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| Wonga to write off £220m in debts | Wonga to write off £220m in debts |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Payday lender Wonga says it is writing off £220m of debts for 330,000 customers after putting in place new affordability checks. | |
| The company, which has faced criticism for its debt collection tactics, says the new checks have been implemented after discussions with regulators. | The company, which has faced criticism for its debt collection tactics, says the new checks have been implemented after discussions with regulators. |
| 330,000 customers whose loans would not have been made under the new checks will have their debts written off. | 330,000 customers whose loans would not have been made under the new checks will have their debts written off. |
| A further 45,000 customers will not have to pay interest on their loans. | A further 45,000 customers will not have to pay interest on their loans. |
| Affected Wonga customers will be notified by 10 October. | |
| Wonga said its chairman Andy Haste, who joined the company in July, had been in talks with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and had conducted a review of lending practices. | |
| He said the need for change at Wonga was "real and urgent", and new stricter lending criteria would mean "accepting far fewer applications from new and existing customers". | |
| "We want to ensure we only lend to those who can reasonably afford the loan in question and during my review, it became clear to me that this has unfortunately not always been the case," he said. | |
| "I agreed with the concerns expressed by the FCA and as a consequence of our discussions we have committed to taking these actions." | |
| In a statement, the FCA said Wonga's changes were as a result of a "voluntary agreement" between the lender and regulator. | |
| "This should put the rest of the industry on notice," said Clive Adamson, director of supervision at the FCA. "They need to lend affordably and responsibly." |