Need a loan? There's an iPhone app for that

Wonga offers world’s first iPhone loan application

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15 January 2010 13:03 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

A new app for the iPhone promises to provide small, short-term loans from anywhere.

From Wonga.com, an online provider of short-term cash advances, the free app "will turn the touchscreen device into a virtual cash machine for urgent or unexpected expenses".

Errol Damelin, founder and CEO, says in the launch press release: "Our vision has always been to provide UK consumers with a fast, convenient and short-term way to solve immediate cash flow problems. While automating the lending process in a responsible way was a big challenge, our technology now enables us to develop a range of products which do just that".

The iPhone app offers an onscreen slider to choose how much cash is needed (between £1 and £1000), before determining the interest that will be charged by deciding when to repay. The cost is always calculated up-front, with an instant decision and the cash promised to a back account within 15 minutes.

The app is available now in the App Store, and slightly worryingly, rated 4+, although we'd expect age controls are built into the loan approval process.

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Comments

Please take this article down immediately. Are you aware that Wonga charge 2560% APR for their loans?
their website is extremely professional but I feel they are loan sharks with a technoface

I feel your website should be more responsible than this, and promoting a company that makes it easy to get into crippling debt does not seem to be very responsible Posted by catcherrye, UK
This smells of a kneejerk reaction. I've been doing my reading on APRs, and it seems that they get a bit crazy on periods under a year.... i hear that my bank overdraft charges are around 1,000,000% APR!

In any case, it seems like a good service, bit on the pricey side though.... Posted by jwilson, UK
I use Wonga every now and again online. Great to see an iPhone app available makes total sense. Also I love the fact that finally there is a company willing to take on the banks and do things differently.

Why is everyone obcessing over APR? Just check out the app. It tells you exactly what the loan will cost - so I just pay it back on time. Posted by James Berkal, UK
This wouldn't be so bad if you didn't need to take out a loan to get the phone to get the app¬ Posted by L.Rawlins, UK
This high APR isn't unique Wonga. So-called "payday loans" are required by law to show an APR just as any mortgage lender or bank would despite their much shorter repayment periods. In the end they probably charge in absolute terms only a little more than a bank providing a 6-12 month loan (20-30% of the amount borrowed). After all, it would be difficult for them to successfully profit from human misery if they charged 20% APR for a 2-week loan and only got about £5 net gain. Posted by GK, UK
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Alisha

Posted by Alisha, us