Old wonga loan closed on credit file....but reappears under DCA

Breadrunner

Hi all, newbie here so hope this is in the right place,

I would like a bit of help to see if I can get this removed from my credit file, I had an old loan from wonga in 2011 which I thought had been wrote off because of the bill that came into force a couple years ago, it was closed in 2013 but in my credit report it is called "unknown" yet it is for the price of £901 - on the same day a file has been opened for a debt of the same price but with the name of wongas debt enforcers portfolio recovery associates,

As far as I can work out, wonga cleared the debt but have then maybe sold it on to the DCA? Who I presume would no nothing about what wonga had arranged because all they do is buy the debt?

Any help would be great

National_Debtline

Hi Breadrunner,

Welcome to MSE.

You are correct in what you say, that when a creditor sells a debt on they do tend to mark the debt as “settled/satisfied” by their name and then the new organisation will list the debt under their name. If the original creditor has listed the status of the debt as “unknown” after selling the debt on, that is a little unusual. You may need to write to Wonga and clarify this, in order to make sure your credit file is as accurate as possible.

You will also need to check with Wonga about the status of the debt in order to try and get this removed from your credit file. Only incorrect information can be removed from your credit file. Therefore, unless the creditor writes to you to confirm that your debt is no longer owed, I am afraid it would not be written off. If Wonga confirms in writing that the debt was written off then you can make a formal complaint about them selling the debt on to another company. You can also contact Experian with the letter from Wonga and ask them to remove the incorrect information from your credit file.

Unfortunately, if the debt was not written off then Wonga would be within their rights to pass/sell the debt on, if it was not being paid. Furthermore, if the debt is from 2011 then they are still able to chase you for the money owed (even after 3-4 years) and you will need to deal with the debt/ debt collector. You can then consider your options to repay/deal this debt,

Laura
@natdebtline

sourcrates

What makes you think the debt was "cleared" by Wonga ?

Unless you were affected by the recent affordability issues regarding Wonga, which you would of been notified of, the debt still stands.

A more likely scenario is that you failed to repay the loan, for whatever reason, Wonga have sold the delinquent account on to a DCA, who now own the debt, and will report its status on your credit file.

So no, you cant have it "removed" as its status is been correctly recorded on your file.