Wonga to pay £2.6m in compensation for 'unfair and misleading' practices

[speling bee]

There was a Radio 4 proggy about short term lending in third world countries about a year ago.

If it costs 50 pesos for the admin involved in a loan, that will be 50% of a 100 peso loan and there's not a lot you can do about it.

In the third world context they were addressing, a 100 peso loan was enough to get many folks started in business on their own. There is of course a world of difference between that and borrowing enough money to eat until next pay day.

Mind your language please.

[MyUserName]

That is what savings are for.

If you can't afford to look after a baby then don't have one.

I bet in the example you picked above, the mother would have spent it on fags, booze, mobile phoner and sky. The father would have been feckless and fecked off.

When I was growing up my father died and my mother was unable to work. We had no close family to help and literally no savings and lived from hand to mouth every week for years. We did not have a car, go on holidays etc.

My mother used door step lenders for things like furniture or a new (technically second hand but new to us) cooker. ISTR she once used it so she could buy me Christmas presents. She only borrowed what she knew she could afford to pay back and made she made every payment on time.

These types of loans are valuable to some people and the only recourse they have. Not everyone in poverty deserves to be there and not all of them are incapable of budgeting.

Of course, there are others that are just irresponsible and some that play the system - I am not disputing that.

[VectraMan]

My mother used door step lenders for things like furniture or a new (technically second hand but new to us) cooker.

Didn't people used to rent things like that? I remember my parents rented a telly for years from Radio Rentals; everybody did.

Seems to me the issue that needs kerbing is the run away interest. Perhaps 2,500%APR isn't bad for the first month's interest and serves as a reasonable incentive to get people to repay, but if you haven't repaid in a year those high rates can only lead to complete ruin.

But at the end of the day, we are talking about adults here, and adults are meant to be financially and legally responsible for their actions.

[MyUserName]

Didn't people used to rent things like that? I remember my parents rented a telly for years from Radio Rentals; everybody did.

We had a rented TV and eventually a video recorder. I do not remember the option of being able to rent a cooker, it might have been a fridge we needed.

I was quite young and might well be confusing things - essentially it was a kitchen thing that we really needed which might or might not have been a cooker!

[MicrosoftBob]

But at the end of the day, we are talking about adults here, and adults are meant to be financially and legally responsible for their actions.

Not when they can sit back and watch Sky on their bennies

[BrilloPad]

When I was growing up my father died and my mother was unable to work. We had no close family to help and literally no savings and lived from hand to mouth every week for years. We did not have a car, go on holidays etc.

So? My father died when I was 6. I ended up in the same position. Save your sob story for elsewhere. You think I like free school lunches or charity outings?

It actually helped me alot. Soon as I looked old enough to get a part time job(I lied about my age) I was out there looking after myself. And despite taking a huge kicking from the family courts and HMRC I will continue to look after myself and my children.

All I hear on this thread is about peoples' rights. What happened to responsibilities?

[speling bee]

So? My father died when I was 6. I ended up in the same position. Save your sob story for elsewhere. You think I like free school lunches or charity outings?

It actually helped me alot. Soon as I looked old enough to get a part time job(I lied about my age) I was out there looking after myself. And despite taking a huge kicking from the family courts and HMRC I will continue to look after myself and my children.

All I hear on this thread is about peoples' rights. What happened to responsibilities?

Like your responsibility to pay tax according to the will of the democratically elected Parliament? Or is that oversimplifying what may be a little bit more complex than you make out?

[MyUserName]

So? My father died when I was 6. I ended up in the same position. Save your sob story for elsewhere. You think I like free school lunches or charity outings?

If you were in the same position then you should already know that not everyone has savings and that is not always due to the mother spending it on fags, booze, mobile phones and sky and the father being feckless and fecking off.

Hence you should already know that there are people to whom door step lenders are a viable and important resource.

[BrilloPad]

Like your responsibility to pay tax according to the will of the democratically elected Parliament? Or is that oversimplifying what may be a little bit more complex than you make out?

God - all this sh1t gets dragged up again? Its like the AGW thread.

Its best if you keep it simple so a cretin like you can understand.

I only object to the retrospection. I would be be better off in Zimbabwe.

Oh, one other thing. You really think this is a democracy?

[BrilloPad]

If you were in the same position then you should already know that not everyone has savings and that is not always due to the mother spending it on fags, booze, mobile phones and sky and the father being feckless and fecking off.

Hence you should already know that there are people to whom door step lenders are a viable and important resource.

My mother never spent what she could not afford. Credit used to be called the never never for good reason.

Sadly it taught me not to put every penny I could borrow into housing - a huge mistake. I never realized how bad this country had become. And it wuill get alot worse before the day of reckoning.