Wonga Loan Cannot Repay

[GrumpyOldTroll]

Hello there I posted this one another forum and took a right verbal bashing so I'm hoping there are some more people here with slightly more understanding.

 

 

"ORIGINAL POST:

Situation: Cannot replay Wonga loan as employment situation has just changed dramatically. I am now self employed, but certainly will not be able to repay them on May 04th - £1400. In fact there is no real chance of any more income forthcoming, at least right now, as my first product will only become available in during May.

 

I have a family and my Tax Credits, CB and Housing Benefit have all been adjusted. However there is very little disposable income.

 

Actions: I searched around some debt sites, and even have a call with StepChange planned for tomorrow, although I actually have it all worked out on a spreadsheet and have made all the cuts possible to spending.

 

After some research I called Wonga to explain and come to a payment arrangement. However they refused on the basis there system will not let them set up an arrangement until days before. They gave me a load of rubbish about not being able to do anything until just before it was due, so in effect they were saying we won't work out a plan with you until you owe us £300 more!!

 

Currently as it stands I owe them £1151.42 and obviously I have contacted them now rather than May 4th at which point I will owe £1400.

 

I got nowhere with them and so noted down the time and name of the person I spoke to and told them I was going to email them instead requesting a payment plan.

 

After reading a bit more on here I have got my bank to send them a cancellation, withdrawing Wonga's authority to take any money out of my account. I have has dealings with this previously when i had one coming out for a subscription website which wouldn't let you unsubscribe (no replys to emails etc). I cancelled that one with the bank and when they did take a payment again, the bank refunded it.

 

My plan now is to send an email to Wonga, with a screenshot showing the amount I owed to them at the time of the call and the name of the chap and request they accept a payment plan. However that payment will be very low, as I will only to be able to afford £20 a month until I begin to generate income from my self employment.

 

My proposal to them would be to accept £20 a month and review it on a monthly basis, going over my income and outcome again to review?

 

Has anyone got any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance for reading and responding. "

 

As I said I then got some pretty harsh responses but understandably.

 

To add to the above:

 

I appreciate all the comments here but I have heard it stated, on these very forums that if £1 a week is all you can pay they have to accept.

 

I did state above that the £20 was on review each month as when my product is out in May, I may well have considerably more income to pay off the debt faster.

 

I didn't realise there was a Wonga forum but will have a look for it.

 

"Only your I&E details will enable them to determine that." I have also heard it said that they do not decide what you are able to pay, you do, so how are they to determine if you have the means?

 

Also, does anyone know any more (or can direct me) to information on if they can petition for my bankruptcy if it's over £750?"

 

Cany anyone here help on advice here. I've been getting loans from Wonga month after month and I guess now I just want a base to break the cycle.

[renegadeimp]

Hi there. Dont worry about trolls on here. CAG has a strict policy of not judging anyone, no matter what they do.

 

Now a few questions. Can you tell me how much your initial contract stated you owe, both capital and interest. Have you rolled over the loan? If so how many times?

 

What is your source of income right now? FOrget about Wonga's silly I&E. They say its a necessity, but OFT guidance says otherwise. Wonga just like to push their luck, especially saying they will only accept a payment proposal 3 days before the due date, and then say that payments may take 5 days to clear. OFT guidance states that if a debtor informs the creditor that they are in financial difficulty, it must be taken into consideration immediately, not a random date that the creditor sets.

 

Does wonga have your bank details? Debit card details? Have they set up a Direct Debit on the account?

 

If you can, answer those questions for me, and i can fire off a list of steps for you to take.

[GrumpyOldTroll]

Hi there thank you for your help.

 

My Capital is £1000, this was made up of an original amount and then some extra funds that brought it to £1000.

The Interest therefore stands at £152 but on repayment date it will be:

 

Interest repayment £385.55 Transmission Fee £16.50

 

bringing the total repayment to £1402.05.

 

My only sources of income are CB, Tax Credits and Housing Benefit, until my product comes out during May and then it could be considerably more.

 

Wonga does have my bank details, but as I mentioned above I have already given my bank instruction to send them a cancelation, informing them they no longer have authority to withdraw funds from my account. If they do I can have it immediately refunded. I have done this before with a silly little subscription I couldn't unsubscribe from and that was recently. They have been taking it via card payment.

 

It's nice to hear again that my financial difficulty has to be taken into consideration on my timescale, not theres. It was the Money Saving Expert forum where a few responses were below the belt!

 

As I say I only have a meagre amount to give them right now, but that could increase after May so I would be prepared to regularly review it.

 

I look forward to hearing your advice....

[fletch70]

First off i am guessing you were on MSE, oh they do live to judge. Mind you i am sorry to say there are a few on here who might as well.

From what you say i think you do actually owe the 1400 as this is the contractual interest.

If your income is down to basic benefits then £1 per month is a fair offer. If it is a bit more you may want to offer a bit more,up to you.

You might have more difficulty in that it is only a week since you took out the loan,or rolled it over and they may need convincing your change in circumstances was unexpected.

 

There are other options of course depending on circumstances but assuming you feel it the right thing to do then renegades advice will be good.

[GrumpyOldTroll]

First off i am guessing you were on MSE, oh they do live to judge. Mind you i am sorry to say there are a few on here who might as well.

From what you say i think you do actually owe the 1400 as this is the contractual interest.

If your income is down to basic benefits then £1 per month is a fair offer. If it is a bit more you may want to offer a bit more,up to you.

You might have more difficulty in that it is only a week since you took out the loan,or rolled it over and they may need convincing your change in circumstances was unexpected.

 

There are other options of course depending on circumstances but assuming you feel it the right thing to do then renegades advice will be good.

 

Thank you for your comments. I do note that yes I do note that the contractual interest is £1400 and take your point, the lower figure is obviously what they would accept if you were to pay back early. Point taken.

 

I am down to basic benefits at this time, but with regards to convincing people (Wonga) life would certainly be easier if you were not to have to explain some rather personal circumstances. I understand OFT wavier in your favour on giving Wonga all your info and making themselves feel big.

 

Thank you both - I am interested to know if it would be right to go in tomorrow and open up a bank account across town to protect myself!!

[renegadeimp]

Ok. Easy fix for you. Since you are now on benefits, you only pay them £1 a month. If they were stupid enough to add on charges and interest and take you to court, they would be laughed at by a judge.

 

If it takes you 100 years to pay off due to your financial circumstances, then thats how long it takes. There is absolutely NOTHING wonga can do, although they will shout and stamp their feet.

 

Write them a letter but dont go into much detail. If you want, you could get a simple letter off your benefits advisory confirming you are in receipt of benefits. Just be aware that wonga will try and state that they require a full I&E. This is something which legally you do not have to provide. Only a court officer may demand such a document and even then the creditor would never see it. It would be used purely by the officer to come up with a payment plan.

 

 

One key thing, and its already been suggested is set up a parachute account with a completely different banking group and have your finances paid into that. Do NOT allow any payments to come from it. Use the old one for that purpose.

[GrumpyOldTroll]

Ok. Easy fix for you. Since you are now on benefits, you only pay them £1 a month. If they were stupid enough to add on charges and interest and take you to court, they would be laughed at by a judge.

 

If it takes you 100 years to pay off due to your financial circumstances, then thats how long it takes. There is absolutely NOTHING wonga can do, although they will shout and stamp their feet.

 

Write them a letter but dont go into much detail. If you want, you could get a simple letter off your benefits advisory confirming you are in receipt of benefits. Just be aware that wonga will try and state that they require a full I&E. This is something which legally you do not have to provide. Only a court officer may demand such a document and even then the creditor would never see it. It would be used purely by the officer to come up with a payment plan.

 

 

One key thing, and its already been suggested is set up a parachute account with a completely different banking group and have your finances paid into that. Do NOT allow any payments to come from it. Use the old one for that purpose.

 

Thank you for your help. Do you advise a change of Bank? I'm leaning towards it...

[fletch70]

To be honest nite a bad idea at all and any payments made should be by standing order.

When i first fell off the wagon i changed banks,. When i got into PDLs i was lucky enough that just losing my cards was enough to stop any payments but these were lost a few days prior to payment date. I am now with the coop but don't think there are many left to go to.

[GrumpyOldTroll]

I've been with my bank since 2007 but I have a longstanding £1100 overdraft with them too, which costs me about £13 a month.

 

Perhaps when I have my debt consultation with StepChange tomorrow, I may write to Barclays, ask them to free it and accept a payment plan, at least I wouldn't be throwing away £13 a month.

 

I see the Nationwide look good, might open up that account tomorrow morning!!

[renegadeimp]

All you need is a very basic bank account where you can have your money paid in. Stay away from halifax, santander and barclays though. They are well known for ignoring instructions not to allow payments to certain creditors. Coop does a good basic account and can be set up over the phone. They have had their share of problems but nowhere near the level of the other banks.

[turkwyfe4lyfe]

A friend of mine got a prepaid card and has successfully managed to set up direct debits with both his creditors, and thy no longer have his old banking details so if they try to attempt to debit when they shouldnt, the funds wont be there

[GrumpyOldTroll]

All you need is a very basic bank account where you can have your money paid in. Stay away from halifax, santander and barclays though. They are well known for ignoring instructions not to allow payments to certain creditors. Coop does a good basic account and can be set up over the phone. They have had their share of problems but nowhere near the level of the other banks.

 

Thanks for your help, I'm popping over to Nationwide now.

[fletch70]

Just for reference unless its changed in the last few months the coop cashminder has to be opened in branch.

[GrumpyOldTroll]

Just an update here on the steps I've taken.

 

I opened a new account with another bank, and that went through no problem. Nationwide were booked up for 2 weeks, so I opened up with Halifax. I did take into consideration what was said about but in the circumstances which are that time is of the essence and they worked hard to get it done for me - I opened with them.

 

For those who are, quite readily prejudging the situation( mostly on MSE); my credit report obviously is not shot to hell as they offered me a £1,300 limit on a credit card and an overdraft. Neither of these I have taken.

 

Although yes I had regularly used Wonga in 2012, I had otherwise no blemishes on my credit file (or not enough from them offering me £1,300 credit limit - in these financial times!!).

 

 

Well I have sorted out a budget for now, talked with StepChange on the way forward with Wonga and will be working to be in a position to pay off what they are owed quicker - As I have always maintained, but also I have never said that what am doing with turn an instant huge profit, that was completely misread somewhere on MSE.

 

FYI to anyone who gave advice and has viewed this topic, from my long conversation with StepChange, they have advised £1 token payment (which Wonga cannot deny) and to review that regularly.

 

I thought I may be able to afford a bit more but after going through things with them it would be just forcing myself into more unworkable situations at the present time.

 

Their advice and solution has given me some breathing space to get back to work and make some money (which is in the best interests of everyone concerned!)

[renegadeimp]

FYI to anyone who gave advice and has viewed this topic, from my long conversation with StepChange, they have advised £1 token payment (which Wonga cannot deny) and to review that regularly.

 

 

Well done on taking the steps needed. Make sure that if you get ANY threatening letters from the creditor, you report them. They are known for sending out things and then claiming they were "automated". This shows that they lack the basic facility to comply with OFT guidance.

[GrumpyOldTroll]

 

Well done on taking the steps needed. Make sure that if you get ANY threatening letters from the creditor, you report them. They are known for sending out things and then claiming they were "automated". This shows that they lack the basic facility to comply with OFT guidance.

 

Thank you for all your help. The main thing is it's get me back in a position where I can live me life and work to earn the money I owe without harassment.