Wonga are now asking for online banking login details "to verify" applications

matttye

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If you require an instant Pay Day loan. Then subjecting yourself to such a procedure seems a reasonable procedure.

Reducing bad debts has to be a good thing. Along with stopping people with debt problems already to spiral totally out of control.
Given credit is the cause of many of the issues faced in the UK today. Then anything that improves this should be welcomed.

I'm no fan of Wonga by the way.

In what way is this reasonable? If any of the employees for these companies get to see the data in an unencrypted form, they could fleece the applicant's bank account or post the information online for all to use. They could even sell it for personal gain, which would be a lot harder to detect than them actually using the information themselves.

I don't understand how you can think this is acceptable behaviour, no matter the risk to Wonga.

VitaK

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If you require an instant Pay Day loan. Then subjecting yourself to such a procedure seems a reasonable procedure.

No its not reasonable. Allowing anyone access to your internet banking will land you in trouble with your bank if they find out. Not to mention that whomever got those details can do a lot of damage. You can verify your identity in a number of ways that doesn't include giving out your log in details to your bank.

I look at the picture and see more than one intensity and colors. I never been on wonga's site, but it looks odd.

rizla_king

VitaK wrote: »

I look at the picture and see more than one intensity and colors. I never been on wonga's site, but it looks odd.

A lot of the real wonga site really is that crap. :rotfl:

cod3

Sparhawke wrote: »

This is a satire/joke site and should not be taken seriously, why don't you get your facts or research from the BBC or other reputable sources instead?

Exactly! The OP has a photo of a real life Pikachu on the other site :rotfl:

pentia

I am reasonably competent with photoshop; if I was going to knock something up, it would look a lot better than that! What you're seeing there are artifacts inherent in reducing clipped 1080px to ~600px and then saving as a png8. I didn't really feel the need to save it as a max-ed out jpg, it being mostly blank space.

There's nothing obviously wrong about this situation, for that sort of comedy to work. Chris Morris' leg pulls were obviously not real, and a lot of the humour came from watching celebrities and politicians chase their tails over something that just could not be true.

Sadly this wonga business is real. Keep in mind that I signed up on the day so I'm not a repeat wonga customer, and the Lloyds account I used probably hasn't seen any action for about four or five years, albeit still had about a fiver left in it.

rizla_king

Could be something they are trialling with a small percentage of applications that can't be verified on bank accounts?

CKhalvashi

rizla_king wrote: »

Could be something they are trialling with a small percentage of applications that can't be verified on bank accounts?

I've still prepared a quick file for OFT/ICO/FCA, as I feel that this could be in breach of nearly all guidance re debt collection out there.

Natwest can verify on a passport number, so why can Wonga not attempt to integrate into the same system (not knowing who their bankers are, obviously)

CK

Thrugelmir

VitaK wrote: »

No its not reasonable. Allowing anyone access to your internet banking will land you in trouble with your bank if they find out.

Wonga don't hold any data such as user name or passwords.

Held by its suppliers Decision Logic and Yodlee.

TheMoney

Anything the bank provide you with to access your account (online banking logins, passwords, debit card, PIN etc) are supposed to be kept personal and secure. You're welcome to hand them out to Wonga or anyone else for that matter, but when your account is emptied don't expect any help from your bank. This to me would appear as an alternative money-maker for the already greedy PDL's. Accessing your transactions from the last 90 days will show who you pay bills to (sky, virgin, phone bills etc) and where you shop, giving them a huge amount of information that can then all be sold on alongside your contact details.

gemgemz

I read this thread in disbelief, surely it's not true?

Then I rang my friend who I know got a payday loan a few weeks ago after an unforeseen addition to the bill for her daughter's wedding reception.

She has had the same bank account for over 20 years and when she applied to wonga, got the "unable to verify the bank account belongs to you, fill in your online banking details" type blurb. Apparently, she gave the details, not knowing it wasn't usual as she'd never used PDL's before, so it is true.

Oddly, my 19 year old son, unknown to me, borrowed £50 off wonga for two days until his payday last week (I'm so annoyed he didn't just get it off me grrrr) and DIDN'T have to give his online banking login details.

Both were new customers, one over 40 with a very well established bank account, the other under 20 with a relatively new account and only the first being asked for the info. Very strange.