Advice please with wonga.com

Reidy1982

Hi there,
I'm new here to the site so if i am posting this in the wrong place i do appoligise.
I am looking for some advice. i took a loan with a company called wonga in february of this year to pay of some bills that were due before my payday (I had used the company before with no problems). Just before i was due to pay it back at the start of march my partner had a member of his family pass away and we had to go to the family to help with arrangements and such and to help with the children. Because of this i knew that we would have to use the money i was going to pay back wonga with for travelling expenses and such so instead i extended the loan and paid a 135.00 to them to extend. We were with his family for a longer period of time than expected and we used more money on living expenses and such than we had planned which left me short this month by the time we came back and i paid my regular bills such as gas, electricty and such. The loan with wonga is now due again next week and knowing i would not be able to cover it i decided to call them yesterday. I was on the phone to a gentlemen and explained the situation and i was put on hold and thats when the call cut out. i tried again various times and i couldnt get through. Today i tried again and i got another gentlemen who didnt even give me his name i was halfway through explaining the situation and he halted me in my tracks and told me he couldnt do anything about it and i would have to call back on the paydate in which the loan is suppose to be repaid for a payment plan. I couldnt understand this as i know for sure on the morning of the payment before they are even open they will try to take the money from my account and since they dont start answering calls till after 9am this means they will try and take the money from my account before i can even call them. I told the gentlemen i couldnt understand as to why i had to wait till the payment date as i was letting them know in advance he just kept saying to me call on the payment date we will try to take the money from your account though so please be aware of that this was just before he said goodbye and put the phone down on me.
I'm confused as what to do i know i was stupid for even going near them so i dont really need to be told that i'm learning my lesson the hard way, i now have no idea what will happen or what to do i assume on the morning of my payment date they will try to take it from my account and with getting nothing as there wont be anything there this could possible overdraw my account. Ive been reading up and lots of people have been saying they have had similar problem and small amount were taken from the account throughout the day.

I'm now not sure what to do next I did things the right way and contacted them to let them know well in advance i wouldnt be able to repay and so we could find a reasonable way to pay back the money eventually but basically wongas call team wouldnt entertain me so i have no idea what to do next. Any advice please because this has got me so worried now???

fozmcfc

Oh dear, sorry to hear your situation.

You'll need to move quick, they will definately try to take the money out, again and again.

So firstly you need to make sure that the account the money is due out of has no money and no facility for you to go overdrawn. Make sure no other money goes in either as they will try daily (several times)

Open another account and put monies in that account. That will stop them from receiving the payment.

That will give you some breathing space, you then need contact them and try to come to some sort of arrangement to pay.

Of course you are likely to receive an additional charge for them not being able to collect the money and you'll probably be hassled for some weeks, but they can't have what you haven't got.

At the moment they are hoping you will do nothing and then on the day to pay back they will clear your account and keep clearing out the account until monies are paid back.

Post on the debt free wanabee boards your post as well, as many people will have been in a similar situation to yourself.

Reidy1982

Thank you for confirming they will keep trying i thought as much thats what im even more worried about as my other debits come out of this bank for my regular bills in the month and i havent another bank account open at the moment to switch too and then move my incoming money too until i can sort some payment plan out with them, when i spoke to my bank today they weren't very helpfull about the situation as its not like a listed direct debit or anything they can cancel they just told me to try and recontact the company and try and sort out a plan which i did and as explained above was a disaster.. I know this is all my own fault and i really wish i had never gone the company and been so stupid.

Apples2

This isn't a problem with Wonga, all lenders operate this way.

Even if your loan was with Barclays, Halifax, HSBC etc, none of them will speak to you until your account goes into default.
If they spoke to you in advance, everyone would be doing it just to get a little breathing space when they have a difficult Month.

They will let the payment fail so it appears a genuine problem. Of course it will also affect your credit score and rightly so. Only when you take the penalty of late payment, default will they pass the debt to the Collectors.
It is in the Collection department you will negotiate a plan of recovery, not the normal office you have been contacting.

If you want my opinion though. Don't pay the Gas, Electric, Council Tax, Water rates, buy only enough Tesco Value food you absolutely need after using up all those tins of soup and dried noodles in the cupboard.

Let Wonga take their money and be shot of it, any other attempt at avoidance (changing banks, cancelling cards) is going to come back and bite. It will be a MUCH bigger bite later on than it is now.

Ring the Utility companies and tell them you are unable to pay this month along with Council Tax and work something out.

Your PRIORITY is to get shot of Wonga, - NOT avoid Wonga

Gothicfairy

I normally agree 100% with Apples but I can't agree with not paying council tax, it is a priority debt and depending on your area and situation missing one payment might well cause more trouble in the long run then missing Wonga.
My local council does not allow a missed or late payment and does not roll one missed payment on to the rest. They offer a payment plan that must be kept too or they demand payment in full...........Nothing else so please be careful before doing that.

intranicity

Apples2 wrote: »

Ring the Utility companies and tell them you are unable to pay this month along with Council Tax and work something out.

Your PRIORITY is to get shot of Wonga, - NOT avoid Wonga

Totally agree, the utilities will be far more understanding. Everyone will advise you to get rid of the most expensive bills first, and they don't come much more expensive that Pay Day loans!

I get so hacked off with people moaning about Payday loan companies wanting there money back, they helped people out and then WANT THEIR money back, I think most people if they lent someone money would expect and want it back!

To be fair though, at least the OP in this case appears to be sensible and trying to sort it out, try talking to the utilites, hopefully they will help you and I genuinely hope you get this sorted

Apples2

Gothicfairy wrote: »

I normally agree 100% with Apples but I can't agree with not paying council tax, it is a priority debt and depending on your area and situation missing one payment might well cause more trouble in the long run then missing Wonga.

Happy to be corrected
I am surprised to hear they would be so uncharitable though.

Apples2

pocahuntas wrote: »

Sorry if this is a stupid question.. but i cant find where to start a new thread?

On the main forum (Loans), look for this button

Gothicfairy

Apples2 wrote: »

Happy to be corrected
I am surprised to hear they would be so uncharitable though.

I think it does depend on area and how your account looks with them but I really wouldn't push it round here.
you might however get your payment date moved from start of the month to the end (they do that round here so that might help)

sindydee

Contact wonga and speak to them directly. This happened to me nearly a year ago and I contacted them to explain that I was in a position where I just couldn't afford to pay them back all at once. (As I got myself in a mess with a number of other payday loan companies.) They stopped the interest, and put me on a years repayment plan of £50.00 per month which thankfully is now nearly paid off.

I may have just been lucky with Wonga, because after approaching other compaines, they were just like - "well we are not prepared to help - you got yourself in this mess and now will have to get yourself out of it". Great. Which is easier said than done when most of your wages are going on interest - then you have to borrow more money to get through the month. It's an absolute nightmare.

MasterPoo

sindydee wrote: »

Contact wonga and speak to them directly. This happened to me nearly a year ago and I contacted them to explain that I was in a position where I just couldn't afford to pay them back all at once. (As I got myself in a mess with a number of other payday loan companies.) They stopped the interest, and put me on a years repayment plan of £50.00 per month which thankfully is now nearly paid off.

I may have just been lucky with Wonga, because after approaching other compaines, they were just like - "well we are not prepared to help - you got yourself in this mess and now will have to get yourself out of it". Great. Which is easier said than done when most of your wages are going on interest - then you have to borrow more money to get through the month. It's an absolute nightmare.

Payment plan to pay 1000 (exaggeration) more than what you borrowed???/!! DON'T DO IT, IT'S NOT WORTH IT!!! PAY WONGA and negotiate with your utility suppliers (they are easier to negotiate with and are helpful and probably wont charge you interest, if they do it wont be a crazy amount like Wonga's!!).