Wonga nightmare

NorthernLas

They may accuse you over the telephone but this is an unsecured debt just like the others, so the same rules apply. What do you think wonga will to with their accusation?? I don't think you should treat this in any different way to the other debts.

If you have entered a DMP, then you should treat your creditors equally. If you are paying a fee paying company you would be better off seeking advice from one of the charities (see the sticky who to go to for independant advice at the top of the board). In the interim, go with what the DMP advise, pay the debt through them.

You also should not attempt to get more credit and begin to budget.

Elp1

I'm definitely not getting any more credit!! My income dropped hugely last year when I was undergoing chemotherapy etc but somehow I still managed to keep everything going. This was mainly due to the fact that my elderly mother was living with me and we were using her pension and income to supplement the household outgoings. She's now in a nursing home and so the household income has dropped by around £1,000 a month - I've still managed to maintain everything for the last six months but just can't manage any longer. The man from Wonga was unbelievably rude and threatening - this despite an email from them saying
"Please don’t be worried about ringing, as we always maintain a friendly and helpful attitude even when payment is late. We don’t want to have to add further late payment fees and would prefer to develop a trusting, long-term relationship with you."

Blahah

Elp1: no, you have not committed fraud and Wonga cannot touch you on this count. If you want you can pay them back before starting the DMP. Other creditors should have no way of telling that you have repaid Wonga instead of them, just don't ever mention it to them and include whatever is left owed to Wonga after your lump sum payment in the DMP. After you start the DMP, be fair to all your creditors and just don't let them call you. If you ever get another phone call - ask them to communicate by mail. That might reduce the stress a bit.

MrsTinks

I didn't miss it - I cross posted.

Personally? I would still tell Wonga to sling their hook - if Payplan have let you remove them from the DM it's more than likely because of your health and that they are concerned about your stress levels and the effects it will have on you.
The problem is that the more these threats work the more they will do it to people who are too scared to tell them to stuff it! Imagine someone closer to the brink who genuinely believe these threats but CAN'T raise the money... how terrified would they be and how much pressure could they bear if they thought these threats were real? I loathe these companies because they don't care about someone on the mental brink or what thing they might do if they really thought they would face fraud charges...

DVardysShadow

Elp1 wrote: »

The DMP hasn't officially kicked in yet though and I told them what Wonga had said to me - they agreed to take it off the plan before it gets properly started. I've been having treatment for breast cancer and they know this and I told them I couldn't stand the stress of it so would borrow from family to get Wonga off my back.

Never mind the breast cancer. You have breast cancer for all of your creditors, not just Wonga, so it is neither here nor there in terms of dealing with your creditors. Sorry to be so brutal about this, but MrsTine is right.

Basically the agreement with with your DMP provider and through them with your creditors is that you will treat all creditors fairly.By giving in to Wonga's totally false allegation of fraud, you are now closer to a real fraud on your creditors by continuing with your DMP. Personally, I think that your DMP advisor is sailing very close to the wind and should probably be up to recieve words of advice for letting you do this.

It has 2 bad effects if creditors discover what the DMP provider are letting you do. Firstly it devalues the integrity of your DMP provider - so that anyone on one of their DMP's is likely to be subject to more pressure. And secondly, it means that if Wonga get advantages by bullying you, the creditors who have held back have now lost out because you gave in to Wonga - and they are entitled to bully you in just the same way that Wonga have. And I would not blame them.

Just think about it. You give in to a wrongful bully and you are effectively allowing the rest to bully you with justification. So much for looking after yourself with breast cancer.

Please, do not give the £700 to Wonga.

And finally, I suspect you are setting up a paid for DMP. If this is the case, go for one of the free ones instead and include Wonga on exactly the same terms as the rest.

Blahah

@Elp1 having read the above two posts I have to say I agree - you would better off just making a fair DMP in which all creditors are repaid equally. There have been some bad reports about PayPlan recently - why not go with the free CCCS: http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Debtsolutions/Debtmanagementplan.aspx

Elp1

Thank you for all your replies, I will ring Payplan again tomorrow and get more advice - I never seem to speak to the same person twice and I get confused! I will hold onto the cash from my mum for the time being and see what happens - just scared of all the extra charges etc. Surely Wonga can't accuse everyone who defaults of fraud? I couldn't let the account run into arrears because of the timing of the DMP so was in a Catch 22 situation really