Provident Financial accused of "unethical" practices...
19th June 2003

Provident refute research findings of chartered accountant

The Financial Times yesterday reported claims that Provident's lending practices were "unethical", as cited in a forthcoming paper from the New Economics Foundation and Church Action on Poverty. The claims are based on an assessment of Provident's business by Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant, due for publication next week.

The document uses Provident's figures as a case study, making the case for a cap on interest rates. At the present time, Provident have not responded in detail to the figures used in Murphy's analysis but have stated that they consider them to be inaccurate.