Bricks and mortar payday lenders 'have no chance'
The days of the traditional bricks and mortar payday lenders will be over if the Government acts on the recommendations of a review of the market, an industry leader says.The chief executive of lender moneyme, Clayton Howes, said he supported the recommendations of the Review of Small Amount Credit Contract Laws but he warned that it would be difficult for many lenders to survive.A key recommendation was that SACC repayments must not exceed ten per cent of any borrower's net income. The current rule applies only to Centrelink recipients and sets the cap at 20 per cent."The protection of a lower income threshold is warranted but it is going to be difficult for a lot of businesses. Ten per cent of net income is not a lot in dollar terms," Howes said."The cost of acquisition is largely the same for a small loan or a large loan. The issue is how businesses are going to cover those acquisition costs. Bricks and mortar businesses have no chance of surviving."moneyme is one of the new generation of small amount lenders. Founded in 2013, it is an online lender that does not even operate a call centre. It uses data capture and credit scoring algorithms to approve loans in minutes.The company offers small amount credit contacts and larger loans. It operates on a wholesale funding model and earlier this year it secured A$30 million of funding from a private investor.Howes said that, even with its efficiency, the company was migrating to bigger loans. More than 70 per cent of new lending is for amounts above $2000, which is the threshold for SACCs.Howes said another change in the industry was lenders looking for better quality borrowers because they cannot afford high default rates.moneyme's target is people in their 20s. "Young people don't have a credit score because they have not had credit. That makes it hard for them to get a loan," Howes said."We use data on things like how they manage their telco account. It is not a conventional credit score. We also look at their transaction account data.moneyme's overall average default rate is 3.7 per cent and its default rate on its SACC book is five per cent.