Dick Dasterdly

.......the Bish has landed himself in.

First he declares Holy War on Wonga.

...only to find that some of his church funds are invested with them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23459932

Fredbargate

Well it looks like Papiss Cisse is managing to put aside his devout Muslim views on Wonga.

I wonder how much they are paying him.

Dick Dasterdly

I bet the replica shirt sales are down this year, there again Toon never did have any class.

mikelincs

bet they've sold the £75,000 worth by now, it's just a drop in the ocean of the £5.2 million they have invested

Dick Dasterdly

So what's the views regarding him taking on Wonga and putting them out of business ?

mikelincs

Time something was done, been a load of horror stories about them, including people that have once borrowed money and paid it off, suddenly finding they've 'borrowed' money again (which they had no idea about, and had never done) finding they owed a shed load of cash because they hadn't repaid the loan they never asked for and with an interest rate APR of 2750% it came to a huge amount.
They need to be much more regulated, be forced to use interest rates of much less, and to check people out fully before granting the loan.

Dick Dasterdly

I agree.
It's sad to see so many desperate and often stupid ppl get pulled into the trap.
Very firm and positive legislation is urgently needed to stop the likes of Wonga in their tracks.
The bish is no doubt well meaning in this instance, but I don't think he has a prayer of pulling it off.

mikelincs

The Government are already talking about how to curb them, and in many areas Credit Unions are springing up, these places offer loans at a very competitive rate to local people, in many ways doing what the original building societes did.

jimenato

Wonga are retaliating by setting up a new religion.

amideislas

A lot of Europeans pay (quite expensive) tax for this, some are compulsory.

Church tax

Amongst my favourites:

The hidden wealth of the Catholic church

johnnyone

Why doesn't the Government just put a cap on what interest rate can be applied to loans?

notacontrathinker

Because the return on investment after taking into account bad debt, would make the whole Wonga operation unviable, and send desperate people into the arms of Razor Ron and Associates Co Ltd., who think a cap is something Wayne Rooney gets for standing around in the middle of the pitch at Wembley Stadium.

Not saying I agree with Wonga, but at least they don't send their payment defaulters to A&E.

Dick Dasterdly

I'd be surprised if they haven't driven quite a few to overdoses and suicide though.

rugbymatt

I not only despise these sort of companies but I loathe the fact they target people in the greatest need, specifically advertising in certain media outlets and on certain program breaks and I'd normally be happy to see them all be broken up for god but in the absence of any credit unions to replace them on a local level I fear that the even more loathsome street loan sharks will simply step in. I know The Bank of Dave model is now being discussed on a serious level in Government now and hopefully something will come of it because the 50/50 loan sharks (Whatever you borrow you immediately owe double) "lenders" are not people you want to be in debt to.

notacontrathinker

Which wouldn't have happened under Razor Ron and the Electrodes.

I'm not defending Wonga, I feel that if they could do the banks for PPI, then they should be able to do Wonga for mis-selling loans. Get Abu Qatada's ex-lawyers involved. They're into good causes and not doing anything at the moment.