PurplePayday.co.uk is owned and operated by the Quintessential Finance Group, who provide technology based finance products to other businesses and websites, as well as their own direct to consumer businesses. Quintessential Finance is listed in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 for 2013 – Tech Track records the UK’s fastest growing technology businesses.
The group is best known for Pingtree, the business that developed the technology behind PurplePayday.co.uk. Pingtree was established in 2007. The same technology also powers Pingtree’s other international websites as well as many other affiliate websites they work with.
As we’ve mentioned before, the downside to this is that if you hop from one affiliate site to another looking for a loan, you could unknowingly just repeat your application through the same back-end system with the same lenders and the same outcome.
On-site, you can apply for up to £1000 over 45 days. They claim to have over 50 lenders linked into their lending panel, including Wonga and Quick Quid. There is no option to apply for loans over a longer period or in instalments – as a leading technology company, we find this disappointing.
The application form itself is pretty simple, however, because it was developed using iframe technology so it could easily be plugged into affiliate websites, it isn’t as polished as it could be – the poor error handling is a case in point, as is the lack of HTTPS visibility. Given the company’s skill set and resources, we think a bespoke solution would have been a better fit on their own site.
One annoying feature we found was the payday loan comparison section on the home page, which would lead you to believe you can apply to specific lenders not all lenders en mass, However, this isn’t the case – we found that you’re just fed through the standard application process.
If you choose to use Purple Payday, you know that you’re applying through a long-established, professional UK broker. However, we feel that the use of an iframe compromises the application process somewhat, and as an industry leader, the service should be more comprehensive than it is.
Note: Since conducting this review, PurplePayday.co.uk has been removed from Google’s search rankings.Review Overview
Ease of application
Safety & security
Size of lender panel
Great!
Summary : Could have been fantastic, buy merely great – let down by the use of an iframe which compromises the user experience in our opinion, and the lack of longer term loans available.
Pros & cons
- No charges or fees
- 50 lenders
- Mobile friendly
- Max term 45 days
Safety & security
- UK Company
- Physical address
- Consumer Credit Licence: 620815
- Data Protection Licence: Z1498441
- SSL security (yes, but not visible due to use of iframe)
- Privacy Policy
- Terms & Conditions
Application criteria
In order to apply with PurplePayday.co.uk, you must:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be a permanent UK resident
- Hold a valid UK bank account that accepts direct debit