IT is a campaign designed to stop vulnerable people in Southampton from falling victim to payday lenders.

Now Sharkstoppers, launched earlier this year to tackle the problem of high interest pay day lending, has achieved two victories.

Firstly, the city council has agreed to campaigners’ calls to introduce a payroll deduction scheme, allowing all council staff to save with a local credit union.

Workers will be encouraged to sign up to a deduction from their salary which will be banked by the credit union on their behalf, and will be available to withdraw.

But it will also allow the union to make lowcost loans to people who could otherwise be forced to turn to payday lenders charging huge interest rates.

Now the authority wants to build on that initiative and turn the city into a credit union zone to build the strength of the unions.

After discussions with campaigners, Solent Credit Union has launched a twofor- one scheme which means that for every two savers recruited as part of the Sharkstoppers campaign, the credit union will make one loan available to someone at risk of using a pay day lender.

Campaign organiser Ryan Carter said: “Sharkstoppers started at the start of the year because I was angry about the spread of payday lenders on our high streets in Southampton.

“These money lenders take advantage of people when they are most vulnerable.

‘’I was shocked by the interest rates charged, which are often above 2,000 per cent APR.

“I began to talk to people about the issue, and then with others began to build a campaign to ask the council and credit unions to do more to tackle the issue of access to fair credit.”

The city council’s lead member on cooperative councils, Cllr Andrew Pope, said: “As a co-operative council, we support and encourage our employees and the community’s active involvement in society, and credit unions play an important part in this.

“Credit unions are community-owned and run financial mutuals that enable savings and loans to their members.

“The council has introduced a range of measures to support the local credit unions and the payroll deduction scheme for employees that has now been set up is the next step in this process.

“We are delighted that Southampton’s residents are able to work with local credit unions when they may have previously been financially excluded from borrowing or saving with the banks.”