Payday loans company QuickQuid has apologised for sending an email that threatened to send debt collecting agencies after people who had not even taken out loans with the firm.
The lender said that the emails demanding repayment were "inadvertently" sent to email addresses on its system.
Complaining customers said that the telephone numbers provided on the email were not working, and that the message constituted little more than scaremongering.
The company said that it was planning to contact everyone who was sent the message to clear the air.
“This message email was sent in error and should be disregarded by anyone who received it,” a spokesman said.
"We are currently investigating how this email was sent in error and apologise for any alarm this message may have caused."
Cleaning up the payday lending industry
The news follows the revelation that eleven lenders have ceased trading in short-term loans since the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) laid down an ultimatum earlier in the year. It is waiting to hear from at least twenty more regarding its ultimatum.
Following a year-long review of the sector, the regulator contacted the 50 largest companies in the spring, demanding that firms clean up their act.
It said that it had found evidence of inadequate affordability checks, inadequate security protocols, and aggressive debt-retrieval practices.
The Consumer Finance Association said the sector was determined to rise its game, and that it had hired a former standards committee chief, Seymour Fortescue, to help it turn its reputation around.
But the turnaround has not occurred fast enough, with the OFT referring the sector to the Competition Commission last month (read more).
Lenders including Wonga were then summoned to a government summit last week, with consumer minister Jo Swinson calling upon the industry to “get its house in order” (read more).
Keith McDonald
Which4U Editor
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