A fine is not enough, let’s demand an end to Wonga’s tactics

As the packed tube rattled from station to station this morning, I was hit with the realisation that perhaps Wonga’s latest indiscretion and the slap on the hand they’ve received from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) may be the biggest boost to their business they could possibly have received.

The unscrupulous lender, which circles vulture-like over those with nowhere left to turn, has seen some of its disgraceful tactics exposed this week. The firm – whose shareholders include senior Tory donor and advisor, Adrian Beecroft – has plumbed new depths by sending out threatening letters from fictitious law firms to struggling borrowers – some of whom have been forced to pay for the letter .

In response, the FCA has simply ordered that the company pay around £50 in compensation to each customer (totalling £2.6 million). Despite this fraudulent behaviour, the company (whose strap line is, ironically, “straight talking money”) has escaped with little more than a rap on the knuckles due to a legal loophole.

The reality is, our insecure, low pay economy creates a vulnerable and desperate pool of people that Wonga mercilessly target. The people they seek out have been shunned by both government and mainstream lenders and so they have little other choice but to pay the stratospheric interest rates on offer. What this means is that with a only a toothless regulator and a government who do not give a damn about the people Wonga and their ilk take advantage of, the loathsome loansharks are handed a readymade market . This is the very worst form of legal lending and the nation know it.

Yet as my train ploughed its way through the capital, its carriages were filled with free newspapers emblazoned with the parasitic firms logo. Similarly, news stands in the stations and in shops up and down the land bear the same emblem. It’s hard to escape; even the internet  is ablaze with the firms name.

While the nation as one tuts and shakes it’s head at their latest wrongdoing, the FCA ducks responsibility and the government does nothing but increase the pool of people who see firms like Wonga as their last hope. Has this been a calculated risk all along?

The old adage that all advertising is good advertising has never really convinced me, but in this case it could well describe the situation perfectly. This is a parasitic company, already despised by the vast majority of the country who, while appalled, will still view them with the same distaste as before. However, thanks to mass media attention, those in financial desperation now see Wonga as the household name in the crooked credit market. Paltry compensation aside, what have they lost? Where else could they buy this kind of exposure for £2.6 million?

This company has been exposed as the bottom feeding parasites they are. It is time now not for a collective tut, but for us to demand the regulator revoke Wonga’s credit licence. This outrageous behaviour has proven that the company is not a responsible lender and that strong action must be taken. Once again it seems regulation has failed ordinary people. Criminal charges should be brought against those involved in these despicable actions.

Just imagine how I, as a life-long Newcastle United fan, feel about the clubs home shirt being emblazoned with the word Wonga.

Ian Lavery is the Labour MP for Wansbeck