Wonga Under Fire For Targeting Students

After coming under fire from the National Union of Students as well as taking a ton of flack on Twitter and other social networks, Wonga have taken down a page on its web site that was promoting payday loans to students.

The offending web page had suggested student loans could encourage the people using them to live beyond their means while a Wonga payday loan could be useful to students who found themselves short and in a financial emergency.

The NUS vice president Pete Mercer took serious offence after seeing the web page at Wonga and before it was removed told the BBC:

“It is highly irresponsible of any company to suggest to students that high-cost short-term loans be a part of their everyday financial planning.”

“Students should think long and hard before choosing payday loans over any other form of borrowing, including government-backed student loans. If students are struggling to make ends meet there is often other support available, and anyone worried about their finances should talk to their students’ union or financial advisers at their university.

“Wonga should immediately withdraw this predatory offer, which contains information that appears to be inaccurate, and is aimed at financially vulnerable young people.” Source

As you need to have a regular income to qualify for a Wonga payday loan it is difficult to see how a full time student at university would be able to get one anyway but by targeting students Wonga have scored an own goal by leaving themselves wide open to claims of irresponsible lending.

The Office of Fair Trading has made it clear that any payday lender that gives loans to someone who will obviously struggle to meet the repayment would be considered as an irresponsible lender and clearly offering payday loans to students would fall in that bracket.

Despite its popularity (mainly thanks to its aggressive marketing campaign) Wonga is the most expensive lender we have yet to review – read our Wonga review. They charge a whopping £36.72 per £100 borrowed for 28 days. That’s almost double the cost of a payday loan from Quick Quid – read our Quick Quid review.

They did receive 2 stars from a possible 5 because they paid out so quickly but there are now many payday lenders who will transfer your money into your bank account within the hour and almost all will have the money in your account on the same day. See our payday comparison table to see just what each of the main lenders has to offer and why we don’t recommend Wonga.

Payday loans are designed for emergencies and should only be used as such. They are not suitable for students or anyone else without a fixed income.