Wonga might make a lot less wonga in future Wonga may be the most familiar name, but there are a host of other online lenders, such as QuickQuid and Payday UK, while many UK high streets are now littered with companies such as The Money Shop, Cash Converters, SpeedyCash and Brighthouse - all offering short-term loans pawnbroking or pay-weekly agreements for electrical and home goods. Not all of these will necessarily charge the interest rates that are causing concern, but the rate at which such services have taken hold, like Japanese knotweed in areas of economic hardship, is surely a prime case for greater scrutiny, and tighter regulation. It isn't just the interest rates that are of concern, but the almost instantaneous way these loans are approved, often by text and with only minimal checks on whether the borrower can afford it. Although companies like Wonga say it "rigorous" checks mean two thirds of applicants are turned down. This ruling is clearly an important first step in curbing the worst excesses of the payday loan market far more still needs to be done. It remains to be see what cap, if any, will eventually be set. The new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been given a golden opportunity now to flash its teeth and demonstrate its consumer credentials. Other Western economies (including Germany, Japan, Australia - and that bastion of the free market the US) all impose rate caps or ban such loans completely. These caps are closer to an APR of 60pc a year. As well as setting a meaningful cap, the FCA also has to act tough on those who don't stick to such limits. One easy answer would be to state that lending agreements that breached these limits were not enforceable. No doubt there would soon be an army of legal advisers and claims management companies letting borrowers know they did not have to pay back their loans. This would focus payday lenders" minds - and force them to address the charges levied on existing customers, taking out new short-term loans to cover last month's payday debt. And if they don't then some of their bumper profits might end up in the pockets of their hard-pressed customers, which may be no bad things.