12 year-old boy receives direct marketing from Wonga offering him a £400 loan
Payday loan company Wonga has come under fire after sending a 12 year-old a letter offering him a £400 loan complete with 'special discount'.
Dennis Earle received the letter in early November with the 12 year-old thinking he could use the money to go on holiday, before his parents set him right.
"At first I thought it was amusing, but then I realised why people complain about these companies," said Dennis's father, Gavin. "My kids are fairly sensible but another child might have tried to get something out of it."
Dennis's mum, Theresa commented: "He had heard of Wonga through the adverts on television but I don’t think Dennis knows what a loan is. He wouldn’t have known what to do. He is only 12 years old, he is not on the electoral roll. I just can’t see how they could link Dennis to anything."
The marketing slip-up comes after Wonga and other payday lenders were criticised for 'grooming' young people to take out the short-term loans at a parliamentary hearing.
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy told the Telegraph: "No lender should be targeting children through advertising which suggests that getting into debt is the norm. We’ve had complaints from parents and young people under 18 who have taken out a loan without realising what they are getting into.
“This exposes the lack of checks, as lenders aren’t establishing who the borrower is, if they can afford to repay or if a loan is actually suitable for them.”
With MoneySavingExpert.com's Martin Lewis adding that whole this case "sounds like a marketing error," "it is an example of the dangers we face with the normalisation of payday lending across a young generation."
Wonga said it had run "a small direct marketing campaign" to explain the business" but that it has taken "special care to make sure we only contacted people aged 18 and over, including checks against the electoral roll." However, an online survey had been filled out in Dennis's name which said he was over 18. The spokesperson added that the company was now contacting the boy's father for "more information" and had "removed Dennis's details from our database."