Pay Day Loans - written off

natalie656

Hi all

Just looking for some advice. A few years back 2013/2014 I got into a mess with pay day loans, borrowing nearly my whole salary a month and taking out a new loan to cover each month.

I'm now on a debt management plan with step change and am paying back what I can afford each month and am in a much better place.

In 2014-15 Wonga contacted me to say that they had written off the whole amount of the loan due to not carrying out the sufficient affordability checks etc.

My question is can I ask the other companies to do the same as Wonga was the first loan I took out so if they concluded that I shouldn't have been allowed to borrow the money how have other companies allowed it?

I'm not looking for any money back just for the amount to be written off and removed from my credit file.

To give you an idea of the mess I was in, in 2013 alone i had pay day loans with 8 different companies not including the ones I paid back and the amount with Wonga was £1,250 when my salary was £1,400.

Thanks in advance

jacksufc90

Hi Natalie.
Uncannily your situation almost exactly mirrors mine. I have agreement with all of the companies I (stupidly) took money out with in 2014/2015 financial year, and am paying them off bit by bit with the interest being stopped. Until then it was getting to a situation, where, like yourself, I was having to refinance each month just to get by. So I'm glad to hear you're in a better place.

I would imagine that it would be easier to ask the companies that loaned to you further down the line, than those who lent to you first on. I'd be the first to admit that I didn't always dislose totally what I already had going out, but I would imagine that this would be visible on a credit check.

Maybe you have a case there? Let's say on loans 6,7,8, to the lenders, the already outstanding 1-5 should have already been visible, and they shouldn't have lent to you knowing that information. I'm sceptical as to whether these companies do full checks.

You never know. There is no harm in asking, and if it's a negative, then at least you are on a DMP and won't have your account sucked dry each month.

Have a good evening!