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Wonga.com

I had taken out a loan with wonga and had repaid it in full on 29.8.2012. This was an early repayment and my account with them was cleared. They have requested a further sum of £305.99 on 31.8.2012 which has made me overdrawn. They deny that they have requested it although my bank confirms that it has been requested but not authorised. I have spoken to wonga several times and they keep saying that my account is clear and there is no request pending on there screen. It is like talking to robots. They have a set of rules and answers that they can give.
My question is.
Can Wonga.com request money from my bank (basically freezing my account so I cannot access my money) without me owing them anything. Is this stealing or fraud. If so what is my recourse. Can i charge them for trying to remove money from my account without my permission.
Please help me if you can and what actions to take.
My bank has told me that the money will be back in my account on monday if no authorisation has been received.

Comments

  • spike7451
    spike7451 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    Wonga don't want to know.I took out a loan with them a couple years ago but then lost my job so couldn't repay it in one go.Contacted them & made arrangements to pay it back by installments.
    Then a couple weeks later I got a text thanking me for my payment of £200 odd,so I checked my bank.No money had came out & I contacted the bank & was told no money would be taken as the balance of my account was lower than the request from Wonga.
    By this time I was on JSA.The following week I went to pay my phone bill by debit card only to have that declined.
    On checking my bank,I found I was £100 odd overdrawn.On contacting Santander,I was told that Wonga had tried to take money from my account every day for the past few weeks,despite an arrangement being in place & when my JSA went it,it allowed the money to be taken.
    Santander gave me £10 for miss-information the week before.
    Don't hold your breath on a quick result with these lot.
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    Yes they can request anything - they do not have to be right! No it is not fraud or theft, even if they take the money. Mistakes are permitted. As for compensation, no to this too unless this is explicitly mentioned in your agreement's T&C's.

    You may find that you have a different account, whether you/they realise it or not, so the reference they use is important to tracking this down.
  • Thing is I didn't owe them anything so therefore, no contract. It just worries me that anybody can take money out of your account without permission. The loan was repaid early and account cleared. I didn't default or late payment. They just tried to take money out of my account for no reason.
  • strewth71
    strewth71 Posts: 1,584 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Wonga are a law unto themselves, we set up a payment arrangement when we couldn't repay them all at once. I paid them the agreed amount on time and on 2 occassions the payment that I had made did not get deducted from the balance I owed. They said they would sort it and I waited for them to do so but refused to make another payment until they had.....

    They then took the whole lot in one go leaving me with no money to live on and overdrawn. The bank said that they are within their rights as I had given them my debit card details when I made the initial payments. I would advise anyone to be very cautious using this type of lender, I never will again.
  • Apples2
    Apples2 Posts: 6,442 Forumite
    strewth71 wrote: »
    The bank said that they are within their rights
    Of course they are, it is exactly what you signed a contract to agree would happen.
    It was you who decided the change the rules afterwards.

    To the OP, it does sound like there is a problem linking your payment to the account, they aren't alone in this, I have had similar problems with AMEX, arguably a much more respectable company.
  • cheers apples 2, will look into it further.
  • ihateyes
    ihateyes Posts: 1,326 Forumite
    Imy bank confirms that it has been requested but not authorised. .

    Ok, i think the bank has some questions....

    mainly, if this transaction was declined, why is the payment 'pending' ie frozen.
    it should only be pending if it is authorised.

    In terms of Wonga, they are one of the better PDLS out there.
    The have improved on their practices recently, most probably because of all the sponsorship they do,
    Promo codes are never always cheaper..... isnt that right EuropCar?
  • Payment has probably been earmarked not taken. It does mean funds are frozen until the earmarks drop off - normally this takes 3-5 working days.
  • Thing is I didn't owe them anything so therefore, no contract. It just worries me that anybody can take money out of your account without permission. The loan was repaid early and account cleared. I didn't default or late payment. They just tried to take money out of my account for no reason.

    It's a great pity you didn't think about this when you gave Wonga permission to access your account by giving them your card details.

    It's no use thinking about these things after the event.

    Many people on this site have warned and warned about giving out debit card details to all and sundry but still people do it, and are then amazed and astounded when money disappears from their account, whether legitimate or not.

    We all know these firms shouldn't do it, but whilst people are so free and easy with their card details, it will continue, and people will keep coming onto these board asking what they can do to erase the damage done by their own actions.
    "There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock
  • Is the amount they took on the 31st (2nd payment) the correct amount you owed, had you not made the 1st payment two days earlier?

    If so, could it be that your early payment, ( a rare occurence judging by most PDL posts!) wasn't processed in time to prevent the agreed payment for the 31st from being taken.

    Hopefully if you can prove to them that you have effectively paid twice, they will refund the overpayment. Whether they will pay you interest at 4000% apr on the money they now owe you is a separate issue.

    The lesson could be, if you take out a payday loan stick exactly to what you have agreed rather than paying early. A much better lesson though would be, live within your means, save up for things you want and never take out a payday loan ever again.
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