Wonga Advice

missymish

I have been where you are, I borrowed a large amount from Wonga and at the time I was in a position to pay back fast forward a couple of months and I found myself out of work.

I spoke to Wonga and they were very helpful I set up a payment plan of £180 a month and they froze the interest (although they had got enough from me already as I had renewed twice) I have 2 payments left and I would never get a payday loan again they get you in a vicious circle.

It is hard but you have to learn to live on the minimum whilst you get yourself out of the mess you are in, I now have a job but walk to work, have lunch at home etc etc. Some weeks I spend no money other than on food essentials and bills, I havent been out or done anything for months but I am glad in a way it happened as it gave me the kick up the backside I needed.

Dont get anymore credit or loans, set up a payment plan, change your way of living and dont fall into the trap again.

Itazura

Thanks for all the advice thus far guys, I really appreciate it.

The problem is that I have an awful attitude with money and can't ever seem to plan how I spend my money and manage it effectively throughout the month. I'm slowly making progress as I was asked if I wanted to go out on Saturday and decided not to and stayed in. This is something I would have previously requested extra credit for... a small start but progress nonetheless. Now I just need to do that more often!

I'm still in two minds of what to do as I want to set-up a plan and pay it that way (I have already set-up a new bank account) but I am terrified it'll go wrong somehow (won't accept it, will clear my account, etc...) even though I have that account to pay my wages into.

I know exactly what I need to do and what needs to be changed. Thanks for all the help and I will definitely try and follow all of the advice/update the thread too.

KatieDee

I would probably focus more on clearing the Wonga loan and starting afresh. You could pay it off over three months or so and just be very careful with your money. We're not here to tell you how to spend your money and I can completely understand how easy it is to fall into the Wonga/payday loan trap...but it would be best to recognise now how this is probably only going to get worse unless you nip it in the bud.

I can't think of many people who benefit from payday loans. If you manage your finances properly and have money available, then a short term loan could work but you'll probably never need one. If you don't manage your finances well and you don't have much spare cash...you might need one but you definitely shouldn't be getting one! I find them a bit exploitative.

For future reference, you may wish to consider something like a local Credit Union for small loans. Basically, you have everything paid into them and they can lend you money depending on how long you save with them, for very competitive rates. I'm not sure if there are any qualifying criteria but you may wish to look into it :-)

Mr_F_Dorsetty

I want to make a general point about debt.

Myself I am of the opinion, as old age has caught up with me to some extent, that credit and collecting debt is an illness or maybe sickness.

This is a illness which is particularly prevalent in the UK - debt is seemingly wholly socially acceptable. The UK public on average are 7x's... yes 7x's... more indebted than anyone else in the EU. The next nearest is France.

But having lived in France I can assure you that all my French friends are simply astounded and horrified by the UK's use of credit cards and laisse faire attitude to indebtedness.

The OP is in the classic position, they now have to make so many payments they then have to borrow to live. This is a situation which can only get worse not better - something drastic has to happen:

A) To clear this debt
To not use credit again unless it is an investment.

At best point B means buying a house on a mortgage or art.

It certainly does not include buying cars or clothes or furniture, all they do is cost money and/or lose money.

Certainly my wife uses Barclay's on-line banking and that provides a pie chart of where your money goes automatically. I have no idea of other banks do but it is very useful.

My wife and I owe maybe £200 on a credit card which will be paid off when the bill arrives - that it is, in total, we owe nothing else.

When you have no debt you'd be stunned how much money you have to spend... but then you chose not to mostly.

Now I am not 'tight' or 'stingy' nor any other pejorative term but there is no way i am spending my money on rubbish I don't need because someone has told me I do!

The bottom line for me is this; if you cannot afford to buy a TV for £600, how can you afford to put it on a credit card and pay £1600 for it eventually?

The OP will get out of this dilemma somehow, but it is how fast he puts himself back into a similar place which he needs to address.

Itazura

Right, I just wanted to update the thread and let you know how it's going.

I've arranged a repayment plan through Wonga's website (£115 a month) that's due to go out on the 1st of every month. It felt brilliant to get paid today and pay all my bills without having to resort to another loan from them... with everything apart from travel costs, Home Insurance and my Bank Account fee paid for.

However, tomorrow is when the first payment is due and I am feeling very, very anxious that Wonga are going to try and clear my account, despite me moving all my wages into my savings account, which is separate from my account Wonga know the account/card number for (it has a different account number) but with the same bank. Is there any way they can get hold of money from there? It's a eSavings account with Lloyds if it matters.

I've left £150 in the account Wonga will take payment from to see if they will try to take more than the £115 agreed. I guess we'll see tomorrow what happens on that front...

I spoke to my girlfriend and whilst she wasn't pleased she has been a massive help getting me on track. The shame and anxiety of the situation will stop me from ever doing this again as I have barely slept this past week (despite being on holiday from work this week) as the stress of the situation is really getting to me. I know it's my own fault but I won't make the same mistake again as I can't cope with the stress!

The plan is to see what happens with the repayment plan and try to save money each month, then as soon as I have saved enough to pay the remainder off and get it out of my mind.

There is some good news though... I got asked to go out tomorrow by friends and decided to stay in to save cash. Maybe this experience has finally made me grow up!

Monkeyballs

Itazura wrote: »

Right, I just wanted to update the thread and let you know how it's going.

I've arranged a repayment plan through Wonga's website (£115 a month) that's due to go out on the 1st of every month. It felt brilliant to get paid today and pay all my bills without having to resort to another loan from them... with everything apart from travel costs, Home Insurance and my Bank Account fee paid for.

However, tomorrow is when the first payment is due and I am feeling very, very anxious that Wonga are going to try and clear my account, despite me moving all my wages into my savings account, which is separate from my account Wonga know the account/card number for (it has a different account number) but with the same bank. Is there any way they can get hold of money from there? It's a eSavings account with Lloyds if it matters.

I've left £150 in the account Wonga will take payment from to see if they will try to take more than the £115 agreed. I guess we'll see tomorrow what happens on that front...

I spoke to my girlfriend and whilst she wasn't pleased she has been a massive help getting me on track. The shame and anxiety of the situation will stop me from ever doing this again as I have barely slept this past week (despite being on holiday from work this week) as the stress of the situation is really getting to me. I know it's my own fault but I won't make the same mistake again as I can't cope with the stress!

The plan is to see what happens with the repayment plan and try to save money each month, then as soon as I have saved enough to pay the remainder off and get it out of my mind.

There is some good news though... I got asked to go out tomorrow by friends and decided to stay in to save cash. Maybe this experience has finally made me grow up!

Hi Itazura,

Good work

My experience of Wonga is that they're actually pretty good at sticking to whatever you have agreed with them so you should be ok... Try signing into your account and it should show you details of the repayment plan (dates and amounts due) - if not then it might be worth a quick call and just ask whoever picks up to confirm how much is due to be taken...

Did you cancel CPA with them? I can't remember if the repayment plan was paid via CPA or DD - you'll be as well to confirm this as well and if it's DD and they claim the CPA is cancelled then male sure you contact your bank too to cancel it.

IMPORTANT: Check how the repayments are to be collected before doing anything.

MB

matttye

Itazura wrote: »

Right, I just wanted to update the thread and let you know how it's going.

I've arranged a repayment plan through Wonga's website (£115 a month) that's due to go out on the 1st of every month. It felt brilliant to get paid today and pay all my bills without having to resort to another loan from them... with everything apart from travel costs, Home Insurance and my Bank Account fee paid for.

However, tomorrow is when the first payment is due and I am feeling very, very anxious that Wonga are going to try and clear my account, despite me moving all my wages into my savings account, which is separate from my account Wonga know the account/card number for (it has a different account number) but with the same bank. Is there any way they can get hold of money from there? It's a eSavings account with Lloyds if it matters.

I've left £150 in the account Wonga will take payment from to see if they will try to take more than the £115 agreed. I guess we'll see tomorrow what happens on that front...

I spoke to my girlfriend and whilst she wasn't pleased she has been a massive help getting me on track. The shame and anxiety of the situation will stop me from ever doing this again as I have barely slept this past week (despite being on holiday from work this week) as the stress of the situation is really getting to me. I know it's my own fault but I won't make the same mistake again as I can't cope with the stress!

The plan is to see what happens with the repayment plan and try to save money each month, then as soon as I have saved enough to pay the remainder off and get it out of my mind.

There is some good news though... I got asked to go out tomorrow by friends and decided to stay in to save cash. Maybe this experience has finally made me grow up!

Wonga won't be able to touch the money in your savings account.

The same is not true for different accounts within the same bank. E.g. if you owe Lloyds money on a loan and you also hold a current account with them, they can take money from your current account to pay off the loan. This is known as the "right to set off."

Itazura

I haven't cancelled anything as of yet I am afraid. This will be the first time I have ever let them collect a payment since I started using them as I always set the repayment date for the day after I got paid incase anything ever went wrong and paid them back "manually" through the website.

Yeah, it shows what is due to be collected and when, which is as follows:

01 Mar 2014 £115.00
01 Apr 2014 £115.00
01 May 2014 £115.00
01 Jun 2014 £115.00
01 Jul 2014 £115.00
01 Aug 2014 £115.00
01 Sep 2014 £115.00
01 Oct 2014 £115.00
01 Nov 2014 £115.00
01 Dec 2014 £100.77

I haven't cancelled either the CPA/DD but I do know that they're due to collect it automatically tomorrow, which I presume will be in the early hours of the morming?

Is there potential for them to take what they want/take from my savings account because I haven't cancelled either of these?

Itazura

matttye wrote: »

Wonga won't be able to touch the money in your savings account.

The same is not true for different accounts within the same bank. E.g. if you owe Lloyds money on a loan and you also hold a current account with them, they can take money from your current account to pay off the loan. This is known as the "right to set off."

Brilliant, cheers for that... that puts my mind at a little more rest at least!

Now I just need to see if they stick to it (even though it's all in writing) and see what happens tomorrow. Maybe then I can sleep decently for the first time in a few days and stop worrying quite so much.

Monkeyballs

Itazura wrote: »

I haven't cancelled anything as of yet I am afraid. This will be the first time I have ever let them collect a payment since I started using them as I always set the repayment date for the day after I got paid incase anything ever went wrong and paid them back "manually" through the website.

Yeah, it shows what is due to be collected and when, which is as follows:

01 Mar 2014 £115.00
01 Apr 2014 £115.00
01 May 2014 £115.00
01 Jun 2014 £115.00
01 Jul 2014 £115.00
01 Aug 2014 £115.00
01 Sep 2014 £115.00
01 Oct 2014 £115.00
01 Nov 2014 £115.00
01 Dec 2014 £100.77

I haven't cancelled either the CPA/DD but I do know that they're due to collect it automatically tomorrow, which I presume will be in the early hours of the morming?

Is there potential for them to take what they want/take from my savings account because I haven't cancelled either of these?

If they've updated your account with the plan then it should all be ok because I believe it's a different department who handle collections for accounts on a repayment plan - worst case, if something does go wrong then they'll have to repay it so they are not the ones breaking the agreement!

I'm 99.999% positive that you'll be fine though so don't worry about it

MB