Wonga unveils £1m-a-week profits

Wonga was involved in a storm of controversy when the Archbishop of Canterbury said he wanted the Church to 'compete' it out of existence
3 September 2013

Controversial payday lender Wonga earned profits of more than a million pounds a week last year as surging numbers of cash-strapped Britons turned to its high-interest loans.

The company, which charges households annual interest rates of more than 5,800%, said profits after tax rose by 36% to £62.5 million in 2012.

Lending was up 68% in the year to £1.2 billion, while customer numbers ballooned 61% to more than a million amid the ongoing squeeze on household finances and banks' retreat from riskier lending.

The online lender was engulfed in a storm of controversy recently when the Archbishop of Canterbury said he wanted the Church of England to "compete" it out of existence by backing credit unions.

Wonga typically lends sums of about £200 to £400 to consumers, repaid over a few weeks. It has also started offering loans of up to £30,000 to credit-starved small businesses, repayable over a year. The company, which is owned by private equity and management, came under fire for boosting profits at the expense of struggling consumers.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of charity Citizens Advice, said: "Payday lenders' profits come directly from the pockets of consumers, many of whom turn to them out of desperation rather than choice. The payday loans industry must focus on boosting customer welfare, rather than boosting profits at the expense of hard-pressed householders who struggle to pay back unaffordable loans."

Trade union Unite branded it "vulture capitalism", saying the sector "preys on the financially vulnerable". But founder and chief executive Errol Damelin insisted the online lender operates in an "upfront and transparent" way, adding it rejects two-thirds of applications.

Wonga said it earns an average profit of £15 per loan, or 5p of profit on every £1 it lends. It did not pay a dividend but reinvested profits back into its development. He said: "This is not about people on breadlines being desperate and us being a lender of last resort."

He said Wonga's customers tend to be digital-savvy, young, single and employed, rather than those on benefits, and insisted the company's profit margins are "not outrageous in any way to us". Mr Damelin added: "Our customers are telling us that we provide very good value for money."

The entire payday lending industry, worth £2 billion, was referred in June for a full-blown investigation by the Competition Commission after the trading watchdog uncovered ''deep-rooted'' problems. The Office of Fair Trading made the referral because it continues to suspect that features of the market ''prevent, restrict or distort competition''.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in