Wonga Chief Defends Company Practices

The chief operating officer of payday loan company Wonga has defended its practices as it released a film telling the stories of 12 of its customers.

Niall Wass told Sky News that Wonga decided to make 12 Portraits to dispel the "negative" image of the company.

The release coincided with representatives of three payday loan companies, including Wonga, appearing before MPs amid a crackdown on the short-term lending sector.

The film was made by an independent director who picked 12 customers from the company database and followed their decision to take a loan from Wonga.

Mr Wass said: "We felt the need to release it because we felt that the voice of the customer, really the silent majority of people using our service, was not being heard.

"Generally you hear a lot of criticism about our service out in the media and actually the super positive stories that we see every day from our customer feedback are not being heard, so we wanted to redress that balance and allow their voice to come out.

"We didn't think it was fair the characterisation of some of our customers, so we want people to reconsider, judge for themselves have a look at our site have a look at those videos and see what you think."

Representatives from Wonga, QuickQuid and Mr Lender - three of the largest payday lending firms - defended the way they do business under questioning from the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee on Tuesday.

MPs followed up on a damning report by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), that found "deep-rooted" problems in the way payday loans attract and treat customers, by demanding answers on lending practices.

Lenders have come under intense scrutiny from the Competition Commission and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) since the report was published in September.

New curbs proposed by the FCA in October will force lenders to place "risk warnings" on promotions and advertising, urging customers to "think" before taking out a payday loan.

One of the most stark admissions in the session came from trade body the Consumer Credit Trade Association which said it would expel members who flout the industry's charter - only to admit it had never expelled any company.

Representatives from Which? and the Citizens Advice Bureau are also due to address the committee.