A debt advice organisation has claimed that payday loan companies are lending to under 18s, people with mental health issues and individuals who were drunk at the time.

Citizens Advice said its analysis of 780 cases reported to it between 26 November and 13 May 2013 revealed evidence of “inadequate” checks on borrowers, with people chased for debts when the loan had been taken out by someone else using their identity.

It found that three out of four people, or 1,539 cases, struggled to repay the loan, with 84% saying that lenders did not offer to freeze interest rates or charges despite saying that they would do so.

During the six month period, 24,575 people went to Citizens Advice to seek advice about payday loans.

For the full story click here

The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) is warning that High Streets could see 20% of their shops close down within five years as more people turn to the internet for their shopping.

The organisation, which conducts research into retail, technology and crime, says this would equate to 62,000 shops closing down.

The CRR believes large areas of the UK’s High Streets would become housing.

It also says as many as 316,000 workers would lose their jobs.

The CRR says online shopping will continue to expand and the proportion of shopping done via the internet will double to 22%.

The report, which was produced by Prof Joshua Bamfield, said the first shops to go would be pharmacies and health and beauty stores.

Retailers specialising in music, books, cards, stationery and gifts will be next.

DIY shops will also suffer.

For the full story click here

The Air Travel Trust (ATT) – a fund used to meet costs when an airline goes bust – has returned to surplus for the first time since 1996, after a fall in ATOL failures.

The annual report details that the ATT received £48.1m inATOL protection contributions from 19.2m passengers for the year ending 31 March 2013, up from 17.3m passengers during 2011/2012.

Roger Mountford, chair of ATT, said: “The relatively low number of ATOL holder failures shows how well the travel industry performed last year, despite challenging financial circumstances.

“This more stable period for the industry has resulted in the ATT’s welcome return to surplus – consumers now enjoy greater protection for their holidays.”

For the full story click here

Sadly, 25% of businesses fail within their first year and an astonishing 70% of businesses fail within ten years. So, if you’re thinking about starting a business or you’ve recently made the leap, how can you optimize your chances of success? What is the single most important factor in determining your success? This question was asked of 10 successful business leaders from the Young Entrepreneur Council.

For the full story click here

UK unemployment has risen to 2.52 million, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

ONS figures showed 15,000 more people were unemployed in the three months to the end of March, with the unemployment rate now at 7.8%.

Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants fell by 7,300 last month to 1.52 million.

But despite this an ONS spokesman told the BBC the figures suggest the recent period of falling unemployment “seems to have come to an end”.

Growth in average earnings is also slowing, the ONS figures suggest.

Average earnings increased by 0.4% in the year to March, compared with a rate of 0.8% in the previous month.

For the full story click here