My bank, my card and Wonga

callistris

OP on the same date as you I to had a loan to repay to wonga, and due to the recent playstation network hack and the possibility of my card details being obtained by these hackers I had to cancel my card 2 days before this loan payment was due.

Can you guess what I did OP?

I rang them up first thing the following morning and explained what had happened, to my surprise they were very helpful and provided me with their bank details to enable me to make a bank transfer payment that day. Knowing that this was going to take a few days to get through to them they put a note on my account explaining the situation.

Once they received my payment, exactly 4 working days later I received an email thanking me for my payment and also a note to say that any additional charges that had been applied to my account had been credited due to the situation I was in and for keeping in touch with them.

I can only feel OP if you had contacted them by phone despite you not wanting to pay the 10p per minute charges you would have saved yourself alot of aggro, instead you relied upon an email service which you already stated wasn't working.

Also I would pay your friend back the money that wonga took from their card as it was your c ock up most likely by not having the money in your account when you claimed you had for the loan to be repaid;)

oopsadaisydoddle

callistris wrote: »

OP on the same date as you I to had a loan to repay to wonga, and due to the recent playstation network hack and the possibility of my card details being obtained by these hackers I had to cancel my card 2 days before this loan payment was due.

Can you guess what I did OP?

I rang them up first thing the following morning and explained what had happened, to my surprise they were very helpful and provided me with their bank details to enable me to make a bank transfer payment that day. Knowing that this was going to take a few days to get through to them they put a note on my account explaining the situation.

Once they received my payment, exactly 4 working days later I received an email thanking me for my payment and also a note to say that any additional charges that had been applied to my account had been credited due to the situation I was in and for keeping in touch with them.

I can only feel OP if you had contacted them by phone despite you not wanting
to pay the 10p per minute charges you would have saved yourself alot of aggro, instead you relied upon an email service which you already stated wasn't working.

Also I would pay your friend back the money that wonga took from their card as it was your c ock up most likely by not having the money in your account when you claimed you had for the loan to be
repaid;)

I believe OP has already stated that they have bank statements to prove that there was money available BEFORE, ON & AFTER the arranged pay date.

They also advised that they couldn't originally contact Wonga by phone the day of the arranged payment as it was a bank holiday, therefore had no choice to use the email enquiry system.

MADVIC

We recently took out a Wonga loan, but realised we couldnt make the full repayment. They had taken our full wage two weeks running,so we decided to cancel ALL direct debits relating to the account we use to try and help us get back on our feet.

However, once again, they have emptied our account despite there not being a Direct debit set up for them? We noticed that they have taken out various smaller amounts, rather than the full whack this time as if to see how much they could remove from our account eg £70, then £40, then £50 etc etc.... Is it legal for them to do this??

We have spoken to the bank who have advised us to put forward a fraud case, however it could take 48hrs, but possibly longer considering its a bank holiday on Monday.Any advice from anyone whos experienced similar would be greatly appreciated.

the_insider

MADVIC wrote: »

We recently took out a Wonga loan, but realised we couldnt make the full repayment. They had taken our full wage two weeks running,so we decided to cancel ALL direct debits relating to the account we use to try and help us get back on our feet.

They don't take payment by Direct Debit, they use the card you authorised them to use when you took out the loan. Even cancelling the card will not stop the payments as they are 'pre-authorised' so the bank has to honor them.

MADVIC wrote: »

However, once again, they have emptied our account despite there not being a Direct debit set up for them? We noticed that they have taken out various smaller amounts, rather than the full whack this time as if to see how much they could remove from our account eg £70, then £40, then £50 etc etc.... Is it legal for them to do this??

Yes. Did you tell them you 'couldn't make the full repayment'?

MADVIC wrote: »

We have spoken to the bank who have advised us to put forward a fraud case, however it could take 48hrs, but possibly longer considering its a bank holiday on Monday.Any advice from anyone whos experienced similar would be greatly appreciated.

There is no fraud here (unless you count you trying to avoid paying back your loan). Call Wonga and make alternative arrangements to pay and they'll stop taking payments!!

tetley

Vazlerm wrote: »

again proving you cannot read. I have stated several times I had more than enough in the account ON THE DAY, as well as BEFORE the day and still right now. I had the money in the account, I have the statements to prove it, so seriously go and troll somewhere else.

you get this attitude with Apples2 a lot of the time mate, this person makes rash judgements, and then say's it's all your fault, when Apples2 clearly hasnt read the full post, or doesnt understand it.

salsapixie

I stupidly took out a payday loan with Wonga. I owed Wonga about £600 and did not have the money to pay the full amount. I couldn't get through to anyone to discuss it so I made a payment of £49.25 in the interim and emailed them and just got the standard reply back asking me to ring them.
Within minutes of me voluntarily making this payment, they had pretty much emptied my bank account, taking two more payments of £158.03 and £59.26. When I rang them, the best they could do was extend the loan another month and say that they are "entitled" to my money. When I accussed them of taking advntage because I had made a payment and thinking "she's got money, let's empty her account" they denied it stating it was "automatic". I didn't even have a chance to go to the cash machine to get money out for food shopping.
I've got a redetermination of a CCJ coming up next month. If they are taking payments now willy nilly, then how can I treat them fairly in line with my other creditors?
Anything I can do tostop Wonga taking payments (except open a new account)?

fozmcfc

You will definately need to open another account, or everytime money goes in Wonga will try to take the money out. There system will automatically continue to take repayments every single day it will attempt it. Even cancelling the card may not work, although a few people have said it has stopped them.

The best thing possible is to just pay them, can family members help you or even close friend. Could you sell some stuff to make some money.

If not, then ring them and tell them, you cannot afford to pay and ask for a repayment plan from them. If they refuse over the phone to do this, get another bank account for definate, that way they won't be able to take any more money.

Then write to them you should include a run down of your income/outgoings so you and they can agree a figure.

Clearly you are in a mess if you are taking out payday loans and have a CCJ redetermination coming up.

Time for you to get serious, get over to the debt free wanabee board and like thousand of others start getting yourself sorted with the help and support of the members over on the DFW boards.

salsapixie

That's exactly what I'm doing now. I've already got an additional basic bank account so I'm moving everything over to it including my salary and all my direct debits (except loans). I am treating all my creditors fairly and so that includes wonga. i will be transferring money to my other account as and when I need to pay wonga. There is no way they are getting my other card details now!
I am sorting my debts and if all goes to plan, I will have paid off over a third of my debts within 5 years.

fozmcfc

Good luck with that salsapixie, it can seem a long hard road to a debt free life, but with determination it is definately possible to do so, as many of us have.

You really do need to make sure no money is in that account, otherwise Wonga could dip in and takes some money you need for the loan repayments. They are known to try every single day and some people report that money is gone from their account within minutes of it going in. It could mean loan repayment DD not being able to be taken.

Get the agreement in writing as well, otherwise as you probably know, they may still just go against anything agreed on the phone.

Of course they don't have to accept a reduced payment, but they can't have what you haven't got, but they will keep trying. It is unlikely they will take further action though, because they know as you have tried to come to an agreement with them a judge wouldn't look kindly on them.

Also if you start getting phone calls about payments, ask them to do all correspondence via letter only.

I would definately post up on the debt free wanabee boards as well any issues, many over there who will have been/are still in the same position as yourself.

Devils-Advocate_3

MADVIC wrote: »

We recently took out a Wonga loan, but realised we couldnt make the full repayment. They had taken our full wage two weeks running,so we decided to cancel ALL direct debits relating to the account we use to try and help us get back on our feet.

However, once again, they have emptied our account despite there not being a Direct debit set up for them? We noticed that they have taken out various smaller amounts, rather than the full whack this time as if to see how much they could remove from our account eg £70, then £40, then £50 etc etc.... Is it legal for them to do this??

We have spoken to the bank who have advised us to put forward a fraud case, however it could take 48hrs, but possibly longer considering its a bank holiday on Monday.Any advice from anyone whos experienced similar would be greatly appreciated.

This isn't fraud - this is you trying to avoid paying for a loan, and not being aware enough of how WONGA take their payments.

Lesson learnt?