Fylde coast's credit union boss delight at Wonga woes

It emerged last night the firm, which once had its name of Blackpool Football Club shirts, announced its intention to go into administration after losing its battle to stay afloat.

Mike Barry from Clevr Money said the need for local, not-for-profit financial services like Credit Unions has never been greater.

Speaking before it went into administration, he said: “Payday lenders like Wonga swooped in like vultures on the back of the credit crunch a decade ago when banks stopped lending and people had no other access to credit. They were lending at over 5,000 per cent APR and weren’t too worried about whether those they loaned to could afford to repay it.

“Now that has come back to bite them and I’m delighted to see high interest lenders fail while responsible, affordable credit providers like credit unions continue to flourish by supporting their local community instead of sucking the financial life blood from them.

“Credit Unions are about local people helping local people. Keeping our money in our financial organisation and in our local economy and, unlike those high interest lenders, our doors are open.”