A misleading advert from one instant cash loan provider was recently banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, short term loans experts recently reported.
The advert from instant cash loans provider MobyLoans, which was viewed in early November of 2011, featured a quote of a nurse from Sheffield that said she couldn’t believe how quick and simple the entire loan process was. However, directly beneath this testimonial, additional text read that the application process was not currently available, instead informing prospective borrowers to send an email to a particular address.
The ASA received a complaint that the advert was misleading, with the complainant doubting the veracity of the testimonial in light of the lack of any sort of application process on the MobyLoans website. However, the lender made no response to the ASA’s enquiries, leading it to be found of breaching a portion of the CAP Code barring unreasonable delays.
The ASA chastised the lender, reminding it of how it was bound by law to provide substantive and timely responses to any of the watchdog’s enquiries. In the absence of any sort of evidence regarding whether or not the testimonial was genuine in nature, the ASA declared the advert was indeed misleading, especially when the fact of a complete lack of any sort of online application process on the MobyLoans website.
The advert breached four separate CAP Code rules covering endorsements and testimonials, misleading advertising, and unreasonable delay, the ASA announced. The watchdog issued a further warning that the lender is banned from running the advert again without serious alterations to its appearance as of November of last year.