High-interest short-term loans are not best advertised by a zany schizophrenic.
These pay-day loans are, by most metrics, pretty awful; making bundles of cash from the feckless, the desperate and the naive.
The interest rates themselves are pretty eye-watering in themselves, but if you default on your repayment you can expect some pretty stiff fees and more interest. Pretty soon you’re far beyond any point where you can reasonably hope to repay all the fees.
The point in this advert I find so obnoxious is the assumption that only an idiot would approach a bank for a loan.
While I don’t have much time for banks, it’s a moment that reveals that Wonga.com is more than happy to take advantage of the current cynicism towards banks in encouraging people to take out loans with them.
Inevitably, because there are lots of stupid and desperate people out there, many of those people will not make their repayments on time.
Which is the point at which the true face of Wonga.com is revealed.
NB. The ad isn’t available any more – presumably Wonga.com removed it because they got a bollocking off the ASA, mainly for the things I mentioned in the write-up above.