Why Did HMRC Send Me to a Payday Loans Company?

At the start of the year, I detailed how an error on my part, compounded by the repeated incompetence of two organs of the British state, resulted in me temporarily owing several thousands of pounds to the taxman. I’ll soon follow up with how my efforts to reclaim my ill-gotten gains have progressed, but first I want to take you on an intriguing digression. In short: after much effort, I finally got (some) of my already-paid student loan repayments credited against my tax bill. But, in the letter confirming this to me, HMRC directed me to contact the SLC if I wanted to dispute the amount, suggesting a site that I haven’t seen before: Photo by the author Peculiarily, the domain instead leads to a predatory payday loans company called WageDayAdvance—rates from 48.1% APR to 1,721% APR:1 Screenshot by the author A WHOIS lookup on the domain shows that it was last updated in November 2025, though the redirect has been in place since at least January 2025. The site is completely absent from…

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