to get on a PC and apply.

Janie4Now

UsetheFORCE wrote: »

Whilst I wouldn't generally agree with restricting access to sites, library PC's are more likely to be used in my opinion by people on benefits/low income...PDL's are legalised loan sharks and allowing people who are already on a low income to take out loans and require a relatively scandalous rate of interest to be paid is a recipe for disaster.

If they really want to apply for a PDL, they can find other places to get on a PC and apply.

I hold the same view as you about PDLs but banning sites like these is just the thin end of the wedge. What next? Ban the BNP website? Or the Conservative Party website? Just because some people can't be trusted to use a site sensibly - or might be led astray in the opinion of others - is no reason to block it.