Yes, Wonga lent at shocking rates – but it was customers who lied

‘Payday Lady is not trading at this time,’ says her website, sounding a little like La Dame aux camélias. Indeed (since I could not find her anywhere) the message may indicate that Payday Lady is not just temporarily indisposed, but has given up the game altogether. I’ll be glad to hear from her if she hasn’t.

Meanwhile I can report that her rival Cash Lady (who promises she’ll be ‘here to help you’ within three minutes) was still out there — despite having her television ads banned last year — and so were Purple Payday, Pounds to Pocket, Peachy Loans, PayDay Pig and CashCowNow, all at colossal ‘representative APRs’ that look relatively cheap compared with Wonga’s notorious 5,853 per cent. But the majority of lenders in this crowded space are likely to join the lady in retirement when a strict new cap on credit terms is imposed in January by the Financial Conduct Authority — which has ordered Wonga to introduce stronger ‘affordability’ checks and write off the debts of 330,000 delinquent customers who would never have passed those tests.