MP hits at Wonga TV show finance

Hannah White, who will present a new show for Channel 5 funded by Wonga
25 July 2013

A deal in which a new Channel 5 show has been financed by payday lender Wonga has been denounced by a campaigning MP.

The announcement of the sponsorship comes as the Archbishop of Canterbury warned the loan firm that the Church of England is aiming to put it out of business with the expansion of its own credit unions.

At the same time, the broadcaster said it was "fantastic" to be working with the firm - which has come under fire for charging high interest rates - on its new "endurance" show called Go Hard Or Go Home. It will feature members of the public taking part in a series of tough challenges, including a 127-mile cycle race across the Pyrenees and a Californian triathlon.

Although produced by Channel 5, it will be paid for by Wonga, which helped develop the idea with presenter and sailor Hannah White. But MP Stella Creasy, who has campaigned against payday lending companies, was critical of the latest move.

She said: "Hannah White may be used to sailing the high seas, but the legal loan sharks preying on communities like mine are a very different to those under the oceans. Whilst she profits from these companies, other celebrities are taking a more principled stand and joining the sharkstoppers campaign by refusing to promote payday loan companies until there is reform of the industry.

"We've seen how these companies use such individuals to try to make themselves appear respectable and loveable when the truth is very different, especially for the millions of Britons now struggling with payday loan debt. I urge Hannah to come to Walthamstow and learn for herself the truth about her new friends and the damage they are doing to our country."

The entire payday lending industry, worth £2 billion, was referred last month for a full-blown investigation by the Competition Commission after the trading watchdog uncovered ''deep-rooted'' problems with the industry, with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) saying it decided to make the referral because it continues to suspect that features of the market ''prevent, restrict or distort competition''.

The Archbishop, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said he hoped the Church of England's credit unions would act as an alternative to payday lenders and "compete" Wonga out of existence. He said he had told Wonga chief executive Errol Damelin about his aspiration.

"I've met the head of Wonga and we had a very good conversation and I said to him quite bluntly 'We're not in the business of trying to legislate you out of existence, we're trying to compete you out of existence'," Mr Welby told Total Politics magazine. "He's a businessman, he took that well."

Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC: "We are now regulating that sector. We have a powerful new consumer body, the Financial Conduct Authority, regulating this sector. But of course I'm all in favour of credit unions and all sorts of other channels whereby families can get credit."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in