National media coverage backs John Battle's debt campaign

John appeared on an excellent feature on BBC1's Watchdog on Tuesday 28 Jan 2003 looking at loan sharks and particularly the BrightHouse hire purchase furniture chain.

"Companies like BrightHouse may seem to be offering good cheap deals," said John. "In fact because they charge such exorbitant amounts of interest are locking the poor into debt. In effect I would argue that they are really leeching off the life blood of the poor, forcing them into deep debt for the rest of their lives.

"It's unsustainable debt and I think what's more, because they are part of the larger banking system and often reputable companies and what they're doing is not illegal. In effect our credit cards are at the expense of the poorest because they are being subsidised by those who are paying the highest rates."
"Most people think there's an attractive offer but they don't realise what they're getting into for the long term. Once they've made the commitment they're then hounded, sometimes for years, to pay back absolutely exorbitant rates of interest."

He then went on to make the point that Brighthouse and similar companies are owned by major national and international banks and finance houses, which take millions in profit out of poorer neighbourhoods from loans at exorbitant rates and use that to charge far lower rates to their better-off customers. "The poor are subsidising the credit cards of the rich," he said.

visit www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog for a transcript of the programme and more details about Brighthouse