can’t pay, won’t pay
Regular readers will know I’m no fan of loan sharks and welcome the proposed better-late-than-never regulation of the pay-day loan industry, specifically the reigning in of the 5,853% annual interest charging wonga.com. Grudgingly, I concede that, with continuing austerity measures and a (largely) tight economy, there is currently a place for short-term credit but sincerely wish there wasn’t.
So, in a move to curtail impending criticism, new chairman Andy Haste says his mission is to reinvent the scandal-ridden organisation as a more respectable, more mainstream lender. He promises no more illegal & crippling rates, no more threatening letters from fake & made-up lawyers, and a severe tightening of Wonga’s lending criteria. He also goes on to openly state that they will become a “much smaller and less profitable business.” No sh*t, Sherlock! Given the FCA’s proposed caps on payday loan rates that’s the one outcome that I can assure you is guaranteed. Jettisoning those loveable old-dear puppets is one of Andy’s ideas. Perhaps, the next one should be basing his new advertising pitch around the catchy slogan “borrow from us only if you are truly desperate, have no other alternative, and can pay us back soon as. Or else…”
