Wonga taking money in random amounts..

skintandscared_2

Bex33 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I thought it was about time I joined here seeing as I spend so much time getting great advice here lurking in the shadows!

Now I know, I know...payday loans are a big bad idea but it was Christmas and I was desperate and I could actually afford to pay it back.....until since getting the loan my fridge freezer AND washing machine decided to pack up on me.

So I sent wonga an e-mail stating I couldn't afford to pay the loan when due or afford to roll over so what would be the minimum payment plan they would accept. No reply, but £144 has been taken today, food and heating money for my 3 kids unfortunately. All my fault, I know but does anyone know where I should go from here?

I have emailed every address I've found for wonga stating that no more money be taken and to remove my card details and that I will be reporting the £144 gone out as theft as that's advice I got from another site and added I would like to make a repayment plan. Is it just a waiting game now? I can't afford to ring them. Can I get my £144 back at all? I called the bank and they said they can do nothing

Okay, first off - for future reference - next Christmas will take place on 25th December 2012. As soon as this PDL mess is sorted out, get saving, with store vouchers if necessary, so this year there's no "desperate" situation. If you have money due to go into your account, I can only recommend what other threads on here have advised and open a brand new account with another (unrelated) bank. Merely reporting your card stolen is not enough to stop them. Then I'm afraid you're going to have to ring them and sort out some sort of payment plan. In the meantime, do you have anything at all you can stick on ebay and sell?? Just to get some quick funds.

The only other option that I've read about on here is if your only income is benefits, you can "protect" that money to some extent by giving your bank a notice of appropriation, which means that you tell them what precise funds are needed to pay essential bills (rent, food) and that benefit money cannot be touched by anyone but you. If you search, I'm sure you will find template letters on here for that. Best of luck.

mawey

Taken from their website FAQ's

My circumstances have changed and now I can’t pay my loan back in full/as I agreed, what can I do?

We would urge you to repay as much of your balance as you can, and do it as quickly as you can, as failure to repay a loan on your promised repayment date could have an impact on your credit rating and will incur further interest.
You can make a part or full payment by logging into your account online and clicking on ‘repay loan,' or by calling our automated payment line on 0207 183 0063. If you feel you cannot make any payments towards your balance then please call our friendly collections team as soon as possible on 0207 138 8331 and we should be able to assist you.

Looks like a normal number you could ring there


The multi payments from you account come from this area of their T&C's

We expressly inform our customers that we may do this at Clause 3a of the Loan Conditions, which reads:

"We may try to debit your debit card at a later stage and on more than one occasion after 5am on the promise date for all or any part of the amount due. If you have provided us with details of a second debit/credit card and we are unsuccessful in collecting payment from the first debit card, we may seek payment from the second debit/credit card and on multiple occasions, for all or any part of the amount due, as we determine necessary until full repayment is made."

They also have a facebook page they seem to answer customer questions on, maybe you'll get some help there?

Wonga Facebook


Sorry I couldn't help further as it must be horrible having the money taken when it wasn't expected. Someone who's been through the same thing might come across this thread who can help you further.

bbfc

Bex33 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I thought it was about time I joined here seeing as I spend so much time getting great advice here lurking in the shadows!

Now I know, I know...payday loans are a big bad idea but it was Christmas and I was desperate and I could actually afford to pay it back.....until since getting the loan my fridge freezer AND washing machine decided to pack up on me.

So I sent wonga an e-mail stating I couldn't afford to pay the loan when due or afford to roll over so what would be the minimum payment plan they would accept. No reply, but £144 has been taken today, food and heating money for my 3 kids unfortunately. All my fault, I know but does anyone know where I should go from here?

I have emailed every address I've found for wonga stating that no more money be taken and to remove my card details and that I will be reporting the £144 gone out as theft as that's advice I got from another site and added I would like to make a repayment plan. Is it just a waiting game now? I can't afford to ring them. Can I get my £144 back at all? I called the bank and they said they can do nothing

You should of called them, they use an 0207 number so it's a local call (i think!). Emailing them to say you cannot pay the loan back is not a good idea as they probably won't communicate via email for data protection reasons.

I've just paid a Wonga loan back early (and saved myself about £80 in interest) and i'm glad to have gotten rid of it. I can't fault their service, but when you get into a vicious circle where you are repaying the loan and then taking out another one to cover you for the month, it can become very worrying. Thankfully I've cleared the amount I owe them, but I would consider using them again in the future as a last resort, and only for a small amount.

Bex33

Thanks for all the advice. Luckily Wonga emailed me back and accepted my re-payment plan and have frozen the interest. Christmas is definitely pre-paid this year....else it's a lump of coal for the kiddies!

Learn my lesson good n proper!

Toe-Jam

They use a program called Long Ping. It will reserve and release funds instantly on your account right up until it declines and then they will scoop out the last successful amount that they were able to reserve as a full transaction. That is how they know how much you have available to take. Its automated and you should cancel your card immediately.