Payday Loans

All Wonga customers who are 30 days or more in arrears on their loans will have the balance completely written off, while all customers who are in arrears of up to 29 days will have the interest and charges on their loans wiped.

The number of people struggling to cope with payday loan debts has risen by more than 13,000 in the past year, new figures show.

Complaints about "payday loan middlemen" – websites that take hundreds of pounds from vulnerable people on the promise of finding cheap credit – have more than doubled in the last year, the Ombudsman says.

Payday lenders will face a cap on what they can charge borrowers, under plans revealed by the financial regulator today.

Over 6,000 borrowers who were lent more than they could afford are to be refunded a combined total of more than £700,000 by payday lender The Money Shop.

Complaints about payday lenders have more than doubled in the last two years but the "stigma" associated with the industry is preventing many more from lodging complaints, the Financial Ombudsman Service says.

Payday lenders will no longer be able to roll over loans more than twice from today, while they also face tougher restrictions on taking money from borrowerers' accounts.