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Best way to pay off Wonga

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  • roh999
    roh999 Posts: 2,264 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Lube wrote: »
    Post 20 is a referral he knows where referral forum is as he also posted this in there so should know better
    care to explain what ure on about?
    Im known as the 'Fixer' if you have a problem,come to me and i can fix it for you.
  • fozmcfc
    fozmcfc Posts: 3,098 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker PPI Party Pooper Debt-free and Proud!
    roh999 wrote: »
    care to explain what ure on about?

    It is possibly that the original post 20 has been removed.

    OP from what I have read on here in the past, with regards to Wonga, providing someone is upfront and honest with them about having difficulty to pay, they are generally approachable.

    Obviously a reasonable offer would need to be made to them, not something like i.e offer £1 a month for a £1k debt.
  • StuC75
    StuC75 Posts: 2,065 Forumite
    tibbers wrote: »
    When you have fully paid of your debt with them, ask them to block you from using their site again. I have just paid of my stepsons bill, over the phone, they were very helpful and even offered a repayment plan, but paying it all in one go was a better option for me. I asked them if there was anyway they could stop him from going on and borrowing even more money, and they said they can block him, but he has to request it...

    Hope he doesnt take out another loan, or they would likely use your card for the CPA (Continuous Payment Authority).
  • Ok, the best method of getting out of the cycle of going to a payday loan company every month would be if a friend or family member was willing to lend you the money to pay your current loan off and accept repayment in instalments. If you are lucky enough for this to be an option, make sure you make a clear agreement you can stick to.

    The second option would be to get a credit card (if you have difficulty getting a credit card, Capital One may be an option). The APR (annual interest rate) of a credit card is going to be 20% - 60%, depending on the credit card company. The APR of Wonga for example is 4214% and it is that crippling interest that is your main issue.

    Withdraw the amount you owe from the credit card and put it in your bank account (Wonga take payments directly from your bank, other payday loan companies may require payment in other ways. If you are unsure you are best advised to check with the particular bunch of legalised loansharks you have become entangled with, in order to make sure you are not hit with any further fees or interest). The withdrawal of funds from the card will incur a charge (typically in the region of £5 to £10 so add this to the total you have to repay).

    The next step is far more important than you might realise. Take note of your account number and then CUT UP THE CREDIT CARD! You are using this card for one reason alone and it must stay that way. Borrowing money to pay a debt is dangerous and usually it will only get you into more debt. The only reason it works in this situation is because payday loansharks charge extortionate interest. To give you an idea of just how extortionate it really is, if you borrowed £1 for 5 years at 60% APR (the high end of credit card interest rates) your repayment would be just over ten pounds. If you borrowed the same amount for the same period at Wonga's interest rate of 4214% APR, your repayment would be almost one hundred and fifty million pounds (for reference, the calculation to work this out is 1x(1+(4214/100))^5 and the result is £149417237.89). This means that you can use the lower interest rate to pay off the loan, but you must not add to it or you will find yourself in even more trouble.

    If you are able to pay off the entire loan after one month, the credit card company will not charge you any interest (the credit card company have effectively given you a one month interest free loan). If this is not feasible, it is not too much of a problem. I would recommend you pay the credit card off as quickly as possible, but as long as you always pay at least the minimum they ask each month (typically between £5 and £15) and you do not use the credit card for anything else, the debt will be stable and will only decline. To give you a rough idea, if you were paying back £600 over 12 months at 60% APR, you would need to pay just under £80 a month. Using Wonga's interest rate as a guide, this would probably not even cover the monthly interest with a payday loanshark.

    Finally, if you are considering trying to make a deal with the payday lenders, or just not pay it back my advise would be DON'T! The make their money by charging extortionate interest rates and preying on people who are not likely to spot the vast sums of interest this will develop into. An extra week to pay them back could run into hundreds quite easily. Should they suspect they will not rinse any more cash out of you they will just sell the debt. This means they get one last wadge of cash and you get a ruined credit history, a debt collection agency hounding you, and possibly even bailiffs at the door.
  • garetheld1 wrote: »

    If you are able to pay off the entire loan after one month, the credit card company will not charge you any interest (the credit card company have effectively given you a one month interest free loan).


    Is this correct?
    I thought that interest is charged on cash withdrawals from day one and that the interest-free period only applies to non-cash items.
    I may be wrong, though, so apologies if I am.
  • mcjordi
    mcjordi Posts: 4,238 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Is this correct?
    I thought that interest is charged on cash withdrawals from day one and that the interest-free period only applies to non-cash items.
    I may be wrong, though, so apologies if I am.

    drawing out cash using a CC incurs fees and interest from day 1 unless it states in the terms that its included in the 0% deal which is very unlikely
    I think what he was trying to say is use the credit card to pay off wonga over the phone/internet
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  • Cornucopia
    Cornucopia Posts: 16,471 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    PayDay loans are certainly one of the most expensive ways to borrow, and using a Credit Card or overdraft with care will always be cheaper.

    However, the APRs quoted are slightly misleading (too high), as a consequence of applying a one-month loan to a formula designed to give an annual rate.
  • Good day to you all, I was wondering if anyone could provide some advice on the best way for me to get out of the dreaded circle of borrowing from wonga each month.

    At present, I am being paid and wonga is taking almost all of my wages and I immediately have to borrow again up the point where the payback amount is the amount I get paid.

    The way I see it is I have to options.

    Reduce the amount I borrow by roughly £100-200 a month.

    Or call them, tell them I am struggling and come to an arrangement where this coming pay day, instead of paying back around £1300, I pay £500-£600, then same again the following month.

    The 2nd option sounds the best to me as if I reduce each month I think I will be paying interest all the time. What I'm hoping is they'll freeze the interest and let me pay off what I owe them in 2 or 3 lump sums.

    Has anyone done this before? Are Wonga likely to allow to do that?
    What I don't want to happen is for them to start charging me interest everyday otherwise I may aswell do the reducing the amount I borrow each month option, but that way I'll still be borrowing each month in 6+ months time.

    I know payday loans are bad and I'm likely to get flack for getting one in the first place but I've learnt my lesson and want to get them paid off and never look back.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Kind regards

    Hi,
    Im in the very same position myself..i got some great advice on here..i was going to do this and change my account and contact them to sort out a payment plan..my credit file is trashed as i recently finished a dmp but looking at every option..i borrow for around 11 days and pay back but always need to borrow again at the end of the next month..but the 11 day window i have is not enough time for work to sort out my wages going into a new accoutn before im able to close my current one..i would have to borrow for a whole month or defer in order to do this..and dont want to rack up any more debt with them that i have to..im going to have a really tough couple 2/3 months but im determined im going to pay them off without the hassle of changing accounts..i was also frightened if they started ringing me at work..
    you could do a budget for the next 6 months and see the borrowing going down each month and know that you are getting somewhere with it..completey understand that you dont want it hanging over you for 6 months and paying the interest..
    and its horrible seeing your wages dissapear from your account each month..from what ive heard wonga are reasonable when it comes to setting up a payment plan..and seems like yu would definalty need to open a new account and get your wages transferred.. can you afford to pay them what you are paying each month at that moment..but personally im determined to pay them off and see my borrowing go down each month and getting through one month paying them less will spur me on for the next month... sounds crazy but now im come to this decision to lower it each month im quite exhilarated to know that i can do it and will not be tempted to spend anything other than outside my budget..good luck whatever you decide..know exactly how you feel but you can get out of the trap..xx
  • If you can get a lowe apr loan elsewhere, then use that instead of wonga. Every £ you can save will help.

    I'm assuming you tried them before you went to Wonga, but have you tried your bank or other "normal" term lenders?

    THey might have a minimum amount of £1,000 (not all do), but you could always take that and then pay off Wonga, then pay what you have left from the £1,000 back to the bank/other lender.

    Much cheaper than bouncing one payday loan to the next each month. If you do this, you MUST stick to the plan and pay back every penny that isn't used to repay Wonga, immediately, and then settle the balance with your bank asap!!!
    From £8,800 to £2,200 in 2 years.

    Nearly there, just the 0% credit card to go!
  • Mand_x_ wrote: »
    Hi, I was also in trouble with wonga and paying them would mean having no money left. I called them prior to the amount due to being debited and they said they were unable to help me until the money had actually not gone through. So i waited until the monday morning and obviously becasue there was not enough to pay the amount my bank were unable to pay them.

    Wonga advised me to call after 9am but before 10 as after 10 am they may start making automated payments of small amounts. So I called them at 9, it was a ittle tricky getting through but I kept trying and after about the 7 th call I got through to them.

    They froze the interest on my loan, devided my loan amount
    over 6 months and agreed I could pay them the amount as long as I could make the first payment today. Which I could.

    They took a debit card payment (same one they allready had on file) for the first payment and then made the next payment the end of the following month which actually gave me over 6 weeks to find the next lot of money.

    I stuck to it and at the end of the last month I paid my final payment of £110 and I am now finally free of them. I understand yours maybe a little higher as My debt was only about £650. But they were very accomodating and friendly considering I was the one letting them down with my agreement. But they were great.

    Instead of paying around £150 a month in interest only, I got to pay £110 a month and the whole balance is now cleared.

    I have removed myself from their mailing list and am disappointed inmyself for getting into so much toruble with them but releaved I contacted them and they sorted it so quickly for me without having to change any bank accounts.


    whats there number? many thanks
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