Provident facing claims it loaned schizophrenic woman thousands

Panorama went undercover at Bradford-based Provident Financial, which has 1.8 million customers, and says it found cases of lending to customers which appeared to breach Office for Fair Trading (OFT) industry guidelines.

The programme interviewed the mother of the unnamed woman, who requires constant care for her condition but was allegedly given loans over several years.

“You can talk to (her) and anyone in their right mind would know she’s got an illness,” her mother told the programme. “She’s so vulnerable she just agrees to them (the loans). I want it all to stop.”

Provident said it had strict policies in place to prevent loans being given to people without the mental capacity to know what they are doing.

The programme also claims to show a Provident seller calling at another customer’s house and acknowledging that she didn’t think the woman could look after herself.

The customer’s sister told Panorama: “They (the agents) would clearly be able to see just by looking around the house that she is vulnerable.”

Provident said: “(Provident Financial) is properly regulated and adheres strictly to the OFT’s guidelines on responsible lending. Provident takes great care to ensure that it only lends amounts appropriate to the personal circumstances of each customer.

“The size of the loan granted is always designed to match the circumstances of each individual customer. Provident is a responsible lender and currently 80 per cent of our loans applications are turned down.”