Credit companies target young people through Facebook

12:18 Mon 12 May 2008

According to the debt charity Credit Action, credit companies are using Facebook to advertise cash loans to young people. The social networking site has an estimated 8.5 million users in the UK who are mainly between the ages of 18 and 35. .

Payday loans and logbook loans which are secured against a salary and a car respectively, are the two most popular types of credit agreements being offered through Facebook and are targeted at young people with bad credit ratings.

Credit Action has also compiled a list of the worst offenders of credit companies advertising credit products and has made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading. There is also a Facebook group called 'Debt can seriously cramp your style!' where users can report any misleading ads.