Charity ends schools education partnership with payday loans company

Saving and Making Money

Updated on 16 February 2012 | 3 Comments

Young Enterprise pulls financial education campaign funded by owners of the Money Shop after criticism by MP.

The education charity Young Enterprise has ended a partnership to provide financial education in schools with Dollar Financial, which owns the Money Shop chain.

The Money Shop is rapidly expanding, with over 450 branches nationwide offering payday advances, payday loans and cheque cashing.

The decision follows criticism by Labour MP Stella Creasy after she discovered Dollar Financial representatives were funding financial education lessons at a school in her Walthamstow constituency and that representatives from the company would be in the lessons.

Dr Creasy has been a long-term campaigner for short-term lending to be more tightly regulated.

She said: “These companies are being helped to promote themselves as socially responsible. Until this industry is regulated through caps on the cost of credit, they have no place in our education system.”

In response, Young Enterprise interim Chief Executive Catherine Marchant accused Dr Creasy of “hypocrisy” and claimed the staff from Dollar Financial did not actively participate in the school sessions.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We are being encouraged by all parties and the Government to seek funding from the private sector and that's what we have done. And now we have done so we are being criticised.

“Young Enterprise works with more than 3,000 companies from all industries and all sectors across the UK. We absolutely have a very highly developed ethical standard.”

Dollar Financial had given Young Enterprise £15,000 for the campaign, which was to be delivered to secondary school children in Nottingham and the south east. It was also set to supply 30 volunteers for the sessions.

What do you think of Young Enterprise's decision to drop Dollar Financial? Have your say in the Comments section below.

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