Fishing lakes, hot tubs, tennis courts and BMWs in the drive... the astonishing homes of Wonga's fat cats tripling their profits with eye-watering 4,000% payday loans

  • Wonga founders Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz live in amazing houses
  • Hurwitz, 43, lives in £2m West Sussex home with fishing lake and hot tub
  • Damelin, 42, has six-bedroom home in North London with four bathrooms
  • Chairman of one of Wonga's biggest stockholders has £6.5m London home
  • Adrian Beecroft also owns £2.75m London home and Oxfordshire castle

By Mark Duell

Published: | Updated:


With the recent revelations that their firm’s profits tripled to more than £45million last year, it’s clearly no surprise that these men are living in luxury.

Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz, founders of payday loans firm company Wonga, live in a beautiful  six-bedroom house in North London and £2million five-bedroom West Sussex home respectively.

Mr Hurwitz, 43, who left his chief technical officer role last November to invest in the sciences and arts, but still sits on the board, lives in a home with its own fishing lake, hot tub and tennis court.

Base: Jonty Hurwitz, 43, who left his chief technical officer role at Wonga last November, but still sits on the board, lives in a West Sussex home with its own fishing lake, hot-tub and tennis court

Base: Jonty Hurwitz, 43, who left his chief technical officer role at Wonga last November, but still sits on the board, lives in a West Sussex home with its own fishing lake, hot-tub and tennis court

In 2002, Errol Damelin and his family moved into a six-bedroom house they bought for £580,000 in North London. It is worth more than double that today

In 2002, Errol Damelin and his family moved into a six-bedroom house they bought for £580,000 in North London. It is worth more than double that today

Chief executive Mr Damelin, 42, who is said to have earned £1.6million last year, lives in the six-bedroom, four-bathroom house, and has a BMW X5 parked in the driveway, reported the Sun.

Wonga, which sponsors Blackpool Football Club, has enjoyed huge growth to become worth around £384million, with an astonishing representative annual percentage rate on loans of 4,214 per cent.

Meanwhile the chairman of Dawn Capital, one of Wonga’s biggest stockholders, is Adrian Beecroft, and he lives in a £6.5million North London home. But that's not the only amazing house he owns.

In addition the 65-year-old venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor has a plush £2.75million five-bedroom townhouse, also in North London, and even a castle in Oxfordshire, reported the Sun.

Big bucks: Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz (pictured) are the two founders of payday loans firm Wonga

Big bucks: Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz (pictured) are the two founders of payday loans firm Wonga

Base: The headquarters of the company, which has advanced four million loans worth £1billion, can be found in an impressive Georgian townhouse in a posh area of central London which borders Regent's Park

Base: The headquarters of the company, which has advanced four million loans worth £1billion, can be found in an impressive Georgian townhouse in a posh area of central London which borders Regent's Park

The headquarters of the company, which has advanced four million loans worth £1billion, is found in an impressive Georgian townhouse in a posh area of central London which borders Regent’s Park.

'Anyone who thinks the big profits Wonga announced this week is a sign of a healthy British market needs their head examined'

Stella Creasy MP

A Wonga spokesman said its success is down to ‘a very high level of customer satisfaction and industry-leading low arrears rates’ and that the company makes ‘very careful lending decisions’.

He added that it always checks customers have a ‘full bank account, regular income and access to range of credit providers’ and it’s proud to be ‘building a British business success story’.

But shadow home affairs minister Stella Creasy MP told the Sun: ‘Anyone who thinks the big profits Wonga announced this week is a sign of a healthy British market needs their head examined.’


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