Should we phone Wonga or not for repayment plan?

[mahharg]

I phoned Wonga and I'm glad I did. The general advice on this site is DON'T contact payday loan companies via phone. I would tend to agree but I actually found Wonga ok.

 

I was due to pay almost £1500 on Wednesday 23rd January. I got the "please call us" emails during January. I decided after reading on here to phone them. I informed the agent that I was recording the call but this wasn't needed.

 

What The Agent suggested which seems the norm is to phone 3 days before repayment is due (not before). I was advised that if I phoned 3 days before, I would be able to click on a link on my account (bottom right of loan Summary page) anytime before the due repayment date and fill out Wonga's own online financial assessment form. This is not a legal requirement only a court can order an income/expenditure form, however I'm glad I did.

 

I phoned 3 days before and simply said I was in financial difficulty and struggling to make payment, . The link was available on my account after an hour or so. The Creditors list had space for 8 and I had more so just put in things like "Credit cards x2". After I filled out the online form and clicked "next" I was asked to make an offer of payment. I offered £140 a month for 12 months. The response from Wonga (within seconds) was that based on my assessment they would accept £142. I had 2 choices.

 

1) Reject the offer and contact Wonga's assessment team stating that this is my offer take it or leave it. This would mean charges and interest being added before an agreement was made, I think they mention for 30 days, so an estimated £450 on top

2) Accept the offer via the accept link then all interest and charges are frozen there and then up to the date accepted.

 

I accepted the offer and I've already saved around £45 (3 day's interest). You are also offered a payment date up to around 38 days in the future which could give you a free month to assist you.

 

The thing I think people are worried about is proof. Wonga puts the details of the payment plan on your account page within minutes via the link "your payment arrangement" in the loan summary section. It clearly states what they will take from your card and it clearly states that all interest and charges will be frozen. I also got an email with the same information. So I presume it is legally binding.

 

Congratulations, your plan has been set up.

 

Interest is now frozen on your account. Please make sure that you are able to honour this arrangement.

You should print this page as a reminder of the amounts we will collect from your debit card on the dates you have promised.

 

How much we will wonga debit?WhenHow much will you still owe? Payment 1£142 25 Feb 2013 £1462 Payment 2£142 25 Mar 2013 £1320 Payment 3£142 25 Apr 2013 £1178 Payment 4£142 25 May 2013 £1036 Payment 5£142 25 Jun 2013 £894 Payment 6£142 25 Jul 2013 £752 Payment 7£142 25 Aug 2013 £610 Payment 8£142 25 Sep 2013 £468 Payment 9£142 25 Oct 2013 £326 Payment 10£142 25 Nov 2013 £184 Payment 11£142 25 Dec 2013 £42 Payment 12£42 25 Jan 2014 £0.00

Followed by an email

Dear Me

Our aim is always to help you settle your loan as quickly as possible and acknowledging difficulty in repaying is actually half the battle, so we really appreciate you getting in touch and discussing a repayment plan.

Whilst we cannot enter into a new agreement, I am happy to confirm we will accept your payments against the original agreement according to the plan below. Also, as a matter of our entire discretion we will freeze interest as long as the plan is maintained, because we are keen to help you settle the balance.

 

 

Promise Date Repayment Amount 25 Feb 2013 £142 25 Mar 2013 £142 25 Apr 2013 £142 25 May 2013 £142 25 Jun 2013 £142 25 Jul 2013 £142 25 Aug 2013 £142 25 Sep 2013 £142 25 Oct 2013 £142 25 Nov 2013 £142 25 Dec 2013 £142 25 Jan 2014 £42 Please Login to the MyAccount section of the site to review and verify your plan. Don't worry if you have forgotten your password as you can request a new one at the login page.

Once logged in and having verified the arrangement, you can keep track of your payments at any time. You can also add a debit card, or choose your primary card, from where we'll take payments unless agreed otherwise.

If you miss a payment which has become due under the plan, the full remaining balance under that plan will become due and payable to us and will be automatically collected from your debit card. We may also make further attempts to collect the money from your debit card, or any other card you have chosen, either in one payment or in several amounts on a continuing basis until the

(Both email and account page are in table format)

 

The amount owed on the main page will continue to show the amount owed with interest racking up daily whilst you are making the payment as per plan. This would only become payable if you missed a payment. That'll be another issue if that happened.

 

I've told Wonga that I can't pay via Debit Card because I've stopped using that account and I have already sent a letter cancelling the CPA. On request, I was sent an email with their bank details and my reference on. I then queried that the payment may take a few days to reach my account if I pay via internet banking. The lady on the phone kindly amended my payment date to the 30th of the month to prevent any late payments. I was advised to email collections@wonga.com when I make a payment. I think that I may been ok if I let them take from my card although I didn't want to chance it.

 

So yes I agree that speaking to Payday loan companies and indeed any company would be a no no. In the case of Wonga I'm glad I did phone.

[renegadeimp]

We advise it because they and others are well known for sayign one thing and doing something completely different, let alone the threats they make.

 

However, with wonga, it seems that they have started to clean up their act a little now the OFT are breathing heavily down their necks.

[Harry05131]

"What The Agent suggested which seems the norm is to phone 3 days before repayment is due (not before)."

 

This bit doesn't make sense to me?

[renegadeimp]

"What The Agent suggested which seems the norm is to phone 3 days before repayment is due (not before)."

 

This bit doesn't make sense to me?

 

What The Agent suggested, (which seems the norm) is to phone 3 days before repayment is due (not before).

[maroondevo52]

"What The Agent suggested which seems the norm is to phone 3 days before repayment is due (not before)."

 

This bit doesn't make sense to me?

 

Don't phone 4 or 5 days before repayment is due ?

[Harry05131]

But, phone 3 days before repayment is due (not before) ?

 

To me that contradicts itself.

[maroondevo52]

I know it does'nt sound right but I think thats what they mean.

[mahharg]

The reason apparently is that the online financial statement on a persons account can't be activated until then. They also freeze the interest on the day that an agreed payment plan is reached, so I suppose they want to make some profit before freezing. My account is now showing as 9 days in arrears but the balance is still the same frozen balance with the arrangement included on the site, so all well and good. I believe they would only agree to this if you can pay the frozen balance in 12 monthly payments.

[bookmanf]

This is the same situation I found yesterday and I also agreed 12 payments.

 

1 day in arears and same frozen balance.

 

Seems the thing to do is default, phone them and get the I&E form, complete it then either accept their offer or reject it (as I did) and email them.

 

In my case they came back that afternoon with an offer of 12 equal (within pennies) payments....

 

All info is emailed to you and displayed on your account page...

[bbfc]

This is the same situation I found yesterday and I also agreed 12 payments.

 

1 day in arears and same frozen balance.

 

Seems the thing to do is default, phone them and get the I&E form, complete it then either accept their offer or reject it (as I did) and email them.

In my case they came back that afternoon with an offer of 12 equal (within pennies) payments....

 

All info is emailed to you and displayed on your account page...

 

Not what I did.

 

My payment is due tomorrow. Emailed them they enabled the link on the account page, I filled in my details and now i can pay my £1200 loan back over 7 months. Very quick and helpful.

 

Wonga seem to be the best of a bad bunch.

Edited February 7, 2013 by Andyorch
external email removed.

[jbscotland]

Great advice,

What is the e-mail method of contact? Is this on the homepage?

Mine is due on 4/3/2013 so I contact them on the 1st?

[bbfc]

Collections@wonga.com is the best one - they replied within a few hours. Tried customercare@wonga.com but never got a reply. They will email a standard reply which details what you owe and that you can complete the online financial assessment. At the end of this they will ask you to make an offer, the will either accept it or propose an offer to you. Make sure you complete all the details in correctly. If you are unhappy with the offer they make you can restart the assessment.

[jbscotland]

when should this be done?

I owe them money on 4/3/2013. Do I contact them now or 3 days before or after the repayment date?

confused .com

[bookmanf]

I contacted them on the day my payment was due.

 

I think other people have connected them closekg before the due date too.

 

b

[bbfc]

when should this be done?

I owe them money on 4/3/2013. Do I contact them now or 3 days before or after the repayment date?

confused .com

 

I would contact before its due. Email collections@wonga.com.

[mahharg]

I would personally phone them ASAP and let them know that since you took out loan you are now in financial difficulties. They were fine on the phone. They will give you clear advise about what day to call to arrange for online income/expenditure form.

[renegadeimp]

If you call them, then make sure you record the call in full. Failing that, make sure they email you exactly what was agreed. IF the email is different to what was agreed, or contains side clauses, do NOT accept it.