The National Union of Students (NUS) has criticised the payday lending company Wonga.com over what it sees as irresponsible marketing of their services to students.

Wonga loans several hundred pounds at high interest rates – over 4,000% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) - over a short period of time. The NUS press release quoted the union’s vice-president Pete Mercer, who said that it was “highly irresponsible of any company to suggest to students that high cost short-term loans to be a part of their everyday financial planning.”

The NUS was responding to advertising on Wonga’s website that suggested that students could use payday loans to go on holiday to the Canary Islands as opposed to using student loans.

The advertising has been removed and replaced by a statement, saying, in part “[we] would like to clarify that Wonga does not target students. Yet we do not discriminate against working, adult students who may choose to apply either, because all applications are assessed in the same robust and completely objective way.”

EUSA’s The Advice Place told The Student that they “would not recommend using payday loans as the interest charge on them is so high, and it can be very tempting to borrow more than you can afford.”

In addition, there are several other avenues that students with financial difficulties can turn to rather than using payday loan companies. The Advice Place itself offers small loans that are intended to cover necessities like food expenses, and there are discretionary funds available from the university, as well as late award loans if students happen to have a delay in receiving their funds.

The Advice Place also said that, “anyone who may be considering these services, we would urge [them] to come and speak to us first. We can advise students on budgeting and managing debt and will generally help in any way we can.”