wonga disregarding letter re. circumstances and payment plan offer

[jamezon]

So, Wonga emailed saying they needed to learn more about my financial position to set up a repayment plan. Even though their expenditure calculator on their website told me I can't afford to make repayments, something I have already told them! So anyway, I assume a) I can reject the request for further information (have already provided my own budget sheets) and b)I should determine what's affordable, not them? Also they continue to attempt emails even though I have told them that's unacceptable. Is there anyway to make them comply with a 'letters only' request? Also, despite placing my account on hold from collection, I received a call from Moorcroft under an hour after Wonga's email! Unbelievable. Ps. Still looking for help on my Moorcroft query above. Many thanks.

[renegadeimp]

Tell them to look at the info you sent. If they refuse your offer of payment, you will drop them to £1 a month and contact the FCA. With emails, just send them the letter only request and tell them you have blocked all emails from them to ensure your request is met.

 

With moorcroft, if wonga own the debt, tell moorcroft to sod off, and if they wont, then you will not hesitate to report them to the FCA and Trading standards.

[jamezon]

Tell them to look at the info you sent. If they refuse your offer of payment, you will drop them to £1 a month and contact the FCA. With emails, just send them the letter only request and tell them you have blocked all emails from them to ensure your request is met.

 

With moorcroft, if wonga own the debt, tell moorcroft to sod off, and if they wont, then you will not hesitate to report them to the FCA and Trading standards.

 

 

Thanks Renegadeimp, I assume Wonga still own the debt as they are still in contact with me and claim to have 'frozen' my account for 38 days, although in reality it has been frozen a lot longer than that. I don't really know what the 'naughty boy' approach of disregarding my letters and continuing to send emails is meant to achieve. Are they really so narrow-minded as to assume they can hassle every customer into settling on their terms?

[renegadeimp]

Yes. Thats exactly how almost every pdl operate.

[jamezon]

Well, I tonight received an email (still no letter, despite my multiple requests for letter only) by way of response to my complaint. Please see below (my comments in bold)...

We’ve investigated your case but unfortunately we can’t uphold your complaint.

 

We have not received your letter of the 12th June 2014, however I can confirm that no interest has been applied to this account, other than the interest provided in your contract. A blatant lie- it was signed for and the complaint they responded to also included a copy. The contract interest includes the ongoing simple interest (over £100 extra)- I believe this is not permissible when I have contacted them to resolve?

 

Unfortunately, a balance remains outstanding on your account. I note that you do not wish to correspond with us by phone. Or email, a point they have ignored several times.You might kindly note that you can set up a repayment plan, through the ‘My Account’ facility. No I can't- when I click on this I get a generic 'advisor will be in touch to discuss' message. When I could previously, it said I could afford

 

We have applied a default charge to your account, which was incurred prior to your letter of the 12th June 2014.

I can live with £20 but not the ongoing interest.

 

In relation to your complaint that we did not account for your personal or financial circumstances, we cannot uphold that complaint.

Not what I said- my letter and following complaint related not taking account of a changed set of circumstances.

 

1. We carried out a CRA search when you applied to borrow from us. CRA files give us details information on your credit history and also help us build a credit score for you;

True!

 

2. We asked you for detailed information regarding your personal circumstances, and we sourced further information about you online;

Patent nonsense- they ask very basic information.

 

3. All this information was used to carry out an affordability assessment before each loan was granted;

 

4. We asked you when you took out your loans to confirm that you could afford to repay those loans, and you indicated that you had considered this and were satisfied that you could do so; and

Again, my ability to repay the lump sum value changed, this is the relevant point (ignored).

 

5. We gave you a copy of the loan agreement, adequate explanations and Standard European Consumer Credit Information Sheet prior to agreeing to your loans. You told us you had read these documents and these documents clearly set out the information about the cost of borrowing and the nature of our product. Our website and advertising also contain full information about our product.

 

This is our final response but if you’re not satisfied with it, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If want to do this, you can within 6 months of the date of this letter.

 

 

Obviously I'm not, as I won't pay an additional £100 or so of interest and I can't pay it all as a lump sum.

Should I attempt to complete their I&E form as a gesture of goodwill and if they fail to agree to waive the additional interest and agree a repayment plan, then go to the Ombudsman? Or should I just go straight to the Ombudsman as the content of their response is only partly accurate, they have failed to take account of my circumstances and they have failed to abide by their own complaints procedure?

 

Many thanks, as ever!

 

 

 

[jamezon]

Should have mentioned, Moorcroft continue to be in touch, despite Wonga claiming to have stopped collection activity. Their most recent letter (see, it can be done Wonga!) notes my payment to Wonga and says I should pay them. (Even though they don't own the debt and Wonga at the time hadn't handled my complaint.)

[renegadeimp]

Tell moorcroft to get lost. Get wonga to call them off or youll report both companies to the regulators.

[jamezon]

Should I complete Wonga's I&E form to show 'reasonable behaviour' on my side, or is it fair to assume that my homemade one would be adequate? Ta

[sillygirl1]

Nope, their form asks for a lot of irrelevant information.

[jamezon]

Anyone know how today's news https://www.wonga.com/help/affordability-remediation will affect debts such as mine? Who decides whether my loan was genuinely affordable at the time or not? Obviously would make the world of difference to me if Wonga would write of £475 (or £630+ according to them) worth of debt!

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

I think it's a case of wait and see what they post to you.

[citizenB]

They have said that they will have written to everyone affected by 10th October.. so keep your fingers crossed.

[wilko011178]

3 monthly payments left for me on a 15 month repayment plan - hope they write off what I owe!

 

however go back 12 months things were very different - was constantly paying back wonga in full on payday then having to take out another loan just to survive to the next payday. I was clearly in financial difficulties but kept getting loan applications accepted. Was just in a circle of debt and to be honest any responsible company should have refused my applications - maybe wishful thinking but would be a nice surprise if wonga refund me a big wad of interest!

[jamezon]

So nothing from Wonga, very disappointed. Any idea what I can do, given they have issued their 'Final Response' to my complaint? To my mind, I clearly fall under their criteria of improperly assessed affordability. Regardless, the information provided in their response above is clearly contradicted by recent statements on their failings.

[the tinkerman]

when did u complain and what was their final response

 

was it after the ruling on the 2 Oct

[jamezon]

when did u complain and what was their final response

 

was it after the ruling on the 2 Oct

 

See my post of 15th September detailing their response.

[the tinkerman]

Hi jamezon

 

Though you meant that u had complained again after the ruling 2 Oct coz going of what you have said in your thread I reckon you have a case, if you have not been in contact with them since this new ruling came into effect I would certainly be ringing their bell if they have not been in touch, stating the facts as to why this new ruling does not apply to yourself.

[jamezon]

Hi jamezon

 

Though you meant that u had complained again after the ruling 2 Oct coz going of what you have said in your thread I reckon you have a case, if you have not been in contact with them since this new ruling came into effect I would certainly be ringing their bell if they have not been in touch, stating the facts as to why this new ruling does not apply to yourself.

Thanks Tinkerman, I have also commented on the main thread on 'hearing from Wonga' with an email address they gave me to contact. I don't think it looks to clever for them as their justification for rejecting my complaint contradicts the Oct 2 information (that they are 'robust'). I think my main issue may come as I essentially asking them to revisit a 'Final' response. I will chase with another letter if they do not respond to my email to [email protected]. Then FOS if need be.

[wilko011178]

Good news!

Only saved myself £105 but guess its better than nothing......

 

You may have already read or heard in the news recently about an announcement on 2nd October from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding changes to our lending criteria.

 

We can confirm that you have been affected.

 

The changes mean that we have new ways of testing whether customers can afford the loan they want to take out - these are called affordability criteria. We have investigated your case and we believe you are one of the customers who have been impacted as a result of these historical affordability issues.

 

What happens next

 

We will automatically clear any outstanding debt you have with us and your balance will be set to zero. This will be done by the end of October 2014. You do not need to do anything.

 

We are working with the relevant credit reference agencies to remove records relating to this loan from your credit report. We expect this will take between three to four weeks to be completed. This will be done automatically and there is no further action required from you.

 

Key Facts for customers

 

We have committed to a major customer forbearance programme in light of changes to our lending criteria

 

We have identified you as being affected by affordability issues and so we are clearing any outstanding debt on your loan

 

Please do not make any further repayments

 

You do not need to do anything. We will contact you to confirm that your balance is zero.

 

For further information, you can find out more on the lending criteria changes

 

We want to put things right for our customers

 

We are writing to you as a Wonga customer. If you believe you have received this email in error please call our customer care team free on 0800 042 0210 or if you are calling from a mobile on 0333 003 0830.

 

Dear Mr Mark Wilkinson

 

If you are currently making repayments to us, such as by Standing Order, please do not continue to do so. We recommend you contact your bank to cancel these repayment arrangements. Please be assured that, should a repayment be made, we will refund this amount to you.

 

We will contact you in due course to confirm that your balance is zero.

 

If you are in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or your debt is being managed through a Debt Management Provider it is your responsibility to inform the person managing your debt of these changes.

 

On behalf of our Chairman, Andy Haste, and the rest of the team at Wonga, we recognise that we may not have always made the right lending decisions and for this we apologise. We intend to be sure in the future that we only lend to customers who can reasonably afford to repay their loans.

 

You can find out more about these lending criteria changes here. Alternatively, please call our customer care team free on 0800 042 0210 or if you are calling from a mobile on 0333 003 0830.

 

Yours,

 

Tim Weller Interim CEO, Wonga Group

[sillygirl1]

This still doesn't address the cases where Wonga went into people's bank accounts and removed the entire funds there which were far more than they should have taken....

 

I still think this company is going to be forced to close...they dug a very deep hole for themselves.

[jamezon]

I've been thread-jacked lol!

[huggy41]

i got the same email as wilko except my saving was £1300+ very very happy now realy looking forward to Egypt on Tuesday

[jamezon]

Aside from the recent drama, in my own personal case, Wonga updated my credit record to 'up to date' from a more negative position. This is following a couple of (small) voluntary repayments I made. Can anyone confirm if this is standard practice or more likely relating to the recent developments?

[warnerman]

I think people need to remember that not being able to pay back your loan doesn't automatically entitle you to get your*interest*back or for your debt to be written off. the story in the news is more so about that based on the information at the time of taking the loan that it should have been obvious that it wasnt affordable for many reasons such as not enough income for the amount borrowed or a bad credit history that shows unlikely to pay back or is already struggling with debts. if your circumstances changed after you took out the loan like change of job, became ill or became wreckless or unable to manage your money properly when you did before and then defaulted on the loan that wouldnt count as it was not originally a bad lending decision.

[jamezon]

Well, well, well, I wasn't expecting this...

Information about your loan

Dear Mr James Fojut As we look to improve our technology, we're moving to a new operating system. Your loan will not be moved to this system and, as a result, your outstanding balance has been closed. You do not need to make any further payments.

 

We recommend you contact your bank to cancel any payment instructions, such as Standing Orders. Any amount that you repay to us from 26/11/2014 will be refunded to you.

 

Thank you for being a Wonga customer. If you have any questions please call us on 0207 138 8330. Best wishes,

 

Customer Care

wonga.com

 

 

This is an (eventual) response to when I complained to their original 'final' response, not least on the grounds it contained a couple of outright untruths. Worth being a pest as they had recently rejected from inclusion in the write-off program on 04/11/14 and then re-acknowledged my response to their's on 02/12/14.

Needless to say...