Wonga - Taking payments

[Morkel123]

Hi,

 

I am new to the site so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

 

I have a debt with wonga which is due on Friday of £705. Due to problems with Car there is no way I can afford to pay this back. I am seperated from my partner but have a joint mortgage. Can I just make sure there is no way they can do anything about recovering the money from that? I presume not as is an unsecured debt.

 

Also I will be offering to make a payment on Friday of £250 or £300 if I can afford it and then offering £70 a month. I know that there will be charges but is there anyway I can get them to cap it.

 

Due to reading other e-mails I have cancelled my debit card so that they wont take any money out.

 

Is there a contact anyone knows at wonga I can e-mail to this sorted.

 

Many thanks

[paulh1818]

Hi Morkel. Wonga won't accept any kind of plan until you have defaulted. On that date they will try to take the amount from your bank. If they can't, they will try to take half the amount then half of that again until they get something. However, once you have defaulted they usually will set up an arrangement quite easily and freeze interest and charges on the condition that you stick to the arrangement. Try this email [email protected] or

[email protected]

[Morkel123]

Many Thanks Paul,

 

I will e-mail them and hope we can sort it out quite easily.

 

Can I just make sure as it is an unsecured debt that they can't do anythign with the house. I am sure I am getting a little carried away here as presume they go through debt collectors before that stage. Just want to make sure.

 

Lesson learned.

[paulh1818]

Don't worry about wonga. They will set up an arrangement for you, but not until you have actually defaulted. You will get an email from them telling you how disappointed they are. As soon as you get that email, you email them back. But only offer what you can afford. I've added another email address in my first post. Email both of them to be sure you get a response. Good luck!

Paul

[Morkel123]

Thanks again Paul I will do that.

[sillygirl1]

Don't forget to get an alternative bank account, Halifax online Easycash (sign up online) or the Co-op or the Post Office are good alternatives.

[Morkel123]

Do I need to do this? I have cancelled the debit card so will just not give them the new details? I presume they cannot take cash any other way?

[sillygirl1]

YES, even though you have cancelled the card the bank will do nothing as 'you owe the money to the company and they are entitled to it'. Read the other threads on the Payday loan forum. There are plenty of stories of the accounts being raided 'at will' and all funds removed.

 

You have to protect your income and take back control.

[Morkel123]

Thanks. it is too late for me to change bank account now with wages etc. As it is Friday. Surely they cannot take money out of my account without the right debit card number? How is this possible? The problem is the money will be there on Friday as all my bills will come out on the following day. How can they take the money if they haven't got the details? I thought on the other posts it was people who hadn't changed the debit card and they kept trying. Is my undertsanding wrong as I will be screwed if so.

[sillygirl1]

I'm still not sure how they do it but they do manage it. Take a letter into your branch revoking any previous authority Wonga may have had to access your funds. Then if they do try (it has been known) you can invoke the banks clawback scheme and log a complaint with the FOS about your bank and Wonga.

 

I don't suppose you sent in a photocopy of your debit card when you signed up did you - most bank debit cards show the account details....

 

This money seems to 'vanish' in the early hours of the morning....

[Morkel123]

Thanks. No they don't have a photocopy. They will have the account details as they paid the money in using them. I really can't see how they can as that would have to be a standing order or DD. I am pretty sure they can't take out with old debit card as is cancelled.

 

Can anyone else other any advice on these please? Your help is appreciated.

[sillygirl1]

The only advice is to take a letter into your bank revoking Wonga's right to take funds from your account under any circumstances. That way if it does happen then you have a comeback and can get the bank a reprimand from the FOS.

 

Get a new account ready for next month with a different bank, Halifax Easycash, Co-op and Post Office all do good basic accounts, with Halifax you get a lot of online facilities as well.

[Pink_Panther]

Does that work taking a letter into your bank then?? Never heard of this before! Are there any templates on here, or any tips on what to write? Sounds like a good idea actually

[silverfox1961]

Two threads merged. It is always better to stick to one thread per topic

[sillygirl1]

No idea if it does work but at least you can state to the bank that you clearly gave written instructions that this company had no right to funds using your new card. With written back up you then can go to the Banking Ombudsman and show that the bank failed to look after YOUR money. Just because it is in the bank it isn't THEIR money and they have no right to say who gets it (IMHO only a court of law can do that).

 

Sometimes banks leave the old card 'open' for 28 days.

[Morkel123]

Thanks Silly Girl. Can't believe that there is nothing I can do about them taking the money. End of the day my bills come out the next day and that wont change by me taking a letter in and then saying after the money has come out that they shouldn't have taken it. It wont get credited same day will it?

 

I am going to have to e-mail them and hope I can get an agreement in place. I already have another account but a savings one which I don't have any but gonna see if I can edit my details to that account! Worth a shot.

 

Does anyone know if Wonga will be helpful with my repayment offer if I e-mail them?

[paulh1818]

As I said, wonga won't entertain a repayment offer until after you have defaulted. I tried myself. Very frustrating. Follow sillygirls advice and speak to your bank.

[Morkel123]

Thanks Paul. Just a bit confused as the money will be there on the Friday as all my bills come out the next day. Therefore I am worried that there is nothing I can do. I spoke to the bank who said they can apply for the money from the old card but can take up to ten days. But I can't default until after the payment is missed and if silly girl is right then they will get it on Friday.

 

Did they end up getting any money out of your account on the day it was due if you don't mind me asking?

[paulh1818]

Yes they did. They managed to take around £30 but that was all I had in my account. I needed that money for food. I was quite shocked to find that it had gone. It is very unfortunate for you that your pay day lands on the exact day that wonga want paying. You can try to contact wonga but I don't think you'll have much luck. Is there no way you can get your wage paid into another account in time?

[slgsue]

Who do you bank with? I know it sounds daft, but do you have a savings account linked to your current account. Wen my OH was about to default with WDA, though a payment arrangement had already been put in place, we set the alarm for the crack of dawn and transferred all but the arrangement amount into the account to be sure they couldnt touch it. Also could you not for this month only arrange to pay your bills by direct bank transfer or by some other method until a new account and safety of your wage has been arranged and then reset DD's.

[Morkel123]

Thanks for all the advice. I bank with Natwest and really don't want to move. But by the sounds of it have no choice. My only option is to really extend the loan to try and give me a month to sort a few things out. I don't want to have problems with Natwest as that is who my mortgage is with. I have an arranged overdraft of £400.00. Either that or I take the risk it wont come out on the Friday as Natwest said it can take 10 days when they apply under the old card. Not sure if that meant it will come out or not even if money isn't there.

[ihateyes]

Hi Morkel. Wonga won't accept any kind of plan until you have defaulted. On that date they will try to take the amount from your bank. If they can't, they will try to take half the amount then half of that again until they get something. However, once you have defaulted they usually will set up an arrangement quite easily and freeze interest and charges on the condition that you stick to the arrangement. Try this email [email protected] or

[email protected]

 

 

utter rubbish......

 

email the same email to [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] and they will accept a payment plan staightaway.

 

that what i done, and advise everyone else here, and to date every one who has done this gets a plan sorted in a matter of hours.

state over how many mths you would like to pay it ove, and ask for sort code/acc number so you can send the monthly payments.

[paulh1818]

utter rubbish......

 

In my personel experience, wonga would not set up a repayment plan until I had defaulted. However, for Morkels sake, I hope he can set up a plan. If you are right he can have it sorted today.

[paulh1818]

Hi Morkel. How did you get on with this? Did you manage to avoid wonga raiding your bank account?

[Morkel123]

Hi Paul, Apologies was going to update later on. Basically I left it and the money did not come off my debit card. It was cancelled and they couldn't get it. That is not to say they couldn't in the future. I e-mailed them first thing before they got in touch with me at the e-mail addresses that were given. I agreed to pay them £150 today and £70 a month and that I required there bank details in order to do this.

 

They came back ot me in half an hour and said that they agreed to it and gave me the bank details and that interest would be frozen. I have had a lot of loans off them and never had a problem so I hope they took that into account and looks like they did.

 

All in all as long as they dont try to get the full amount out I have got to say they were excellent to deal with. I have made payment today and hopefully I can now clear this off. They get a hard time from people when it goes wrong so I would just like to say that they have been excellent in helping me sort this out. I am not trying to avoid paying what I owe and they have understood that and in my circumstances they need to be congratulated.