Wonga / Payday Loans BEWARE!

EllaBeagle · 21 September 2012 at 11:11AM

Just wanted to warn people considering getting a pay day loan and give my experience.

Before I start this I take full responsibility for the fact that I've got myself in this mess, however its very easily done! And I think wonga and the like should take some responsibility too.

I got a wonga loan a few months ago of 100.00 for a household bill. When the time came to pay wonga back, it clashed with an insurance charge. This resulted in me paying the wonga loan and then getting another one to cover the approx 120.00 I had lost paying it back and to pay for the insurance.

When I was due to pay this back again, obviously for a larger amount, it came at a bad time (I think every week is a bad time for me bill wise!) and I had to get another wonga loan to cover what I had lost to repay it.

It has now got to the point where this week I owed 400.00 to wonga. When I checked the bank this morning, wonga couldn't go out because a direct debit went out before it (one which bounced back a few days ago as there was insufficient funds and they must have tried again). Again my fault as my head is a bit of a mess at the minute. This meant there isn't enough money in to pay wonga back fully so they have just taken whats there. Me and my partner now have 0.00 in our banks, wonga is still owed money so I can't get another one until its paid and I haven't been able to pay one bill this week, not even rent!

I now have to draw money out off our credit card to pay it into the bank so I can pay wonga back, get another wonga loan to pay our bills for this week and when we have to repay wonga back I will then need to take out another loan to cover what we've lost and so on.

Its a viscious circle and it was so easy to get into! I thought I was finally managing my bills until I got involved with them!

So just wanted to let you know my situation so you would think twice about using them. If I ever get to the point where I can pay it off and still have money for bills and food etc I would never use them again!

Mindless_Clone · 21 September 2012 at 12:01PM

Unfortunately OP, that's the problem with these payday loans.

Unless you can work it so you pay back in full as early as possible, the costs will mount.

I do find it amazing how so many people turn to them. What did we do before them? We begged, borrowed, cut back or sold something to make ends meet. If you're going to ask anyone for an advance, ask someone who isn't going to charge you 4000% interest. I wouldn't mind betting even your credit card charge less for cash advance and interest and you'd have a month to pay that back. And companies can be quite accomodating if you phone them and let them know you're struggling to pay the bill so you might be able to work something out to spread the impact out a bit.

If ythere's nowhere you can cut back or nothing you can sell, my advice now would be to try and organise an overdraft or loan / credit card advance through your own bank and pay Wonga off in full ASAP. Because it's going to skyrocket if you leave it even another week and almost anyone else lending you the money will be much cheaper in the long run.

And next time you can't pay a bill, speak to the billing company first and explain you're struggling!

maninthestreet · 21 September 2012 at 12:20PM

Why are you blaming Wonga?
Post an SOA (Statement of Affairs) on the DFW board to see if someone can offer advice ?

EllaBeagle · 21 September 2012 at 12:34PM

maninthestreet wrote: »

Why are you blaming Wonga?
Post an SOA (Statement of Affairs) on the DFW board to see if someone can offer advice ?

I'm not asking for advice. I'm sharing my experience to warn others.

Thanks anyway.

EllaBeagle · 21 September 2012 at 12:38PM

Mindless_Clone wrote: »

Unfortunately OP, that's the problem with these payday loans. Unless you can work it so you pay back in full as early as possible, the costs will mount.

I do find it amazing how so many people turn to them. What did we do before them? We begged, borrowed, cut back or sold something to make ends meet. If you're going to ask anyone for an advance, ask someone who isn't going to charge you 4000% interest. I wouldn't mind betting even your credit card charge less for cash advance and interest and you'd have a month to pay that back. And companies can be quite accomodating if you phone them and let them know you're struggling to pay the bill so you might be able to work something out to spread the impact out a bit.

If ythere's nowhere you can cut back or nothing you can sell, my advice now would be to try and organise an overdraft or loan / credit card advance through your own bank and pay Wonga off in full ASAP. Because it's going to skyrocket if you leave it even another week and almost anyone else lending you the money will be much cheaper in the long run.

And next time you can't pay a bill, speak to the billing company first and explain you're struggling!

Thanks mindlessclone

luckily I've found a good job which starts in a weeks time so hopefully as we'll have two wages coming in again I'll be able to get on top of this.

I can say I've learnt a very valuable lesson and won't be turning to them again. I've always been able to manage money quite well and keep credit cards, catalogues, credit etc to a minimum but with this it just seemed to escalate.

I watched This morning on wednesday about the woman who turned to prostitution due to payday loans. I actually had to disagree with her! No matter how bad things may have got with wonga I would never have thought that was my only way out :eek:

timberflake · 21 September 2012 at 12:41PM

The thread title is a little misleading to be honest. The problem here isn't Wonga as such, it's with your ability to keep track of what's going out of your bank and when, and make provisions to ensure the money is there.

You need to start taking control of your finances. Set up a spreadsheet listing your monthly income each month at the top and all of your outgoings below it. Auto-sum it at the bottom and see what the figure is, if it's more than 0 then it sounds like all you have to do is get better at managing when things go out, if it's less than 0 i.e. you don't have enough coming in to cover the outgoings, you have a problem and need to start cutting all non essential spending.

EllaBeagle · 21 September 2012 at 12:52PM

timberflake wrote: »

The thread title is a little misleading to be honest. The problem here isn't Wonga as such, it's with your ability to keep track of what's going out of your bank and when, and make provisions to ensure the money is there.

You need to start taking control of your finances. Set up a spreadsheet listing your monthly income each month at the top and all of your outgoings below it. Auto-sum it at the bottom and see what the figure is, if it's more than 0 then it sounds like all you have to do is get better at managing when things go out, if it's less than 0 i.e. you don't have enough coming in to cover the outgoings, you have a problem and need to start cutting all non essential spending.

The problem started when my job ended. So whereas before we had two wages coming in to cover everything, going down to one wage was extremely difficult.

I've always kept a spreadsheet of all incomings, outgoings. All I can say in this instance is that I thought everything would be ok as I started off with a manageable amount but sometimes things change and you have to try to work around it i.e the surprise insurance charge but thats another story. In some cases it can escalate beyond your control, when you think you can cope, you actually can't.

I'm sure many people have been in the same boat. As I said in my first post, I'm not asking for any advice whatsoever. I just want people to really think about whether they should turn to these lenders or not.

antrobus · 21 September 2012 at 12:54PM

EllaBeagle wrote: »

.. I thought I was finally managing my bills until I got involved with them!...

Obviously not, since it appears that you regularly don't have sufficient funds to pay your bills. Taking out the payday loan was only a temporary solution to a more permanent problem. You need to address that problem. As suggested above the DFW board might well be the place to start.

gregg1 · 21 September 2012 at 12:56PM

EllaBeagle wrote: »

I'm not asking for advice. I'm sharing my experience to warn others.

Thanks anyway.

I sympathise with your predicament but do have to reiterate what other posters have said. Wonga are there to make money and unfortunately you are their perfect customer. I do hope you can sort things out.I know you are not looking for advice but Citizens advice can help you sort out your debts, they are very good at that sort of thing. I suggest you give them a call and they will help you get out of the vicious circle you have found yourself in. It's not really Wonga's fault (although I do think they make it too easy for people to borrow money, ultimately we all have to take full responsibility for our finances). Good luck, i understand how easy it can be for things to get out of hand

timberflake · 21 September 2012 at 12:58PM

EllaBeagle wrote: »

The problem started when my job ended. So whereas before we had two wages coming in to cover everything, going down to one wage was extremely difficult.

I've always kept a spreadsheet of all incomings, outgoings. All I can say in this instance is that I thought everything would be ok as I started off with a manageable amount but sometimes things change and you have to try to work around it i.e the surprise insurance charge but thats another story. In some cases it can escalate beyond your control, when you think you can cope, you actually can't.

I'm sure many people have been in the same boat. As I said in my first post, I'm not asking for any advice whatsoever. I just want people to really think about whether they should turn to these lenders or not.

I know where you're coming from. I got myself in a lot of trouble a few years ago, but thankfully managed to salvage the situation!

IMO there is never a good reason to turn to these shiesters, they're out for one reason and one reason only and that's to fleece you for all they can.

Get yourself sorted out and see this little experience as a life lesson. At least you'll know never to turn to them again!

EllaBeagle · 21 September 2012 at 12:58PM

antrobus wrote: »

Obviously not, since it appears that you regularly don't have sufficient funds to pay your bills. Taking out the payday loan was only a temporary solution to a more permanent problem. You need to address that problem. As suggested above the DFW board might well be the place to start.

And the problem will be addressed. Thanks everyone for offering me advice but this thread really wasn't meant to discuss my financial problems. As I keep saying all I want to do is share my experience so others can think twice.

You think it won't happen to you, you think everything will be fine, you think you will be able to manage but it all falls apart!

Wonga / Payday Loans BEWARE!

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