I used Wonga to fund quite a few bike purchases, which I then split and sold. In my own personal experience of 20+ short term loans from Wonga:
Payday loan companies are, on the whole, much clearer with their terms and conditions than regular loan companies/banks.
- I knew EXACTLY how much I would have to pay back on the specified date.
- I ALWAYS made sure that I had a failsafe, should I fail to make the money back by selling the bikes. This failsafe was my monthly wages. Therefore, worst case scenario was that I'd have to use some of my wages to pay the remainder of the loan back until I'd sold the bike/bits.
- I paid the loan back bit-by-bit over a period of days/weeks, as and when I sold bike bits. This is something which Wonga are more than happy for you to do, unlike a lot of regular loan companies. The quicker you pay it off, the less interest you pay.
- I NEVER took out one of these loans unless I was 100% sure I could pay it back one way or the other.
I never experienced a problem or had an issue with any of the loans that I took out and I would happily recommend Wonga to anybody PROVIDED THAT THEY ARE 100% CERTAIN THEY CAN AFFORD IT.
The problems occur when people THINK that they can afford to repay the loan, and then find that they can't. These people have nobody to blame but themselves. Payday loans are not a solution to long term debt, and unfortunately some people get into a situation where a payday loan can help to keep the wolf from the door for a short while. However these same people will quickly find that the debt will spiral and the debt cycle will just get worse.
Believe me, I've been there. I've just spent the best part of 10 years paying back £16,000+ worth of debts I managed to accumulate when I was young(er) and stupid! Ideally I would have had money in a savings account which I could have used to fund the bike purchases, however I didn't, and after giving it LOTS of thought, I used Wonga. It scared the crap out of me the first time because I'd heard all the horror stories. However now I'd be just as happy using them for a bit of short term funding as I would borrowing money from a friend, because I always make sure that I can pay it back BEFORE I borrow it.
I do think that Payday loan companies should emphasise that they are NOT a solution to long term debt, but at the end of the day I don't think I know a single person who hasn't needed to borrow a little bit of money until the end of the month at one time or another, and I don't see a problem with what Wonga or any other company offer, so long as they are properly regulated and so long as their terms and conditions are clearly stated from the outset.
Sorry to babble on.