Church of England aims to put Wonga Out of Business

SwingsitlikeHogan

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So I read today that the Church of England aims to put Payday Lenders out of business by building credit unions to take their business.

Is this any 'business' of the Church's to be doing - using their influence and income through religion to disrupt, and possibly ruin, perfectly legal businesses?

So often in the past have I heard complaints from politicians, commentators and the public about the Church(es) interfering and trying to influence things that 'are none of their business' and telling them that they should 'stick to religion as that's what they are there for'. So what about this?
 
I suppose if the CoE want to set up credit unions as a business then who can stop them. Like any business it is the aim to be better than your competitors and take their buisiness.
As I see it the CoE is already a business (in the same way that the sport of Football has become big business) and they are expanding out in to other avenues.

Whether PDL's are legally operating or not, many have issue with the morailty. This may be what the CoE are trying to defecd against, but in reality are the CU's going to be any different? They will still lend and re-coup at inflated rates surely?
 
Funny thing is that credit unions already exist. Are the likes of Wonga really such bad people when they provide temporary solutions which are better than the banks offer? (Hear me out!!)
Banks like the Halifax charge £5 per day if you are a penny over your overdraft and a pound if you even dip into it.
If you are sat overdrawn for more than 3 days, Wonga and most of the other short term lenders actually start to make sense as long as you only borrow the absolute minimum needed to get your bank account back on good terms.
Of course it is easy to say 'don't get over drawn in the first place' but for some folks month to month is a struggle so I can see why firms like these are so popular. They only get a bad name when something goes wrong and people dig themselves into holes then blame it on the astronomical APR that these companies charge, the truth is that being short term loans the actual interest charged isnt that much.
The church should keep its own affairs in order before trying to tell other non members etc how they can and cant use their money.

So I read today that the Church of England aims to put Payday Lenders out of business by building credit unions to take their business.

Is this any 'business' of the Church's to be doing - using their influence and income through religion to disrupt, and possibly ruin, perfectly legal businesses?

So often in the past have I heard complaints from politicians, commentators and the public about the Church(es) interfering and trying to influence things that 'are none of their business' and telling them that they should 'stick to religion as that's what they are there for'. So what about this?
 
I thought the intention was for the church to provide building space for the existing Credit Unions to use at low cost, thereby enabling them to reduce the cost of lending and putting the likes of Wonga out of business.
 
I met the techie team from the Wonga parent company a while back, nice guys. My take on them is if people are desperate enough or stupid enough to take a loan out at a silly rate, then more fool them. there are alternatives for people but some people would rather take the "easy" option. The church if they want to get involved should be helping with advice and debt support etc (are they qualified to give financial advice though?) not just bailing people out of a short term problem with lower interest rates, they need to be looking at the fundamental causes of debt ridden Britain and work on education.
 
I thought the intention was for the church to provide building space for the existing Credit Unions to use at low cost, thereby enabling them to reduce the cost of lending and putting the likes of Wonga out of business.

Sounds good idea to me.

Bottom line for me is I think that the church has an important role to play in the country and society today. The church is close to people and sees, hears and feels their problems. The church should be bellowing their disgust at much of what is happening today in society and at some government policies. And people should try listening to what the church is saying about these issues rather than just dismissing their concerns as those of 'do-gooders'. If CUs supported by the CoE do manage to put (Mod Edit) companies like Wonga out of business then I for one will be celebrating.

btw - I am disgusted (yes that it a hard word that I only use sparingly) that football clubs such as Hearts and Newcastle have Wonga as shirt sponsors. Wonga are leeches on the poor and desperate of our society.
 
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Sounds good idea to me.

Bottom line for me is I think that the church has an important role to play in the country and society today. The church is close to people and sees, hears and feels their problems. The church should be bellowing their disgust at much of what is happening today in society and at some government policies. And people should try listening to what the church is saying about these issues rather than just dismissing their concerns as those of 'do-gooders'. If CUs supported by the CoE do manage to put s**t-bag companies like Wonga out of business then I for one will be celebrating.

btw - I am disgusted (yes that it a hard word that I only use sparingly) that football clubs such as Hearts and Newcastle have Wonga as shirt sponsors. Wonga are leeches on the poor and desperate of our society.

Why on earth are Wonga a (Mod Edit) company"? I think they (and other short-term "pay day" loan companies) are providing a perfectly legitimate business and have an extremely sound business model that provides a service to certain individuals preventing the need for them to approach more unscrupulous people that aren't fully monitored and signed up to FSA guidelines.
 
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Why on earth are Wonga a (mod Edit) company"? I think they (and other short-term "pay day" loan companies) are providing a perfectly legitimate business and have an extremely sound business model that provides a service to certain individuals preventing the need for them to approach more unscrupulous people that aren't fully monitored and signed up to FSA guidelines.

Well if you ever have to have any dealings with them when things go wrong you'll understand...

They prey on and are leeches on the desperate and the poor.
 
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Well if you ever have to have any dealings with them when things go wrong you'll understand...

They prey on and are leeches on the desperate and the poor.
Who's fault is it when it goes wrong though? I have done a bit of reading up on wonga and they are certainly not the world least responsible lender, they have mechanisms that if you miss your repayment date, they do charge some interest but at the end of the month they stop charging it as they recognise that it can spiral out of control if it was left to its own devices.
Banks will hit you with £5 charges daily all month with no hesitation whatsoever.
 
...they do charge some interest but at the end of the month they stop charging it...

My experience of Wonga was not this - but my experience was over a year or so ago. If they have changed their practices to limit interest to a reasonable commercial rate and just apply it for one month after the due payday date and then freeze the amount owed then I will happily retract.
 
Well if you ever have to have any dealings with them when things go wrong you'll understand...

They prey on and are leeches on the desperate and the poor.

I'm sorry, but they don't do any "preying". If something has gone wrong in terms of a person not being able to afford to repay their loan this isn't the responsibility of the lending company, but the person who took the credit in the first place. The problem isn't the provider it's the person taking the loan when they can't afford it.

I appreciate it isn't always cut and dry and circumstances can change which means suddenly a person can't repay, but in that instance you have to accept penalties will be applied (as long as they are not excessive), but it is difficult to discuss individual cases. Still, I know who I would rather owe money to and it isn't the guy with the thugs and the bats demanding paying at an ever increasing interest rate.
 
Apologies it is 2 months but still, it stops there.
We don't believe in hitting you with multiple charges, like many traditional lenders will, but interest will continue to accrue on your balance for up to 60 days if we can't reach a fair agreement in the meantime. And if you don't work with us and we can't recover the money over a reasonable period, your account may be passed to an external partner.


My experience of Wonga was not this - but my experience was over a year or so ago. If they have changed their practices to limit interest to a reasonable commercial rate and just apply it for one month after the due payday date and then freeze the amount owed then I will happily retract.
 
Unfortunately there are a lot of silly people out there and Wonga and other loan companies have made it far to easy when it comes to lending money. Should the churches get involved. As in the end it is the charities and the churches that end up sorting out the mess I think they should.
 
Should the churches get involved. As in the end it is the charities and the churches that end up sorting out the mess I think they should.

I fully agree, they should get involved, BUT not by offering premises to someone to under cut wonga basically. they should be helping with education and support for debt management/prevention.
 
I'm sorry, but they don't do any "preying"

My son - as skint student - took out a small amount with Wonga. He missed his payment date but has now paid them what he owes.

But I get regular phone calls from other loan companies wanting to speak with him - to offer him a loan. If that is not preying then what is it?
 
My son - as skint student - took out a small amount with Wonga. He missed his payment date but has now paid them what he owes.

But I get regular phone calls from other loan companies wanting to speak with him - to offer him a loan. If that is not preying then what is it?

Marketing, which can be stopped if the number they are calling on is signed up to TPS and he requests for his details to be removed from their marketing database.
 
Marketing, which can be stopped if the number they are calling on is signed up to TPS and he requests for his details to be removed from their marketing database.

No it can't - I'm registered with TPS - I know this as I checked earlier today.

Anyway - my main thrust was whether or not the church should be getting involved in this sort of thing and whether we should LISTEN to what the church says rather than dismiss it out of hand as the ramblings of a bunch of do-gooders who shouldn't be sticking their noses in where they're not welcome.

I say that if they are told they are not welcome then they should stick their noses in even further - and shout even louder.
 
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