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It and other high-cost short-term lenders have been accused by Labour MP Stella Creasy of being "legal loan sharks" and are the subject of a campaign to cap interest rates.ĭevelopers regularly offer apps for free, making their money from advertising or from users paying for "in-app purchases" (IAPs) – paid-for perks that often improve a game and can result in adverts being removed. Wonga, which is in the news for its £24m four-year sponsorship deal with Newcastle United football club that will see its logo emblazoned on the club's shirts next season, offers short-term loans at an annual percentage rate of 4,214%. All the apps are available on iPhone, iPad and Android mobile phones.Īpp users can only remove the adverts from Talking Ginger if they pay for "virtual toothpaste" – 69p gets a user 100 squirts of toothpaste and no more adverts, while larger sums gets them even more toothpaste. Talking Ginger, which has a five-star rating from reviewers on the Apple app store, is part of a series of Talking Friends apps from developer Outfit7, including Talking Tom Cat, which also carries the Wonga adverts, and Talking Lila the Fairy.
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The adverts, which take users to Wonga's app store download page, contain the line: "Cash loans up to £400 … apply now".
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