28/05/2014 BBC London News


28/05/2014

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The Church of England is to start promoting the use of credit unions

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in two London diocese, in an attempt to challenge payday lenders.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has previously said he'd like to put

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The new scheme is being piloted in London first, but the church

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hopes it can build up a national network of community`based support.

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Payday lenders. They offer quick credit to people in need.

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But the interest rates can go sky high.

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Now, they've got competition from the church.

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They will work with you, how much you can afford a month.

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Meet Rosemia Brown, a financially savvy vicar.

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She's on a mission to recruit people to her local credit union.

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I had to borrow some money, and then...

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18 months ago, this grandmother took out a payday loan for ?1200

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She's only managed to pay back the ?700 worth of interest.

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I thought I would be able to pay it back, you know?

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Over the period, in the short, given time.

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But it doesn't work, you plan to do this

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It may not hand out the cash, but should the Church

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Money is a thing that we need to use every day.

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But we have to be responsible with it.

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We have to make it work for us and not become slaves to it.

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That's why I think it's important from the church.

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But with some 16,000 parishes, the Church of England

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believes that it has the potential to create

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the biggest branch network in the country.

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So, what's the difference between a credit union and a payday lender?

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Well, a credit union is not for profit, with interest

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at a maximum of 3% a month. So, a ?400 loan would cost ?12.

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A payday lender is a commercial enterprise.

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That same loan could cost around ?127.

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But payday loan companies say they fill a gap in the market.

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Credit unions aren't really interested in getting into the

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They're more interested in savings, longer term loan products rather

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than immediate access, short`term loans.

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And that's a very different product, which is something that

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the payday lending industry will continue to provide.

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But the Church of England is now taking them on and

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it hopes there will be many more signing up for its new service.

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The congestion charge is to increase from ?10 to ?11.50 from mid June.

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Those using the auto pay system will see the cost rise to ?10.50.

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TfL says that since the congestion charge was introduced in 2003, more

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than ?1 billion has been re`invested in London's transport network

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Nobody ever particularly welcomes a rise in a charge for anything.

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But this is about maintaining the effectiveness of the congestion

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charge, which has been very effective in terms of reducing

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They reduced by something like 20%, more or less since the day it came

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It's about maintaining that and making sure we can provide

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the road space for everything that needs to go on in central London

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I like the idea that there's less cars on the road,

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It enhances the experience of being in the city for everybody.

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We're still driving. We have to, it's part of the job.

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We just have to pay it, and the client will pay it.

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Landlords in the capital can now join a new accreditation scheme,

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Boris Johnson says his initiative will protect London's 2 million

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But critics says it's a meaningless gimmick, which lacks teeth.

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This is not your average student house.

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Six bedrooms, a handsome entertaining space, one jacuzzi.

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Nor was this an average morning for its tenants.

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They'd clearly done some cleaning, for example, and they welcomed

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Right, so this is the main room, here? The main living room?

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More often than not, we didn't have hot water.

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We also had some furry friends living with us.

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So, for the owners of a decent property, being part

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of the Mayor's new landlord accreditation scheme seems ideal.

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If you are unable to present yourself effectively,

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with the badge, as an accredited landlord, then it's something the

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landlords should be doing, because if you're not doing it, they're

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Under the new London rental standard, a landlord must offer

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his property in good condition, must offer clear communication with

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the tenants and must respond quickly to any problems.

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But the scheme is only voluntary and there are no fresh ways

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And there are fears that the new scheme will create a double layer

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of renting in London, for those who can afford good quality, which is

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To what degree with this offer protection to a tenant,

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a guarantee of tenure or, indeed, rental protection that things will

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It's very interesting, all the markets where they have tried to

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do that, what happens is they drive properties off the market and you

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That's what happened in Germany, they tried to bring

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in rent controls and people say, "Well, stuff that, I'm not going to

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And, low and behold, there is a shortage and the rents go up.

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The trouble is, it's very much a landlord's market.

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Tenants don't have choice at the moment.

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A lot of tenants have to go for the first thing they can afford,

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whether or not a landlord is any good or not.

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He claims he had to withhold his rent to get

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I don't think... It's hard to say.

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In my opinion, his skills as a landlord were not that great.

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Maybe an accreditation scheme might help him have better communication.

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The capital's property problems are already well publicised.

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Whether this latest scheme works will depend

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now let me hand you over to Stav Denaos for a look at the weather.

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I think many of us are fed up of the damp weather. The good news is that

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many of us will see glimmers of sunshine through the afternoon

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tomorrow. Overnight it remains cloudy for much of the capital.

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Still spots of rain, mist and fog. With the cloud cover, another mild

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night with temperatures in double figures. Tomorrow, after a great

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start, we'll start to see the sunshine break into the cloud in the

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afternoon. That may trigger some heavy showers. Some misty

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conditions, are breaking up, sunshine developing. As temperatures

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left, some showers develop. Some of them might be heavy or thundery

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across northern areas. Top temperatures in the capital are 17

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or 18 Celsius. I'll leave you with a summary for the next few days. It's

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turning bright as we head into the weekend. My colleague John Hammond

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will have your weekend. My colleague John Hammond

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will have your national details right now.

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Hello. Some of us had a nice day. Others of you will be wondering if

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the sun will ever shine again. It's been another cloudy and damp day

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across many parts of the country. No more so than across the heart of

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northern England, where, through the heart of the day, with persistent

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rain, temperatures were

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