Get the data: The top ten payday lenders

Rapid growth: the booming payday loans industry. (Image: Balance sheet via Shutterstock.com)

Payday lenders have experienced rapid growth through the recession, research from the Bureau reveals.

The Bureau studied the ten top companies specifically offering short-term, payday-style loans – some charging interest rates of up to 7000% APR. In total the ten companies had combined revenues of £800m, up from £330m three years previously.

Rapidly growing Wonga has been the focus of many reports on the industry, but it is not the only organisation to reap the rewards of the boom in payday lending.

One US-owned company, Lending Stream, saw its turnover grow 42 times in the last three years. It offers payday-style loans in the UK through Zebit, which charges borrowers 1562% for loans of between one month and seven months.

To collect the data the Bureau examined financial records stretching back up to five years for 50 companies in total. The result is a list of the top ten high cost lending companies specifically providing payday loan products for which full accounts are available.

Get the Bureau’s payday lending data here.