The document is a letter inviting a Member of Parliament to support Early Day Motion 1194, which advocates for fair payday loan interest rates in the UK. It highlights the excessively high annual percentage rates of payday loans and calls for government action to cap these rates and encourage alternatives like credit unions. The aim is to ensure that borrowers receive fair treatment in the financial services sector.

1. Example of a letter inviting your MP to consider supporting EDM 1194
[Date] Your name
Your address
[Name of Member of Parliament]
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear [Name of Member of Parliament]
Please support EDM 1194 for fair payday loan APRs
I would be grateful if you would consider supporting the Early Day Motion 1194 tabled by the
Member for Leeds North West – Greg Mulholland – on 29 March 2010.
The EDM – ‘2,356percent payday loans campaign' – calls on the Government and appropriate
regulatory authorities to take steps to ensure that borrowers in the UK are afforded the kind of
standards of fair treatment that the Financial Services Authority insists consumers should
expect from financial services providers operating in the UK savings and investments market.
Despite the UK continuing to count the cost of irresponsible sub-prime lending and
inappropriate borrowing, payday loans are currently being advertised on daytime TV at typical
annual percentage rates of 2,356 percent (Quickquid.co.uk) and 2,689 per cent (Wonga.com).
These rates suggest that loan-shark style lending rates are migrating from the doorstep to the
computer desktop.
As an interim measure, the EDM calls for the Government to cap interest rates for sub-prime
personal lending products and – in the medium to long-term – encourage and promote the
conditions necessary for social enterprises, such as credit unions, to create an alternative for
consumers in need to turn to.
Please consider supporting the EDM.
Yours sincerely,
[Your signature]