Wonga not paying up

LeicesterRed

Hi All,

I'm unfortunately stuck in the payday loan cycle at the moment with Wonga, and although I'm hoping to get out of it next month if I get some money I'm owed for work I've done I have had to take another loan.

I applied at 1am yesterday morning (Friday), was accepted and got an email to say the money was on its way to my account "at the speed of light". Usually this means about 15 minutes. However, on this occasion I'm still waiting for the money nearly 34 hours later.

Logging into the Wonga website tells me how much I owe - yet I've not had anything from them yet. I phoned them twice yesterday and emailed them, I was assured each time that the money would be in my account by last night. But its still not there.

This morning I phoned again and was told that it would be escalated to their finance department to look into, but this probably won't be until Monday now, in the meantime I have no money (though I know I shouldn't be relying on them).

I phoned my bank and asked if they could see anything their end, but nothing is showing up.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had this problem with Wonga before and how it was resolved.

Up to now I've been happy (well, as can be at having to pay silly amounts in interest and fees) with their service - I've received the money fast. However, following this experience, if I do need to get a payday loan next month its likely to be with someone else. I've been leaving applying until the last minute to limit the amount I have to pay back - I can't afford to be applying earlier just in case they have problems transferring the money.

My car insurance is due on Monday, that's not going to go out, then my rent is due. It's going to cause me big problems.

Seems Wonga can't always keep to their promise of instant cash when you need it.

27col

It sounds to me as if you need some help to organise your budget/ spending a bit better. If you can spare enough cash to pay their extortionate interest rates, then surely you could afford to put a bit of money by, to pay for expenses that you know are going to appear. Car insurance and rent are not exactly unforeseen expenses.
Don't take my head off if what I say is not what you want to hear.

[Deleted User]

LeicesterRed - sounds to me they have may be realised your in dire need of help perhaps responsible lending is kicking in now

Another one is have you just recently paid back a previous loan? because I'd experienced something similiar one time when on the merry go round, that can cause a hold up like this which can happen in repaying and reapplying so quickly to same lender again so this might well be the problem I guess

Sorry these PDL's are no way to live - anything you can sell ? or see which d/d you could put of paying this month to spare or scrape together some cash from elsewhere to get you through

LeicesterRed

Thanks for the replies.

I had always vowed I would never use these companies, however unfortunately quite a lot happened in the last year that left me with no choice.

I was managing my debts fine through a debt management company for several years, however our landlord decided he wanted us to vacate the house we were living in up until April of last year because I asked him to carry out a number of repairs to the property that we'd been waiting up to 2 years for. Obviously debt management companies take your disposable income, meaning that we didn't have anything saved up or spare and so had to find a way of getting together the funds required for advanced rent, deposits, and removal fees. My parents managed to lend us some for that move.

Then, after our initial 6 months at the new house, our landlord there also decided that he wanted the house back so that he could live in it himself, meaning once again we had to find funds for all of the above. My parents couldn't help out much this time, I can't get loans through normal methods due to the debts, and therefore I was left with no option but to go to Wonga. We wouldn't have got help from the council as I'm in a well paid job.

I was confident I could balance things out quickly as I'd been working on a website in my spare time, however, that has had delays due to family illnesses, moving home, working overtime in my full-time job, etc. and so I have actually only just finished it within the last couple of weeks and am now waiting to be paid. Once I do get paid for it, which will hopefully be next month, it will cover the Wonga loan and most of the money I borrowed off my parents, which will mean I will be back to the way I was before and managing fine under the existing debt management plan. Throughout this time I have continued to pay that in full.

I actually have a spreadsheet I've designed which I use to keep track of my spending now, and its working quite well. I can see what date bills are due to go out and funds are due to come in, and can see a running total of how much I should have available on a given date. Each time I spend something the spreadsheet gets updated so I can see if I'm going to fall behind. This also allows me to see on what date I'll need to borrow from Wonga so as to leave it as late as possible (as I have done this time, however obviously this issue has now messed things up somewhat).

In reply to the question about having recently paid, the last payment I made was on the 28th January, I pay on the same day each month. They are saying that the funds have been released and sent to my bank, but don't know why they haven't reached the account. I have confirmed my account details with them, so I don't think they've sent them to the wrong place.

DCFC79

Im not an expert but if your on a DMP are you not meant to/allowed to take out more loans.

LeicesterRed

DCFC79 wrote: »

Im not an expert but if your on a DMP are you not meant to/allowed to take out more loans.

Unfortunately I didn't think of that at the time, but am aware of it now, but I had no other choice other than to move the family (wife and 2 kids) to the streets. I don't think I would have got any help from the council as I'm in a well paid job, and the waiting lists are huge. Even if I could suspend the plan for a couple of months (which I don't think they'd do) it wouldn't get us straight.

I am paying the debt management plan on time and in full every month, and will continue to do so. As soon as I get paid for the website I've just finished I'll be able to stop borrowing and get back to the way I was before. Unfortunately at the moment I have nothing of enough value to sell (I need my car for work), and so without the loans I wouldn't be able to pay my rent. The money for the website was going to go to paying off some of the smaller debts, but as always seems to be the case its going to just disappear elsewhere (usually its big things going wrong with my car).

DCFC79

LeicesterRed wrote: »

Unfortunately I didn't think of that at the time, but am aware of it now, but I had no other choice other than to move the family (wife and 2 kids) to the streets. I don't think I would have got any help from the council as I'm in a well paid job, and the waiting lists are huge. Even if I could suspend the plan for a couple of months (which I don't think they'd do) it wouldn't get us straight.

I am paying the debt management plan on time and in full every month, and will continue to do so. As soon as I get paid for the website I've just finished I'll be able to stop borrowing and get back to the way I was before. Unfortunately at the moment I have nothing of enough value to sell (I need my car for work), and so without the loans I wouldn't be able to pay my rent. The money for the website was going to go to paying off some of the smaller debts, but as always seems to be the case its going to just disappear elsewhere (usually its big things going wrong with my car).

But doesnt getting more credit mean your DMP is void/not valid anymore,

[Deleted User]

Ok bang goes my theory, could it be that funds will be available on the next working day? maybe someone/somewhere there has been a delay a glitch with the system - it is inevitable it happens that sometimes things are just held up - perhaps you can take it up with the payday lender and dispute daily interest for the days you won't have had the funds, I don't know but I wouldn't recommend trying for another loan with anyone else just in case it appears ! keep checking?

LeicesterRed

DCFC79 wrote: »

But doesnt getting more credit mean your DMP is void/not valid anymore,

I'm not sure. But I'm not sure what else they would have expected me to do with the situation I found myself in. The only way to get funds would be via credit - whether a credit card, normal loan or payday loan. The shortest term option (or so I thought at the time) was the payday loan, I was expecting to get the website finished quickly and pay it off, but as it turned out there was delay after delay with the website, meaning I've got stuck in this cycle.

As it is, the debt management plan is being paid as normal, so they may not be aware this is happening (unless they're reading this and figure out who I am), but as I say, I've had no other option. Hopefully I'll never have the need to do the same again, and I'm even holding off on asking for repairs to our current property as I don't want to risk being put out again as we'd end up right back in the same situation again.

LeicesterRed

Deleted%20User wrote: »

Ok bang goes my theory, could it be that funds will be available on the next working day? maybe someone/somewhere there has been a delay a glitch with the system - it is inevitable it happens that sometimes things are just held up - perhaps you can take it up with the payday lender and dispute daily interest for the days you won't have had the funds, I don't know but I wouldn't recommend trying for another loan with anyone else just in case it appears ! keep checking?

They did say on Friday that there were some delays in their payment system, but said it would be in last night.

I'm not going to try anywhere else as I don't want to dig myself further into a hole. I'll just have to manage the next couple of days with the £20 I've got in my pocket. But in the unlikely event I do have to borrow next month (shouldn't have to if I get paid for the website) I might have to look elsewhere.

[Deleted User]

Go easy on yourself and I hope it all comes good

Have you considered joining something like a Credit Union for this sort of situation in the future? might be worth looking into