Wonga - Borrow and run

runninglea

My son has recently moved to a house share, whereas before he was in a bedsit.

Him and another bedsit tenant now house share.

My son has just been told by this guy that he took a £750 loan out with wonga on 31/1/14 and needs to be repaid by 3/3/14 (£968)

He now says he has not got the money to pay but since he took the loan out at the old address they will not find him.

He has also swapped banks since the monies were transferred.

However much everyone hates wonga - surely this is the reason why they have to charge such high rates.

I also do not understand why they would give him such an amount since he is on DSS and has been since sep 2013.

How long will it take wonga to find him?

DCFC79

Maybe they gave him so much because he lied on the application in terms of being employed (does it even ask the employment question). They will find him when he slips up, no doubt Wonga will write it off after a while.

michael1983l

I have no sympathy for payday lenders, they should not exist anyway. I hope Wonga don't get a penny back.

michael1983l

DCFC79 wrote: »

Maybe they gave him so much because he lied on the application in terms of being employed (does it even ask the employment question). They will find him when he slips up, no doubt Wonga will write it off after a while.

I am sure you have to be employed to get a wonga loan, so unless the person opened the account earlier whilst they were in employment, then they have probably lied on the application.

iolanthe07

I hope Wonga don't get a penny back.

That's all very well, and I understand your sentiment, but it is precisely the reason why Wonga and others justify charging such high interest rates. It is very hard on the people who do pay their money back for them to have to carry those who don't.

runninglea

michael1983l wrote: »

I am sure you have to be employed to get a wonga loan, so unless the person opened the account earlier whilst they were in employment, then they have probably lied on the application.

Yes last time he applied and got into a mess with wonga, he was employed. He was helped by his nan and girlfriend who kindly paid off the amount

JunkUtopia

runninglea wrote: »

How long will it take wonga to find him?

There is no definitive answer to this, other than it will one day. As soon as he needs to sign up to the electoral roll for one reason or another is when they will be able to hunt him down.

Clive_Woody

runninglea wrote: »

Yes last time he applied and got into a mess with wonga, he was employed. He was helped by his nan and girlfriend who kindly paid off the amount

If his nan and girlfriend paid previously using their own cards then Wonga will still have these on record and will charge these instead if the guy does not pay what is owed. They need to be warned that they could soon be paying off another loan for him.

BigAunty

JunkUtopia wrote: »

There is no definitive answer to this, other than it will one day. As soon as he needs to sign up to the electoral roll for one reason or another is when they will be able to hunt him down.

Although people are obliged to sign up to the electoral register, plenty of people fly under the radar by never doing so.

When I read an article about tenant tracing (landlords employing a tracing agent to find tenants that owe them rent), one tracing company trumpeted that they could find people from their bank statements, mobile phone bills and similar. Don't know if its illegal or an empty boast but that's what they claimed.

Also, some tracing companies reckon they find the employment of the debtor or the properties they own. Again, I don't know how they manage this or if its a false claim.

EDIT - Out of curiosity, I did some research on how knowledgeable debtors try to sidestep being located by Debt Recovery companies, laying low until CCJs are discharged, for example.

It seems to be very difficult to do - even those changing their name by deed poll or marriage or moving overseas have been traced.

I've come across claims that if a person has their post re-directed by the Royal Mail that the credit checking companies can access this (meaning that so, too, can the debt collecting companies). Also, claims that employers can be traced via the NI number, addresses through DVLA and passport applications, social media like Facebook, LinkedIn. These claims I haven't verified so are unsubstantiated. Since I did my research on the internet, it is full of rumour and anecdote...

Posters have written "If [a debtor] has bought anything or done anything thats puts him on a data base at [an] address then that will be enough....We live in a computerised world, it's getting increasingly easier for debt companies to trace people. "

It seems a person has to work in the cash economy and have absolutely no paper or electronic trail to link them to where they actually live which is incredibly hard to do.

That person has got to worry about whether applying for benefits, buying some internet goods for home delivery, submitting a CV or tax return online or registering with a doctor is going to be a step that uncovers them, wondering whether the debt collectors actually have illegal access to databases or not. I've just used random speculative examples of databases for illustration purposes rather than as fact.

Most of what I've read seems to suggest that debt chasing companies just seem to be able to find people and they aren't sure how....Many posters simply recommend the stress of the evasion and the likelihood of being found is counterproductive - far better to put energies into getting expert free advice from a debt management charity rather than burying the head in the sand.

That said, other critics say that debt collecting agencies have been assigned mythical powers of detection that they simply do not have - they only use basic, legal public information.

"Despite the illusions they create and peoples perception of tracing there is no mysterious powers at force, they can not access ex direct. numbers and they do not have a huge arrear of databses at ther disposal.

The very sorry truth, is they have access to what ever the original creditor supplies from the original appliaction which is usually, tele, mobile, email dob address, job details.

Apart from this they no rights other than the general public which means access to PUBLIC information which means voters info, BT, court info and if they hold credit licence CRA info, in some cases DVLA. THATS' IT."

leanderle

BigAunty wrote: »

"Despite the illusions they create and peoples perception of tracing there is no mysterious powers at force, they can not access ex direct. numbers and they do not have a huge arrear of databses at ther disposal.

The very sorry truth, is they have access to what ever the original creditor supplies from the original appliaction which is usually, tele, mobile, email dob address, job details.

Apart from this they no rights other than the general public which means access to PUBLIC information which means voters info, BT, court info and if they hold credit licence CRA info, in some cases DVLA. THATS' IT."

You're right, but that only holds if the tracing agents are reputable. I used to work in the call centre for an electricity company, and we used to get tracing agents on the phones pretending to be the debtor. They would ask why they're not getting bills sent to their new address, and when the (inexperienced) call centre employee says they can see the mail is being redirected on their computer, then the tracing agent asks the call centre employee what address it's being sent to. Illegal, but effective.

PeacefulWaters

runninglea wrote: »

My son has recently moved to a house share, whereas before he was in a bedsit.

Him and another bedsit tenant now house share.

My son has just been told by this guy that he took a £750 loan out with wonga on 31/1/14 and needs to be repaid by 3/3/14 (£968)

He now says he has not got the money to pay but since he took the loan out at the old address they will not find him.

He has also swapped banks since the monies were transferred.

However much everyone hates wonga - surely this is the reason why they have to charge such high rates.

I also do not understand why they would give him such an amount since he is on DSS and has been since sep 2013.

How long will it take wonga to find him?

Your son is living with a scumbag.

The question to ask is "how long until he rips off my son?"