Market once dominated by Wonga has halved but some industry figures say there could be role for more tightly regulated sector
The South African-born entrepreneurs Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz could not have predicted the impact they would have when they set out to disrupt the 120-year-old payday loans market in 2006.
The founders of Wonga set up the company to serve cash-strapped borrowers just as the UK was heading for economic meltdown in the 2008 financial crisis. But the now disgraced lender – which charged some vulnerable customers interest rates upwards of 5,000% – became a lightning rod for controversy before its collapse in 2018, and sparked a regulatory crackdown on the UK’s unscrupulous payday loans market.
