Bank of Dave: Meet the man bringing the fight to loan sharks and helping those who need it most

Remember Wonga? Dave Fishwick does. The Burnley businessman and Bank of Dave supremo made it his business to tackle the payday loan companies when he first heard about their extortionate interest rates and the misery they were bringing to people.  

His efforts were followed for a string of Channel 4 documentaries including 2014’s Bafta-winning Dave Fishwick: Loan Ranger. In 2023, his story was dramatised in the Rory Kinnear-starring Netflix hit Bank of Dave, which reached the top of the streaming service’s UK film chart and inspired a swift sequel, Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger, which follows Dave’s showdown with Wonga.  

At its height, the payday loan company was lending to millions of people in the UK, charging eye-watering 5,500% interest rates, sponsoring Newcastle United, Blackpool and Heart of Midlothian football clubs as well as the New Year’s Eve free tube travel in London.  

What a blight on the country it was. An organisation that preyed on vulnerable and desperate people, plunging millions further into debt.  

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But thanks to the efforts of Fishwick and politicians such as Labour’s Stella Creasy, Wonga finally went into administration in 2018 before being dissolved in late 2020. The problems of payday lenders and illegal loan shark operations has not gone away, though.  

“I think it’s worse now, which is quite scary,” Fishwick tells Big Issue when he calls from Burnley after another long day at Bank of Dave HQ.  

“So many people are struggling. There’s such a lot of need. People have been writing to me at Bank of Dave saying they’ve got into terrible debts. The one that really touched me was when somebody asked for a loan for baby formula.  

“When you have people needing a loan to feed a baby, then you know the country’s got problems.

“And people are really struggling to get money, so they are turning to illegal money lenders and payday loan lenders. And I believe the payday loan industry is worse now than it was when I started.”  

The terminology in the headlines has changed. We moved from the credit crunch to the global financial crisis. Then there were the brutal years of austerity which led directly into the cost of living crisis we are currently enduring. And at every step, it has felt as though the people at the sharp end have not been helped by people in power. Will a change of government lead to a change of priority?  

“I’ve started a positive engagement with the new government,” he says. 

“But it’s early days with them. I’ve got some specific requests that wouldn’t take a great deal of their time but would make a huge difference to millions of people in the UK.” 

However, one of the first acts of Keir Starmer’s government was to stop the winter fuel payment for millions of older people. Fishwick was fuming.  

“I was mortified because we get letters every week from people struggling even to put the electric on,” he says. “After that I lost a lot of hope for change. Why are we taking money from the people that need it the most? It’s important that we protect the most vulnerable people.” 

Fishwick now splits his time between running the community bank, Burnley Savings And Loans Ltd – aka Bank Of Dave – which he set up in 2011 after lobbying the government to change the law and the business interests that enabled him to put his money where his considerable mouth is.  

It’s a wonderful life for this proud man of Burnley. But he wants to expand this style of lending – in the community for the community – across the country.  

“Anything run by the community for the community, I’m a huge fan of,” he says. 

“The world would be a better place if you had a community financial institution like the Bank Of Dave in each town or city across the country, all lending to their community, run by the community, to benefit the community, rather than the bonus culture. That’s what we need. 

“Because 54 bank branches are shutting every month. More than 15,000 free-to-use cash machines have closed in the last couple of years, which is more than half the free-to-use ATMs in the country. And another 115 local Post Offices are set to close. So we’ve got to try to save those as well. Because if banks close, Post Offices close, the payday loan companies swoop in to hoover up the business. And they will put an awful lot of people into terrible debt.”  

In recent times, television dramatisations have been drivers for real change, just as the original Dave Fishwick: Loan Ranger documentary was a decade ago. Mr Bates vs The Post Officechanged the public conversation and forced the government into action (though we await the final outcome).  

Fishwick reckons a similar public reckoning is required around the new wave of illegal lenders. 

“It’s so current it is almost scary,” says Fishwick.  

“When I made the documentary series, I hoped things would get better. We helped close Wonga down which was the biggest and worst payday loan company – charging 5,500% APR.  

“That had a fantastic impact. But if you don’t keep pushing, somebody else will come in and take their place. So the wonderful thing about this movie coming to Netflix is that it will put the issue back to the forefront of people’s minds. 

“You need something bigger than a documentary series to shine a light on an issue. And there’s nothing bigger than Netflix. They’re the biggest and the best in the world and they do the job brilliantly. To have them behind me on these projects has been a real pleasure. Because they genuinely care.”  

So enjoy the Netflix feature film, featuring another lovely cameo from Def Leppard and again, starring Rory Kinnear as Dave.  

“Rory looks more like me than I do. He’s a lovely man. First time I met him, he knocked on my door at home. I opened it and he said: ‘Dave, meet Dave.’ I thought, ‘You’ll do for me.’” Then it’s time for action.  

“Yes. Because then we need the government to understand what needs to be done in terms of changing the law,” says Fishwick. “I’ve been working with the head of the Illegal Money Lending Team and will be speaking to ministers about how we can stop thousands of people getting into debt by tackling these illegal money lenders.  

“The Bank of Dave documentaries and films have given me a platform to stand on to try and get positive change. And that’s what we need. We are going to make a real difference. It’s great to make a fantastic movie… but it’s also really cool to get a real legacy from it.” 

Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger is on Netflix from 10 January. 

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