Wonga - Please avoid this company!!

RuthnJasper

Peelerfart wrote: »

If you find true love on a thread about Wonga are they entitled to make a charge for it ?

Heeheee! Depends on how much interest is generated by his "raise"...

RuthnJasper

catflea wrote: »

Just to add my 2p. I've been stupid enough to deal with most of the payday loan companies and got myself into a position where I couldn't pay back.

Wonga were brilliant when you were running it well, but as soon as the brown stuff hit the revolving blades they were a bit of a nightmare. But they didnt sell it on to a DCA which suprised me.

There is one other one which I've dealt with (I'm not giving the name, as I dont want to risk encouraging others to borrow this way) who always pick up the phone promptly and its someone who seems to have their head screwed on right - that said, I've never gotten into trouble with them...

ETA - I've not spotted the company in question mentioned on this thread

Bad luck Catflea. Hope you get things back on track very soon. x

catflea

Thanks, but bar a slightly grotty credit file, things are pretty much back in order now :cool:

RuthnJasper

catflea wrote: »

Thanks, but bar a slightly grotty credit file, things are pretty much back in order now :cool:

Good stuff. Me too - well, in @18 months' time, anyway.

Keep smiling!

R x

jezzaruni

Early last year I entered the Pay Day Loan trap and by October was using several companies and decided enouigh was enough and entered a DMP. Wonga was and, is, one of the companies I listed as a creditor. The DMP company, a highly reputable company with many years of experience, contacted Wonga and was referred to JB Debt Recovery, who deal with all of Wonga's debt recovery issues. Apart from an email from Wonga confirming they had received my intention to enter a DMP, and their offer of doing it for me, I have received no other comunication from either Wonga or JB - no letters, emails, phone calls or texts.

As per instructions I cancelled all my credit and debit cards, replacing only my debit card. Each month I receive a statemnet of account from the DMP company giving me an overview of transactions which have, or haven't, taken place in that month. Since October last year Wonga vis JB haven't accepted any payments from the DMP company.

Last week Wonga withdrew a substantial amount (0ver £1k) from my account leaving me over £900 in arrears.

POINT TO NOTE: The card they used was the one I had cancelled back in October and which, apparently, my bank - Lloydstsb - accepted. They claim that Wonga were entitled to use it as this was classed as a guarantee.

There is also the point of whether it was Wonga or JB on behalf of Wonga who withdrew the monry - if the latter (and the impression I got when I spoke to Wonga was that it was) then that's a serious breach of the Data Protection Act.

The bank have stated they can't cancel the transaction and the DMP company is trying to get some sense out of Wonga. Interestingly when they phone JB all they get is an answering machine.

Wonga, as noted in comments above, have been very unhelpful. When I phoned them last week Wednesday to discuss the issue they were claimed they, nor JB, hadn't been approached by the DMP company and that they'd sent me emails regarding the outstanding loan - yet the only email they quoted was the one I mentioned earlier. They also said they'd check with JB and get back to me in five minutes - I'm still waiting.

Has anyone else had the same or similar problem involving an expired credit/debit card? I would like to know the legality of this as the first thing you are advised to do by any Debt Advisor is to cancel all cards to prevent creditors, including loan companies, from using them to withdraw funds from your account. A friend of mine had an issue whereby funds were withdrawn from a card that had expired 2 years previously. In that instance he was refunded.

jezzaruni

dazlest69 wrote: »

i have just been put £650 over drawn because of wonga. i took out a loan with them some months ago them with one thing and another i have had to put all my debits with a debit management company thy contacted wonga to arrange repayments and received a reply to except the payment arrangement three month have go by and they have been receiving payment then this week end 27th i go to my bank to find that i am over drawn by £650 i found my bank to find out why i have had to wait 3 days for them to show on my account and the are 3 payments to wonga for a total of £650 now when i started with the debit management i changed my debit card so wonga did not have my new card details but as i have found out now they put the payment throe on my old card and the bank payed them so i phoned wonga to find out what was going on and all they did was list all the charges and payments off to me and said basically tuff luck we have the money so we don't care. they need to be investigated as to the way they conduct business they had agreed a repayment and should have kept to it i now have a big overdraft to repay plus interest and charges and best of all the original loan was for £300 they are a complete joke and don't deserve to be in business and banks should not be allowed to allow payments on debit cards that have been canceled

This is similar what happened to me, except they've eft me with £950 arrears which means once my wages are paid I won't be able to pay my rent and bills. How many others have they done this too and why now? Are they getting ready to close down maybe?

Whether people take out pay day loans or not is not the issue, fact is people do due to last resort or quick fix etc.

The main issue here is the bank allowing an expired card to be used as a guarantee for payment - THAT SURELY HAS TO BE ILLEGAL or in one those so-called grey zones.

Apples2

jezzaruni wrote: »

The main issue here is the bank allowing an expired card to be used as a guarantee for payment - THAT SURELY HAS TO BE ILLEGAL or in one those so-called grey zones.

Grey area is more accurate, wouldn't be much of a guarantee if you could pop in and buy a brand new BMW, drive home and cancel the card stopping the payment.

Do you consider it your legal right to take a loan and not repay it? Surely you must understand that is not right either.

Their ONLY customer is on that last resort/ quick fix. This is why they already have a robust mechanism in place to recoup their money, they make you agree to this possibility before they give you the loan in the first place.

You may not agree but not many people on here think they are a good idea, they just need to be used wisely.

jezzaruni

Apples2 wrote: »

Grey area is more accurate, wouldn't be much of a guarantee if you could pop in and buy a brand new BMW, drive home and cancel the card stopping the payment.

Do you consider it your legal right to take a loan and not repay it? Surely you must understand that is not right either.

Their ONLY customer is on that last resort/ quick fix. This is why they already have a robust mechanism in place to recoup their money, they make you agree to this possibility before they give you the loan in the first place.

You may not agree but not many people on here think they are a good idea, they just need to be used wisely.

I certainly didn't take a loan out with them with fraudulent intent and if things hadn't gone awry they would've been paid as per normal. However, Wonga is the only company on my list who have acted in such a manner and my main shock was what the bank have done. Next step are letters to the FOS and am consulting a lawyer re legal action options.

Apples2

jezzaruni wrote: »

Next step are letters to the FOS and am consulting a lawyer re legal action options.

Can you afford the legal fees for this?
The clause in RED is the one you are refuting.

How did you cancel the card? did you say it was stolen? If so, why would anyone think there is a problem with a known lender taking back the money iaw the agreement (they might think you had made this theft up just to avoid payment).
Surely as soon as you received your new card you were going to tell Wonga the details so they could take payment from the new card.

Do you come right out and say to cancelled the card IN ORDER to avoid payment?
If so, they might think, well Wonga have acted perfectly correctly.

What happens if I don’t repay my loan?



If our early morning collection attempt is declined by your bank - because you haven't ensured there are enough funds available - we will do our best to contact you throughout the day. We always hope to resolve the situation that day but, if we still haven't received full repayment by 5pm on the due date, you will incur a £20 missed payment fee towards the cost of a failed collection. We will then make further attempts to collect the money from your card and also keep trying to contact you to discuss the situation with you as soon as possible.

Most posts I read here from people who rang and spoke to wonga appear to get out of this pickle relatively unscathed. It is those who claim cards are stolen and avoid Wonga who incur the wrath.

jezzaruni

Apples2 wrote: »

Can you afford the legal fees for this?
The clause in RED is the one you are refuting.

How did you cancel the card? did you say it was stolen? If so, why would anyone think there is a problem with a known lender taking back the money iaw the agreement (they might think you had made this theft up just to avoid payment).
Surely as soon as you received your new card you were going to tell Wonga the details so they could take payment from the new card.

Do you come right out and say to cancelled the card IN ORDER to avoid payment?
If so, they might think, well Wonga have acted perfectly correctly.

Most posts I read here from people who rang and spoke to wonga appear to get out of this pickle relatively unscathed. It is those who claim cards are stolen and avoid Wonga who incur the wrath.

You are so obviously a Wonga employee and no doubt your sole job is to scour web sites like this for any Wonga mentions.

However to answer your question -if you read my original post above you will have noted why I cancelled my card. It was due to an unauthorised transaction by (at that time) person(s) unknown. First action in any situation of that nature is to cancel the card to prevent further transactions. Wonga didn't come into the picture until a few days later.
POINT: Wonga should not have making any withdrawals due to the DMP in progress.
Now then, isn't it strange that the the debt recovery firm Wonga have been using, JB Debt Recovery, has been axed by them and that since last week? It would appear Wonga may even be in breach of the Data Protection Act by passing on my card details to a third party.

As to affording legal fees - is that a threat? In any case I am entitled to legal aid.