Brett van Aswegen of Wonga South Africa, released a statement from the company on the 31st of August 2018, to confirm that the two organisations are completely separate identities and Wonga South africa will continue ‘business as usual’ with customers unaffected.
Recently, the U.K. short-term credit industry has faced compensation claims regarding old loans taken out in and around 2014, of which Wonga administered many. After initially raising a reported £10 million from share holders, WDFC UK Ltd (who run the U.K. Wonga) formally entered administration on the 30th August 2018.
A separate company, local to South Africa and operating under the National Credit Regulator in South Africa, Wonga.co.za is a completely different organisation.
The existence of online short-term loan companies, is a reminder that living costs continue to rise – with more of us working longer hours and zero hours contracts, yet still struggling to make ends meet. The quick and easy approach of the loans offered by companies like Wonga offer a temporary reprieve.
Much has been done in recent years to reform the interest rates and lending conditions under which a loan can be administered to a customer – and loans administered prior to these reforms (legacy loans taken out before 2014) are being called into question for the British lending giant under compensation claims.
However the short term loan industry growth continues, fuelled by a pressing need for emergency credit access to deal with unexpected bills that interfere with our basic needs such as; paying bills, buying our groceries and heating the house.
This growth is perhaps a reflection of ordinary people that are limited by more traditional banking establishments that have been slow to evolve a product that addresses the day-to-day realities of a frozen wage and rising living costs.
