v. urgent help needed - wonga.com

[blowing bubbles]

I took out a pay day loan with Wonga which was due to be rpaid in November 2008. I lost my job and therefore could not pay the whole amount. I tried to contact them to arrange a repayment plan but they said it was the full amount only that would be accepted. I have responded to their demands via email, letter and have tried numerous times to phone but keep getting an answer machine. They have now added nearly £800 interest and I have now received the following letter from Chainey, D'amato and Shannon.

 

"As you have chosen to ignore our previous correspondence we will now be sending a collector to your home to collect your debt or to assess your assets prior to legal action taking place. We do this to enable bailiffs to easily recover goods to the value of your debt when they enforce any CCJ against you.

 

You must pay now to avoid the inconvenience of a visit from our collector.

 

When the collector attends the property they will require payment in full or they will complete an assessment of your lifestyle, and your home including details of any motor vehicles that you may have, with a view to facilitating seizure under warrant..

 

You will have to bear the cost of this visit."

 

Can anyone advise me what to do, I am planning to call them this morning (deadline of 12noon) and my partner has loaned me the money to pay the original debt but wants to argue the interest. However I am not paying anything unless they negotiate the interest which is approx £100 per week.

 

HELP

 

Thanks

[flyingdoc]

Do not allow this collector into your home for any reason - not to use the phone, the loo, if he seems to be having a medical emergency on your doorstep DO NOT LET HIM IN,

 

Once he is in your home you will struggle to get him out and he may try to levy on your posessions.

Without a court issued order they have no rights to do so.

 

Immediately WRITE to them (recorded) and say that you are withdrawing the common law right for them or any of their representatives to visit you at your home, and should any do so (without a court order) they will be committing trespass and you will take action to have them removed from your property (which may involve calling the police)

Make your offer to them in the letter (sent recorded).

Do not bother telephoning as they will say anything to get you to part with cash and then renege on any agreement reached with you. All communication should be in writing.

DO NOT PART WITH ANY CASH until you have a written copy of any deal made.

[mr.ton]

A deadline of 12 noon?....ring them at 12.01 instead in true cagger style

The simple fact is that they have no authority without going to a county court 1st & that, no bailiff can turn up unless given authority by the court.

They will try & tell you otherwise..but dont be bullied by them.

[vexlitigant]

Blowing Bubbles

 

You should indeed take the advice of the flyingdoc. Sending this letter will achieve TWO clear points

 

1/ It will make a clear statement that you are not interested in having them abuse you on the doorstep to your own home. I have to say that this threat is in 95% of cases, a hollow threat. You will feel good about doing this - Empowered if you like.

2/ For me this is the main point. You will be making your position absolutely clear in that they will start to find out that you are not going to be ridden over by their belligerant and bullying nature.

 

Additional points for good housekeeping:

 

Phoning them is quite dangerous. You should converse with them in writing only. You will find out that if you phone them, your heart rate will speed up, and you will probably lose your composure. Their member of staff will be working from a well drafted script designed to get you to yield to their demands. My advice - do NOT call them - write only.

 

When you write - you must as a minimum, send your letters with a certificate of postage. You get these by using a post office. To ensure the recipient knows you are notb messing, you ought to put a note at the footer of each page of your letter stating that you have "Sent With Royal Mail proof of postage" . Or you can send recorded. This is more expensive, especially if you start to shoot off more letters (which will probably be the case now you are on this thread )

 

Do not sign anything. Use a digital signature. This is the CAG link to the digitgal signature tutorial - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/110578-digital-signature-guide.html

 

Here is a version of flyingdocs letter suggestion that you might like to copy verbatim - of course filling in the correct dates.

Date XX/XX/2009

 

Your Reference - Account No. XXXXXXXX

 

Dear XXXXXXXX

 

In response to your letter dated xxth xxx 2008, received at this address on xx xxx xxxx.

 

In the first instance I refer you back to correspondence sent to you, on xx xxx xxxx and xx xxx xxxx.

 

Further to that, and in direct response to the content of your letter, I will make my position absolutely clear…

 

I DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE ANY REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUR ORGANISATION, OR INDEED AN AGENT OR REPRESENTATIVE EMPLOYED BY ANY ORGANISATION THAT YOU ISSUE INSTRUCTIONS TO.

 

There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.)

 

THEREFORE TAKE NOTE THAT I REVOKE LICENSE UNDER COMMON LAW FOR YOU, OR YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO VISIT ME AT MY PROPERTY AND IF YOU DO SO, THEN YOU WILL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES FOR A TORT OF TRESSPASS AND ACTION WILL BE TAKEN, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO , POLICE ATTENDANCE.

 

 

I also caution you here that should you ignore my request on this point, the actions of your representative(s) will happily be record edeither by CCTV or by audio recording equipment – whichever is applicable. Accordingly I reserve the right to use any evidence of you or your representatives’ ignoring this request in connection with any actions that I choose to pursue, including media exposure.

 

Should it be your intention to disregard my wishes, and break your obligations, please be advised that the following rules also apply, as laid down by the OFT in respect of debt collection, and that you, as a holder of a consumer credit license, are obliged to follow:

 

The areas of the OFT guidance which applies to you in this instance are:

 

Debt collection visits

2.12 Examples of unfair practices are:

 

a. not making the purpose of any proposed visit clear, for example, merely stating that collectors or field agents will call is not sufficient

f. visiting or threatening to visit debtors without prior agreement when the debt is deadlocked or disputed

 

Deceptive and/or unfair methods

2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:

 

k. not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt.

 

I do believe this makes my position clear and unambiguous.

Yours Faithfully

 

This letter sent with Roayl Mail proof of postage

 

 

That should keep the January blues at bay for now. See how they react to that. When they do, post their response up here, and more caggers will help you

 

Best, Vex

[spamheed]

I took out a pay day loan with Wonga which was due to be rpaid in November 2008. I lost my job and therefore could not pay the whole amount. I tried to contact them to arrange a repayment plan but they said it was the full amount only that would be accepted. I have responded to their demands via email, letter and have tried numerous times to phone but keep getting an answer machine. This is a deliberate ploy They have now added nearly £800 interest This is why it's a deliberate ploy and I have now received the following letter from Chainey, D'amato and Shannon.

 

"As you have chosen to ignore our previous correspondence we will now be sending a collector to your home to collect your debt or to assess your assets prior to legal action taking place. Total rubbish, anyone visiting your property without a court order has no more rights than the ice cream man, and as for assessing your property? this is fantasy island stuff We do this to enable bailiffs to easily recover goods to the value of your debt when they enforce any CCJ against you. Their choice of words is horrendous, carefully selected to try to scare you.

In essence they are telling you that they are going to send someone who has no authority of any kind around to your house to assist with the enforcement of a court order that we don't yet have and allow bailiffs to enforce a CCJ that, even if they did have it, you haven't yet defaulted on it in anyway?!?!?

 

You must pay now to avoid the inconvenience of a visit from our collector. erm maybe and then again maybe not

 

When the collector attends the property they will require payment in full or they will complete an assessment of your lifestyle, and your home including details of any motor vehicles that you may have, with a view to facilitating seizure under warrant.. at the very least a little premature, and at worst downright scare-mongering

given that they have no CCJ, and even the courts don't "assess your lifestyle" - more scaremongering

 

You will have to bear the cost of this visit." Only if the charges are clearly outlined in the agreement that you signed. - check the agreement - does it stipulate the exact amount that they will charge you should you default the repayment?

 

Can anyone advise me what to do, I am planning to call them this morning (deadline of 12noon) and my partner has loaned me the money to pay the original debt but wants to argue the interest. However I am not paying anything unless they negotiate the interest which is approx £100 per week. I would doubt very much that they will waive the interest, this is the whole point of doorstep loans, rob people blind with the exhorbitant interest rates, then crucify those who default by adding crippling charges

 

HELP

 

Thanks

 

Most of what they write is waffle and threats and I would complain to Trading Standards about their over stating of their powers and the threatening tone of their letter

 

Whichever letter you send to them, I would insist that all interest and charges are frozen immediately, make sure your correspondence is sent recorded (at least) and obtain proof of postings

[Ell-enn]

Also, make sure you don't have any money in the bank account they have details for - they will systematically empty your account. This happened to an employee of mine - they try your card details every morning in different amounts from £5 to £100 and if there is any money in the account they will have it!!! They took my employees full wages in one morning by debiting different ammounts i.e. £5 then £50 then £75 then £100 because he didn't pay on the due date. Be careful!!

 

If they threaten court proceedings, you can tell them you will be happy to let a judge have a look at their interest rates and business methods!

 

Ell-enn

[vexlitigant]

Also, make sure you don't have any money in the bank account they have details for - they will systematically empty your account. This happened to an employee of mine - they try your card details every morning in different amounts from £5 to £100 and if there is any money in the account they will have it!!! They took my employees full wages in one morning by debiting different ammounts i.e. £5 then £50 then £75 then £100 because he didn't pay on the due date. Be careful!!

 

If they threaten court proceedings, you can tell them you will be happy to let a judge have a look at their interest rates and business methods!

 

Ell-enn

 

 

Top advice!!!!

 

Forgot to even consider that one.

 

'Lose' the card that they have the details of, and get a replacement. Report that 'loss' right now.

 

Ensure that any other standing orders or direct debits are also stopped right now

[vexlitigant]

Getting well into this one now

 

Spamheed has set me off

 

they will complete an assessment of your lifestyle,

 

So.... what if you were to greet their visit by opening the door wearing a smoking jacket with white tipped cigarette in one hand and a 2 litre plastic bottle of John Smiths in t'other hand.

 

And if he / she dare request to use you loo, make sure there is one of these at hand....

Edited January 5, 2009 by vexlitigant
removed link

[Ell-enn]

Also, don't send a cheque for any payment you make - it's got the sort code and account number on it - and they may use it !! Ask for their bank details to make payment in the letter you send to them, so if it does get to court you can prove you asked for a method of payment.

 

Can you guess I hate this lot with a vengeance? after what they did to my employee!! They reckon he still owes them money but they've been sent the "happy to go to court and let a judge have a look at your interest rates" letter and he hasn't heard anything from them for a few weeks.

 

Their collections staff are rude and bullying and actually rang the employer (which was me in HR) asking to speak to him and hinting what it was about - so they got well put in their place!!

 

Ell-enn

[blowing bubbles]

Thank you all so much for the advice, I don't feel quite so threatened now. Has anyone disputed charges by these type of companies before and had a positive outcome?

[bergebabe]

i cant believe these people - good luck blowing bubbles!

[blowing bubbles]

I have been trying to make a payment to these people via credit card since monday. They keep giving me excuses why the payment cannot be taken at that time, systems down etc and promise to call me back but don't. They agreed to freeze the interest and charges as of 5th Jan so total amount owing £1610. I have checked my account today and it now states £2331!!!!!!!!

 

I have put in a complaint to the FLA but what else can I do, surely charges of over £700 in 4 days is illegal

[Ell-enn]

Ring them and ask for their bank details so you can pay it in that way - you shouldn't give them any card details - they may use them to take more money!

 

Failing that, get a bankers draft (and deduct the cost of it from the sum you are paying them!), and send it to them registered post. If you need help with a letter to go with it, let me know.....

 

Ell-enn

[082stewie]

subbing - along for the ride

[Help_Needed]

Hi. Blowing Bubbles - I have EXACTLY teh saqme problem at the moment. Got a loan with Wonga in november and lost my job and then miscarried my first baby...been in and out of hospital for 2 months. Therefore I havent paid the debt back.

 

Had chainey demato on the phone...tried to agree a payment which they wouldnt accept. They have been round to my old address and threatened my parents that they will take the family car. Its all awful. I dont know what to do!

 

I want to send that letter somebody pasted above...however I cannot find Chaineys address.

 

Blowing Bubbles do you have it please??

 

 

 

Kate.

[vexlitigant]

Hi. Blowing Bubbles - I have EXACTLY teh saqme problem at the moment. Got a loan with Wonga in november and lost my job and then miscarried my first baby...been in and out of hospital for 2 months. Therefore I havent paid the debt back.

 

Had chainey demato on the phone...tried to agree a payment which they wouldnt accept. They have been round to my old address and threatened my parents that they will take the family car. Its all awful. I dont know what to do!

 

I want to send that letter somebody pasted above...however I cannot find Chaineys address.

 

Blowing Bubbles do you have it please??

 

 

 

Kate.

 

 

Hello Kate

 

You really should start your own thread. This will get you direct help to your specific situation. I'd like to help anyone whom is in said difficulties, and where they have doorstepped you already.

 

Whilst you start your own thread, i'll quickly copy in a standard letter here, for you to read over. If you get your own thread i'll review and throw a few more points in there. They really appear to have gone quite a way to subjecting you and your family to phsychological harassment and they are well out of line!!

 

____________________________________________

Dear XXX

 

In a direct response to your recent activities / letter, dated xx xxx xxxx, received at this address on xx xxx xxxx. [Delete whichever is not applicable]

 

 

I DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE ANY REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUR ORGANISATION, OR INDEED AN AGENT OR REPRESENTATIVE EMPLOYED BY ANY ORGANISATION THAT YOU ISSUE INSTRUCTIONS TO.

 

There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.)

 

THEREFORE TAKE NOTE THAT I REVOKE LICENSE UNDER COMMON LAW FOR YOU, OR YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO VISIT ME AT MY PROPERTY AND IF YOU DO SO, THEN YOU WILL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES FOR A TORT OF TRESSPASS AND ACTION WILL BE TAKEN, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO , POLICE ATTENDANCE.

 

 

I also caution you here that should you ignore my request on this point, the actions of your representative(s) will happily be recordedeither by CCTV or by telephone recording equipment – whichever is applicable. Accordingly I reserve the right to use any evidence of you or your representatives’ ignoring this request in connection with any actions that I choose to pursue, including media exposure.

 

Should it be your intention to disregard my wishes, and break your obligations, please be advised that the following rules also apply, as laid down by the OFT in respect of debt collection, and that you, as a holder of a consumer credit license, are obliged to follow:

 

The areas of the OFT guidance which applies to you in this instance are:

 

Debt collection visits

2.12 Examples of unfair practices are:

 

a. not making the purpose of any proposed visit clear, for example, merely stating that collectors or field agents will call is not sufficient

f. visiting or threatening to visit debtors without prior agreement when the debt is deadlocked or disputed

 

Deceptive and/or unfair methods

2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:

 

k. not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt.

 

 

I do believe this makes my position clear and unambiguous.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

 

__________________________________________

 

 

You should be a bit more comfortable that you have found the right area to assist you though

[Help_Needed]

Thankyou vexligitant!

 

I have made a new thread now.

 

:o)

[what_todo]

lasrt week i sent a letter to Chainey D'mateo and Shannon, wonga solicitors, 1st class recorded and today it has came back as addressee has gone away.

 

below is the address that i put on the letter

 

Chainey D'mateo and Shannon

 

28-32 wellton rd

 

st johns wood

 

london

 

NW8 9SP

 

is this there address that is on top of thery letter:idea:

 

if so, what do i do now:idea::idea:

[hillards]

what do i do now

Please, help those trying to help you, by sticking to one thread and not duplicating the information....

I know I've already answered this question in the other thread - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/177189-wonga-com-debt-debt-2.html#post1930036

It also helps if you have your own thread for these things, instead of hi-jacking other people's. If the helpers are confused by you then they may turn their attentions to those they can offer help to.