Wonga Lender Guide
Wonga is a financial technology (FinTech) company that developed a fully automated risk processing technology to provide short -term loans online. This technology was the first of its kind, providing instant feedback on short-term loan approvals.
- Founded: 2006, launched in South Africa in August 2011
- No. of Staff: 501 – 1000
- Location: Headquartered in London (Wonga UK)..
South African office situated in Cape Town.
They also have operations in Poland and Spain. - Valid Lending Licence: Registered Credit Provider that is regulated by the National Credit Act 35 of 2005.
Also a member of the MicroFinance Association of South Africa.
Loan Products
Wonga offers short term loans that can be taken for a duration of 4 days (minimum) to 3 months.
Loan Amounts Available
- For first time lenders, R500 – R4000, based on the individual’s affordability.
- Existing customers can apply for loans from R500 – R8000.
Loan Terms Available
Wonga loans provides “pay-day” loans, which means you can choose to repay it on your next payday, within 4 days, or up to a maximum of a 3 month period.
Interest
- Daily interest rate of 0.16%.
- Monthly interest rate of 5% (this is a fixed interest rate).
- For the first R1000 rand that is lent, Wonga charges 16.5%, plus 10% of the loan amount over R1000.00 (+VAT).
Repayments
Repayments are structured around the individual’s regular salary date. When applying for the loan, select the date that your salary is paid.
The repayment amount will be calculated on the loan amount and the period in which you have selected to repay.
Fees
Wonga’s fees consist of an initiation fee, loan service fee and the monthly repayment.
Loan Initiation Fee
An initiation fee is usually added to the total loan amount. This fee is only paid once and it varies depending on the size of the loan.
For instance, a loan of R1200 for one month would have a loan initiation fee of approximately R206. If you took an amount of R4000 over a three month period, the initiation fee would be around R537.
Loan Service Fee
Wonga charges a service fee of R69 per month. The service fee is prorated for the first month only, as an individual may apply for the loan in the last week of the month.
Late Fee
Interest is charged on the outstanding balance after a non-payment. This is calculated on a daily percentage basis and applied to the outstanding balance on the payment date stipulated in the initial contract.
How To Apply For a Loan
The wonga loan applicationWith Wonga, applying for a loan has been made easy as everything is online. No more waiting in queues!
Simply use the sliders on the website to choose the amount you want to borrow, as well as the time period in which you wish to repay it.
Complete the online application. The staff at Wonga will verify your information, and once you’ve been approved they will transfer the money to your account.
Minimum Criteria to Take a Loan
There are no minimum criteria stated to take a loan with them, except that an individual should be older than 18 years.
To qualify, you will need to have the following:
- A South African ID
- A cell phone number
- Your most recent payslip
- A valid South African bank account
They offer varying loan amounts based on the outcome of the person’s affordability assessment. The assessment, which is taken on their website when applying for a loan, considers an individual’s income and expenses, as well as their credit profile and payment behaviour.
Information Required for Application
- ID number
- Employment information
- Monthly income
- Expenses
- Bank account information
How Long Will It Take?
The application process is quick and easy, taking about 8 minutes to create your profile and upload the necessary documents. After submitting all your information, it can take up to 3 hours to process it before being approved.
Once you’ve been given the thumbs up, Wonga will send you an online contract which you’ll have to accept and send back.
Only once you’ve signed and returned the contract will the transfer of your money be initiated. Depending on your bank, this can take 12 to 24 hours to reflect in your account.
Support Team Contact
The support team seems to be very responsive and assists wonga customers clients where and how they can.
If they are unable to provide the information an individual may need, they will escalate it to the correct department.
Social Media
Customer Reviews
Wonga has a good reputation on Google, although they have relatively few reviews. A few customer comments reflect the process being quick and easy.
Many of the reviews are simply a star-rating and are not accompanied by a comment.
TrustPilot
Wonga South Africa doesn’t feature on TrustPilot. Their general site and UK and Canadian branches seem to have fairly low ratings, with most of the recent customer comments being negative.
Being aimed at the UK and Canadian companies specifically, we can’t make a definitive judgment as to the quality of the South African branch.
HelloPeter
They have a fairly low rating on HelloPeter, with some mixed reviews. Many of the recent comments are unfortunately negative, with most customers showing varying levels of dissatisfaction with the company and their business handling.
Average Rating:
We’ve calculated the average between Google Reviews, HelloPeter, and Wonga.com’s rating on TrustPilot.
Wonga’s average rating between these four is 3 stars out of 5.
