One of Bradford's biggest firms today faced a revolt by church and ethical investors amid claims it is exploiting people in debt.

The Quakers religion has already withdrawn its £32,000 shareholding in Provident Financial claiming it cannot stand by and watch as already poor people take on loans with interest rates substantially higher than the High Street Banks.

Anti-poverty campaigners, Church Action on Poverty (CAP), persuaded the Quakers to sell its 4,052 shareholding in the Sunbridge Road company and the decision could lead to much bigger investors pulling out.

Both the Church of England, with a £13m stake and the Co-operative Insurance Society, with a £40m investment, are considering ditching their shares.

A spokesman for the Religious Society of Friends (The Quakers) said the shares had been held by a Quaker group in Gloucester but the national body, which does not own shares, was happy with the decision to pull out.

She said: "We are pleased that people are monitoring their investments and are saying whether or not they are happy with the ethical quality of them."

Provident, which was established in 1880 in Bradford by Wesleyian Methodist Josuha Waddilove to provide small loans to the poor, is now worth almost £2 billion.

The firm's main business is short-term, unsecured loans of between £100 and £400 with weekly payments collected by company agents and more than one and a half million customers worldwide.

It says it is a reputable company that offers a good service to its customers - many of whom cannot acquire loans from elsewhere.

But Oliver Fernandes, of Church Action on Poverty, said: "Millions of pounds flows out of our estates and communities each year to the shareholders and directors of door-to-door lenders, like Provident.

"I am pleased the Religious Society of Friends has chosen not to profit from the exploitation of the most desperate in our society."

His views were echoed by Jane Lees, advise co-ordinator for Royds advice service, who deals every day with the consequence of debt in Buttershaw, Woodside and Delph Hill estates in Bradford.

She said: "The Provident only go in to the poorest areas to deal with people who have no chance of getting cheap credit.

"They will offer to lend someone money and when they have trouble paying they will lend them more before they have paid off the last one.

"People then stay constantly in debt if they borrow from the likes of the Provident. We would like to see them off the estate and that is why we want to set up a credit union."

The move by the Quaker group has opened the door to other organisations to review their shareholding in Provident.

Robert Taylor, head of the responsible share holding unit at The Co-operative Insurance Society said: "We have had discussions with Provident Financial concerning a number of issues including those raised by CAP.

"As a result of this we a now waiting for a detailed response from Provident Financial."

A spokesman for the Church of England confirmed CAP's request to give up shares had been passed on to the Ethical Advisory Group but said no decision would be made until the Church's three investment bodies had considered the advice.

However John Kirby, founder of the Bradford charity Christians Against Poverty, which employs 41 debt counsellors across the country said selling shares in Provident was not the answer.

He said: "The motivation for these groups, which is to help poor people, we would applaud, however I feel that to simply focus on one company or one issue is not the answer.

"As an organisation that works with thousands of desperately poor people we realise that the whole problem is far more complicated than saying Provident charge too much.

"There needs to be a credible solution to people's need to borrow money through education, through people living within their means and saving.

"Provident is a regulated company that is operating legally with an ethos of working with their customer base, offering a flexible approach to debt repayment.

"If you remove Provident and other lenders without removing people's need to borrow short term, you would see a proliferation of unlicensed, unregulated, horrendous people, who would fill the gap."

A spokesman for the Provident Financial said: "We have had no contact with The Religious Society of Friends in Britain and have not been told formally that they have sold a shareholding of around 4,000 shares in Provident Financial, nor would we expect to be informed.

"Provident Financial is an ethical company and a responsible lender. Our home credit businesses are fully licensed and regulated and operate under the terms of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act.

"Our charges are comparable with other types of small ticket credit such as agency mail order catalogues and bank overdrafts. And our 1.5 million UK customers express a high level of satisfaction with our service, which is subject to a very low level of customer complaint."