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Follow on Google News |  Wonga Forced to Take Down Student Loans Page as they Cause Outrage by Targeting StudentsEarlier this month Wonga published a Student Loans page on their site trying to tempt students into getting a short term payday loan at 4,000+% APR rather than pay the current student rate of 1.5%, they have now folded into pressure and taken it down
“Many people criticize Wonga for the huge APR they have on the loans, which is normally around 4,000%+ and now many people believe they tried to target vulnerable students which will not have helped their reputation at all” said James Jones from Poor Credit Loans 4 You. http://poor- The matter started when Wonga.com published a page about short-term loans for students trying to persuade them to take out a short term loan at over 4,000% APR and telling them not to get student loans from the government, where the APR on student loans is 1.5 %. Their argument was that official student loans from the government could sometimes encourage people to live beyond their means and that you may spend most of your life paying back student loans. Peter Mercer, vice-president of NUS said, “It is highly irresponsible of any company to suggest 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 advisors at their university” “Wonga should immediately withdraw this predatory [offer], which contains information that appears to be inaccurate, and is aimed at financial vulnerable young people” Wonga did quickly pull the page down after protesting across networking sites such as Twitter and put up a statement replacing the page saying that they are not actively targeting students. In the statement it says the page was only put up for ‘SEO purposes’ (Search Engine Optimisation) In the statement it also said “The previous article on this page was several years old and one of many brief pieces we have written about the broad subject of credit since we launched our online loans service. No-one was directed to this page, nor was it prominently promoted on the website However certain blogs have noted that although they claim not to be targeting students they were actively biding for queries relating to students and student loans in Google AdWords. The blog also points out in a letter to John Moorwood, director of Communications at Wonga.com that though Wonga claim no-one was directed to the page and it was not prominently promoted on the website, there was in fact a “prominent indexable link to this page (student loans page) from your front page and every other page. It is one of only 13 links of this type, so it is clearly a high priority and promoted very heavily in SEO terms” “Things such as student lending and student loans heavily searched in Google, so it is easy to see why they would want to try and get themselves up there in the Google rankings. However many people feel that they shouldn’t be targeting students as they are vulnerable and are likely to get into a spiralling mountain of debt if they were to use Wonga.com or any other payday loan service” said James Jones from Poor Credit Loans 4 You. http://poor- Wonga say they listen to customer opinions, which is why they have pulled the page down, they also argue that they are not targeting vulnerable students and would treat student loan applications the same as they would for any other application The Full statement replacing the page says: "We listen to our customers and public opinion, so it was clear the old article here gave rise to misunderstandings. We would like to clarify that Wonga does not target students. Yet we do not discriminate against working, adult students who may choose to apply either, because all applications are assessed in the same robust and completely objective way. "We make decisions based on thousands of pieces of public data, not someone's educational status. A student would need to have a regular income to be considered for a loan and students represent a miniscule proportion of our customers. "The previous article on this page was several years old and one of many brief pieces we have written about the broad subject of credit since we launched our online loans service. No-one was directed to this page, nor was it prominently promoted on the website. In fact, the main purpose of the content was search engine optimisation, or 'SEO,' which is a common practice for any internet business that wants to appear in searches for relevant subjects. In our case, all things relating to loans and credit." “Although Wonga have now taken down the page, the damage has already been done and many people may now look unfavourably on Wonga who are trying to sell them selves as the good guys in the often criticised Payday Loans sector.” Said James Jones from Poor Credit Loans 4 You Poor Credit Loans 4 You helps out people who fear they have been blacklisted because of past poor credit history which could include CCJ’s and defaults, arrears, late credit card payments or repossession. Poor Credit Loans 4 You holds a Consumer Credit Licence issued by the Office of Fair Trading. Poor Credit Loans 4 You is also covered by the Financial Ombudsman. Poor Credit Loans 4 You is also registered with the Information Commissioner’ For help, phone 0800 215 5860 Or visit: http://poor- ~Ends~ Notes for Editor: Loans 4 You of London Ltd Innovation Centre Monks Brook PO30 5WB United Kingdom Poor Credit Loans 4 You was formed in order to ensure people with poor credit had access to specialist help in securing the poor credit loans they need. From its UK head office in Monks Brook, Loans 4 You operates across Britain, sourcing poor credit loans for people with poor credit. Poor Credit Loans 4 You holds a Consumer Credit Licence issued by the Office of Fair Trading. Poor Credit Loans 4 You is also registered with the Information Commissioner’ Poor Credit Loans 4 You helps out people who fear they have been blacklisted because of past poor credit history which could include CCJ’s and defaults, arrears, late credit card payments or repossession. # # # Poor Credit Loans 4 You is a top UK specialist for Poor Credit Loans for people from all over the UK. Its wealth of experience in the Poor Credit Loan industry means it gets the best deals for people seeking a poor credit loan. Poor Credit Loans 4 You End
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