British lawmakers are shocked by new credit card aimed at the poor; card can have 70% interest rate

• new credit card aimed at millions of low-income families is to charge interest at up to 70% - the highest ever charged by a credit card company.
• MPs and debt campaigners yesterday condemned the rate, which is 15 times the Bank of England base rate and triple the standard rate on other cards.
• He added: "People on a low income tempted by it need to be given a clear financial health warning."
• Debt on our Doorstep, an umbrella group that includes Oxfam, credit unions and Church Action on Poverty, said: "It's an absolute disgrace that Vanquis should even be suggesting people borrow money on a credit card at that rate."
• Vanquis is a subsidiary of Provident Financial, the biggest doorstep lender in the country, and is the subject of an industry-wide investigation by the Competition Commission into the home credit market.
• To find customers, Vanquis will trawl through the files of private credit rating agency Experian - it holds data on almost everyone in Britain - to identify individuals rejected by other lenders often because they have run into debt problems in the past.
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• Vanquis managing director Les Stillwell yesterday defended the national launch of the card, which was successfully piloted in part of Scotland last year.
• He said: "The big problem with credit card lending is not the interest rate but the amount of credit that is granted.
• If they keep their payments up, the rate will be reviewed, typically falling by 3-4% a year."
• But Debt on our Doorstep said it will now increase pressure on the government to amend the consumer credit bill to include a clause allowing the government to impose a maximum interest rate cap.