Payday loans and credit files

SophieLoui23

Hi all,

I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. Think it's about time I dug my head out of the sand! I'll try and keep this short and any advice given would be greatly appreciated.

So a little background info:

Between July 2011 and October 2012, I had some financial difficulties and found myself relying on Wonga and another payday loan company. Needless to say, I found myself in a cycle of paying the debt back at the end of the month when I got paid and then finding I was short for the next month, so taking out another loan within 1-7 days of paying back the old loan. This happened a total of 10 times with Wonga, another 2 with PaydayUK. I also have one showing on my credit rating under 'PRA Group (UK) Ltd' - although I've no idea who they are!? Fortunately, I forced myself out of that cycle, got a second job and (touch wood) things have been a lot more stable since. However, my credit rating is atrocious! I was looking to remortgage my house, but it seems that there is no way that will happen at the moment

Last year, I saw a thread on here, discussing 'irresponsible lending' by payday companies such as Wonga and decided to send an email to them, using one of the templates provided on here. My main aim was for them to agree that they had been irresponsible in their lending and for them to remove the history from my credit rating. I wasn't looking for any financial compensation (although that would have been helpful!)

The response I got was:

We have investigated your complaint but unfortunately we are not able to uphold your case. Our findings are set out in more detail below.

Your Complaint

You raised the following complaints to Wonga:

In order to repay Wonga, you were forced to borrow from other sources.

When you repaid each loan you were able to immediately take a new loan with the effect that your borrowing was not short-term.

Wonga failed to adequately assess the affordability of your loans when you applied.

You are unhappy with about the reporting of your data to the credit reference agencies.

Our response

In investigating your case, we have considered the affordability of your loan based on information available to us at the time of application. That includes your personal circumstances, the value of the loan against your stated income, the frequency of your borrowing and any other factors which indicated financial difficulties as a result of the loan, such as arrears and repayment arrangements.
When you applied for your loan you told us that you were employed full-time with a total monthly income after tax of £990 which increased to £1,174 during the course of your loans.
In comparison to your salary we believe that your loan was a reasonable proportion of your earnings and when considered with the other information available to us, we concluded that you could afford to repay on time and in full.

We have also considered the frequency of your borrowing.

Although you used our service regularly we believe than the frequency of your ten loans, when examined against your personal circumstance, income and the pattern of your borrowing, did not indicate that these loans were unaffordable.

Your history with us also confirms that you had a good history of repayment. This would have given us confidence in your ability to repay.

You have told us that you had to repay Wonga by borrowing elsewhere. If you are struggling to repay that loan, we would encourage you to get in contact with your lender to discuss your circumstances with them. They will be able to put in place a suitable repayment plan in order to help you to repay in a sustainable way. You can also get free debt advice from a number of organisations including:
• Step Change Debt Charity - 0800 138 1111
• National Debt Line - 0808 808 4000
• Citizens Advice - 03444 111 444


Although it appears from your account that you did on occasion enter into a new loan soon after repaying your previous loan, we do not believe that this in any way indicated that you were in financial difficulty or unable to afford your loan. We clearly set out on our website and in the documents sent to you that our product is an expensive way to borrow money in the longer term and is for short term use only. When you completed our application you agreed that you had considered how you would repay this loan while meeting your other outgoings. As we had no indication you could not repay this loan we do not believe your pattern of borrowing was such that these loans were not affordable.

As a responsible lender, we are required to report accurate information to the credit reference agencies. This means accurately reporting every loan application, settled loan and, in some cases, issues with an account.
Our privacy policy, terms and conditions, and website describe how each loan is subject to a credit check and how reporting will be made in respect of each loan.
We are not responsible for how lenders who use the reported data make decisions in relation to credit scoring. Other lenders set their own credit policy that we cannot influence. We are unable to remove any searches, footprints or defaults that have been applied correctly from your file, however, if you believe that any searches, footprints or credit notices have been incorrectly applied by us, please contact customercare@wonga.com who will investigate the matter for you.

Outcome

Having looked in detail at your complaint and the information we had access to when we made our lending decisions, we have not found any indication that your loans were unaffordable. On that basis, we are unable to uphold your complaint.

We’re sorry you have found it necessary to complain and we hope that our response will explain how we have reached our conclusion.

This is our final response but if you’re not satisfied with it, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of the date of this response.

.........

Feeling deflated, I have now let this sit in my inbox for 6 months.I'm wondering whether I have a leg to stand on, in regards to any new legislation that has come into place? I know a lot of people have been rewarded with financial compensation, however I really just want this off my record, without having to wait another 2 years! :eek:

If anyone has had any luck with either PaydayUK or PRA Group (whoever they are?) with regards to lodging a complaint on the grounds of 'irresponsible lending'.

sourcrates

Hi,

Yes,

Lots of people have had thousands in refunded interest and charges from almost every payday lender.

There is a specific thread about it here :
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5289150

That is a standard "go away" responce from wonga, you should of immediately passed your complaint to the FOS, you have six months in which to do this, you may now be out of time, if so, complain again.

You can do it all on line from the FOS website here :
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

SophieLoui23

Thanks for your reply.

Will they be able to clear the history with them from my credit file as this is my main concern?

I know in the email they stated:
As a responsible lender, we are required to report accurate information to the credit reference agencies. This means accurately reporting every loan application, settled loan and, in some cases, issues with an account.
Our privacy policy, terms and conditions, and website describe how each loan is subject to a credit check and how reporting will be made in respect of each loan.
We are not responsible for how lenders who use the reported data make decisions in relation to credit scoring. Other lenders set their own credit policy that we cannot influence. We are unable to remove any searches, footprints or defaults that have been applied correctly from your file, however, if you believe that any searches, footprints or credit notices have been incorrectly applied by us, please contact customercare@wonga.com who will investigate the matter for you.

Has anyone had their history with a payday loan company removed from their credit file? I never defaulted with Wonga (although I did with PayDayUK)...

I received this email from them on the 05/12/15 so I am one day later than the 6 month timescale. Typical. Will I have to re-email Wonga or should I go ahead with the Obudsman anyway?

fusionx212

SophieLoui23 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Will they be able to clear the history with them from my credit file as this is my main concern?

I know in the email they stated:
As a responsible lender, we are required to report accurate information to the credit reference agencies. This means accurately reporting every loan application, settled loan and, in some cases, issues with an account.
Our privacy policy, terms and conditions, and website describe how each loan is subject to a credit check and how reporting will be made in respect of each loan.
We are not responsible for how lenders who use the reported data make decisions in relation to credit scoring. Other lenders set their own credit policy that we cannot influence. We are unable to remove any searches, footprints or defaults that have been applied correctly from your file, however, if you believe that any searches, footprints or credit notices have been incorrectly applied by us, please contact customercare@wonga.com who will investigate the matter for you.

Has anyone had their history with a payday loan company removed from their credit file? I never defaulted with Wonga (although I did with PayDayUK)...

I received this email from them on the 05/12/15 so I am one day later than the 6 month timescale. Typical. Will I have to re-email Wonga or should I go ahead with the Obudsman anyway?

Hi, I have had loans removed from credit file due to irresponsible lending.

this is one of the key requirements when complaining.

SophieLoui23

Excellent thank you!

Is there a template email that I can use?

sourcrates

SophieLoui23 wrote: »

Excellent thank you!

Is there a template email that I can use?

Full reclaiming guide here :


http://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/


When you fill in the FOS complaints form, you ask for refund of interest, charges, plus simple interest at 8%, also ask for any credit footprints to be removed, If your complaint is upheld by the FOS, then that's what will happen.

SophieLoui23

Thank you so much! I will look into starting the process off tonight.