The High-Cost Short-Term Credit (HCSTC) credit industry, also known as the payday loans in the UK, is the second biggest lending marketing in the world after the United States. The industry had experienced a steady growth in the UK following 2008 economic recession. Lenders aggressive marketing tactics and ‘predatory’ lending behavior had caused a number of people to fall into an unknown debt trap in the past. Using the famous Moment of Truth model we highlight the important intrinsic and extrinsic behavioral and motivational factors that guides a prospective customer to become a repentant customer though Zero Moment of Truth, First Moment of Truth and Second Moment of Truth stages. Findings from our study show that unlike other financial product related customer journeys, the journey to obtain (and lived experience) a payday loan turned out to be much more complex than previously thought. Our primary findings indicate that payday loans are not just obtained by people with no financial education belonging to lower income groups.

Publications 
The online report “Mapping the customer journey of the New Generation of Payday Borrowing” is available here.