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Wonga debt assigned to Portfolio Recovery - written off?


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Hi, I have been lurking on these forums (and Google) but cannot seem to find any information about the problem I currently want to resolve.

 

I took out a Wonga loan in 2012 which was assigned to Portfolio Recovery Associates U.K. Ltd in June 2013.

 

I am currently on a DMP with Step Change and I am repaying the loan to PRA.

 

I'm aware that Wonga has had to write off loans which were in excess of 30 days in arrears (which mine clearly is) and would not have been approved under the new affordability guideline. I am certain that my loan falls into that category as I was unemployed at the time.

 

My partner took out a loan not long after me, he was employed full time and got into hundreds of days in arrears. However, his loan never got assigned to a DCA and he had made a few payments through Step Change with his DMP. His debt has been written off.

 

Surely because my debt has only been ASSIGNED to a DCA then Wonga should still include my account in the affordability check scandal?

 

I have been emailing Wonga on 5 different email addresses I have found every day but have not yet had a response.

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From what I have seen in other threads around here as well as from personal experience they have indeed excluded everyone who had their debt sold off from the write off program.

 

Not much you can do other than sending a letter headed Formal Complaint to Wonga detailing your objections to the practice.

 

If they fail to give you the desired response within 8 weeks you can then complain to the FOS.

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Why are you paying a DCA? have you checked for any reclaimable charges? have you even CCA'd the DCA?

Any advice i give is my own and is based solely on personal experience. If in any doubt about a situation , please contact a certified legal representative or debt counsellor..

 

 

If my advice helps you, click the star icon at the bottom of my post and feel free to say thanks

:D

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Thanks for the reply Nao.

 

I thought there was a difference between assigned and sold?

 

I am not brilliantly clued up on DCA but I thought if they were collecting a debt on behalf of the original creditor, in my case Wonga, then they would be paying it back to them?

 

I am really disappointed to hear that debts that were assigned to a third party are being excluded and not being written off, especially if my payments are going to Wonga via PRA, if that is the case. I haven't seen anything from Wonga about this?

 

I first emailed them on Thursday and have had no response, yet when my partner sent emails to the same addresses just minutes after, he received 3 responses 24 hours later.

 

I admit the debt is mine, I was stupid enough to take out a payday loan that I could not afford and spiralled. I have faced up to these debts though and want rid of them ASAP.

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I originally set up a repayment plan with Wonga, I could only make very low payments at the time as JSA was my only income and I missed a few payments as Christmas was approaching. I then received a letter from Wonga saying they had assigned the debt to PRA and a letter from them arrived swiftly after. I attempted to set up a repayment plan with the DCA but had several payday loans and I could not keep up. I came online for help and discovered Step Change who I set up a DMP with when I found part time employment. I haven't CCA'd the DCA - I am not quite sure what CCA is but if it is about the original credit agreement then I believe they would be able to find all the relevant paperwork. I remember reading online at the time that a payday loan company could not charge you more than the agreed loan amount + a months/maybe 2 interest. The DCA did not add anything on to the balance but I am not sure if there is any reclaimable charges that Wonga would have applied.

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Assigned is the same as being sold.

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Ahhhh, thank you for that.

 

So I'm definitely not going to get my debt written off then, as I assume PRA will have paid Wonga when they were assigned my account.

 

 

 

I am in a similar position. I have made formal complaints to Wonga and PRA stating I do not believe they carried out affordability checks. No response from Wonga yet, but the letter I have from PRA says

"We do not know if your account has been impacted by the recent Wonga announcement, however until we have confirmation of this your account has been placed on hold."

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I am in a similar position. I have made formal complaints to Wonga and PRA stating I do not believe they carried out affordability checks. No response from Wonga yet, but the letter I have from PRA says

"We do not know if your account has been impacted by the recent Wonga announcement, however until we have confirmation of this your account has been placed on hold."

 

I suppose it is good of PRA to have acknowledged you.

 

I am unsure whether to contact PRA before I get a response from Wonga. Although I don't want be repaying a debt that I believe should have been written off, I don't want to prolong the debt any more.

 

I do not understand why Wonga have not replied to their customers who are in this situation. Surely, it would easy for them to reply stating that our accounts had not been included due to being assigned to a third party. Perhaps this is a grey area that was not covered when they voluntarily came to an agreement with the FCA.

 

They sent me an email months ago stating that I had not been affected by the fake letter scandal, so why are they shying away now?

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When I first emailed Wonga, they told me they couldn't assist at all as the debt was assigned to PRA. They didn't acknowledge anything else I said about the current FCA agreement or writing off the debt.

Since I made a formal complaint, they've not responded at all.

 

 

I also contacted the FCA and got this reply "the current voluntary requirement (VREQ) agreement which requires Wonga to make significant changes to its business immediately only affects current customers as reflected in the press release; however, the FCA is still working with Wonga to identify whether any other consumers will need redress."

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When I first emailed Wonga, they told me they couldn't assist at all as the debt was assigned to PRA. They didn't acknowledge anything else I said about the current FCA agreement or writing off the debt.

Since I made a formal complaint, they've not responded at all.

 

 

I also contacted the FCA and got this reply "the current voluntary requirement (VREQ) agreement which requires Wonga to make significant changes to its business immediately only affects current customers as reflected in the press release; however, the FCA is still working with Wonga to identify whether any other consumers will need redress."

 

I have now received a reply from Wonga stating "We've identified the impacted customer groups and started the process of contacting them by email to let them know they have been affected and what to do next. We'll be in touch with all the customers directly, and if you're not contacted, please take this to mean you have not been affected."

 

I thought the process had a deadline of 10 October 2014 so it does leave doubt at a resolution for people in our situation when they say they have "started the process". What is the customer to do?

 

Your reply from the FCA does give hope, but I don't not want to make my payments on hope alone.

 

Did PRA say how long your account would be on hold for? I am worried, for instance, if they put my account on hold and hear nothing/confirmed that I have not been affected from Wonga and do not update me. I then would not be making payments and be starting to fall behind with potential interest and charges being added. I've read a lot about DCA and their dodgy carry-ons.

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Hi there,

 

Im in the same position. I took out a loan with Wonga in 2012. I was a student at the time and as silly as it was i could not afford to pay it back. My debt was then sold on to PRA (Portfolio Recovery) and after they hounded me i agreed to a payment plan, by this point my debt had doubled. After hearing about the recent wonga issues i emailed wonga directly to ask if i was affected. I got no response. I then emailed PRA who gave me the same reply as someone mentioned above...that they are investigating the matter and for now will place my account on hold( for how long i dont know) . I then emailed wonga again complaining i had not had a response. I asked if i was affected and if not why not and to be sent the details of my application including the income details i gave at the time. I also asked PRA for this information who have very willingly sent me details they received from wonga including the credit agreement however no income details are there. Wonga have finally replied with an automated response advising that if i havent been notified then im not affected. This was not an answer to my question, so again i emailed asking for the details regarding my loan and why they are not writing off debt that was sold on as surely this is worse than those already written off??!! Im still waiting on a reply but if i dont receive one by tomorrow im going to lodge a complaint. Legally i should have access to any information wonga hold about me including the financial details i gave them which im sure will highlight i was not able to pay it back. If anyone gets anywhere with this issue please let me know.

 

Thanks!!

 

Stacks :)

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I received another reply from Wonga today. This was to my original email as I had sent it to more than one department in hope that they would actually respond.

 

Wonga say "We've identified the impacted customer groups and we contacted them by email on the 10th October to let them know they have been affected and what to do next. Your recent loan has been assessed against the new criteria and that assessment has confirmed that your loan is affordable. We can therefore confirm that you have not been impacted."

 

Talk about contradictions, firstly they said they had only started the process but now say everyone affected was contacted by the deadline of the 10th October.

 

It is strange how they told ba85 they could not assist as your loan has been assigned to PRA but have managed to assess mine and found that it was affordable. This is not consistent.

 

I am certain that my loan would have not met the new affordability guidelines. I borrowed approx £300 and was unemployed, yet my partner was in full time employment and he was an impacted customer.

 

I find it hard to believe that they have assessed my loan. I think they have just sent me a template email as my reference number did not flag up as an impacted customer on their systems, without having actually looked into anything I said in my email.

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I suspect ill get an email telling me my loan was affordable even though i was unemployed at the time. Ive now written up a complaints letter and going to send it to both their complaints email and in writing. Ive asked to know the financial information i gave including income details and if used now would i be approved. I dont see how they can get away with saying it would once theyve given me the details. Fingers crossed!!

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Did PRA say how long your account would be on hold for? I am worried, for instance, if they put my account on hold and hear nothing/confirmed that I have not been affected from Wonga and do not update me. I then would not be making payments and be starting to fall behind with potential interest and charges being added. I've read a lot about DCA and their dodgy carry-ons.

The letter just says my account is on hold until they have confirmation whether my account was affected by the Wonga announcement.

The first email I had from Wonga said the debt was assigned to Gothia in 2013. The second said it was assigned to PRA in 2013 and the last said it was assigned to PRA in September 2014. None of those emails acknowledged my complaint that I didn't believe affordability checks were carried out.

The loan was definitely not affordable. I believe I taken out loans with them on a monthly basis, repaying each one on time. The last loan was for more than my monthly income so there was no way they carried out affordability checks!

Since I wrote making clear it was a formal complaint, I have heard nothing from Wonga.

What also annoys me is that IF the debt was assigned to PRA in September 2014, this was 2 weeks before Wonga announced they were writing off current customers debts. I find the timing very convenient for Wonga if they sold off a load of debts just before an agreement with the FCA.

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Essentially what needs to happen is that the FCA needs to yell at Wonga that Wonga was wrong to exclude sold off debts from the write off program.

 

Unfortunately the FCA doesn't usually do anything in individual cases, in other words, unless they get swamped in complaints they will do nothing.

 

So the only route left to try to get it written off is a formal complaint to wonga, if they fail to do what you want you can then complain to the FOS.

 

Of course it is still a good idea to keep the FCA in the loop with all the excuses wonga provides you and such.

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I sent Wonga a further email directing asking if debts that were assigned to a DCA/third party are included in the write off program. I received the exact email as they sent me before stating they had assessed my case and I was not an impacted customer.

 

Wonga make it sound like they have assessed my case regardless that is was assigned to PRA but have not acknowledged at all the fact it was.

 

I feel like Wonga are being very cautious by not directly acknowledging that accounts that have been sold are excluded. Again, maybe this was a grey area not covered by the FCA agreement.

 

I am unsure whether to put a formal complaint in. I do not think Wonga will write my debt off without further input from the FCA, which as Nao said unless they get swamped in complaints they will do nothing.

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Response from Wonga today. Email says they are legally required to report the default to credit reference agencies and following non-payment, they sold the debt to PRA. They need to investigate my complaint further and review the affordability of the loan and will issue a response within 8 weeks.

Whilst I'm pleased they are still looking at my case, I am annoyed that the agreement they came to with the FCA allowed them to exclude customers whose debts were sold on.

I am aware the FCA don't get involved in individual cases so my next step would be the FOS. I will need give Wonga the 8 weeks before I complain to them.

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Whilst I'm pleased they are still looking at my case, I am annoyed that the agreement they came to with the FCA allowed them to exclude customers whose debts were sold on.

 

Question for me is if we should we believe that Wonga was specifically allowed to exclude the customers where debts where sold on?

 

I would advice to keep fighting the issue until clarification on that comes.

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Question for me is if we should we believe that Wonga was specifically allowed to exclude the customers where debts where sold on?

 

I would advice to keep fighting the issue until clarification on that comes.

The email I have from the FCA says "the current voluntary requirement (VREQ) agreement which requires Wonga to make significant changes to its business immediately only affects current customers as reflected in the press release; however, the FCA is still working with Wonga to identify whether any other consumers will need redress."

 

I will carry on fighting and hope that the FCA does require Wonga to offer the same redress to customers whose debts were sold on.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/03/payday-lenders-repay-loans-Wonga

 

In the above article its says "Wonga said that it would be contacting all those affected by 10 October and that this included those whose debt had been sold to a third party or had been entered into an individual voluntary arrangement or a debt management scheme."

 

I have put that quote to Wonga and they refuse to even acknowledge it.

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I received an email from the Wonga complaints department today saying my complaint is being dealt with and a complaints reference number. I have not specifically put a formal complaint in.. yet!

 

I would really appreciate it if you (ba85) could private message/email me the formal complaint or a template of such that you put in to Wonga.

 

I really want to pursue this.

 

Thanks in advance!

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I would really appreciate it if you (ba85) could private message/email me the formal complaint or a template of such that you put in to Wonga.

I tried to PM you RosePetalBeauty but it says I need 30 posts to do this.

 

I received another letter from PRA today (as I wrote to them at the same time as Wonga). The letter says "Your complaint has been forwarded to Wonga to address your point about affordability checks. Due to the recent announcement by Wonga we have placed your account on an indefinite hold until such time as we have more information as to exactly how that announcement will affect your account. We bought the account in good faith from Wonga in good faith that the balance was correct and valid which is why a default was placed against your name. ..........We currently have the account on hold and we are awaiting instruction from Wonga on how to proceed........Should you found to be correct we will action your request as soon as possible"

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Just to keep this thread updated - I have not received a response from Wonga since I filed my formal complaint a part from the the initial automated reply email.

 

I did get an email in regard to system errors which was an update about customers who overpaid/underpaid and their internal investigations. It is an update from the email they sent out on 1st September - this might be a bit backwards of me but I'm not entirely sure if this is to do with the forbearance programme, it could be a separate case of them being entirely incompetent.

 

In this email it stated "Wonga will be handling all elements of the redress process even though your debt has been transferred to another company."

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