This page covered the complaints and refunds process before Wonga went under on 30 August.
Events in August 2018
August 4 – Wonga forced to ask investors for £10million in funding as the cost of affordability complaints increases.
26 August – news reports that Wonga was in trouble.
- Sky News reported that:
Directors of the payday lender Wonga could appoint Grant Thornton as the company’s administrator within days, Sky News learns.
- Piece on Channel 4 News – including a Debt Camel reader talking about his situation.
August 30 – Wonga gives up and goes into administration
With Wonga in administration, complaints and refunds are now being handled differently, see Wonga – latest news of refunds for details.
That page will be kept updated, this one is now closed.
Much of the rest of this page is no longer relevant so the text colour has been changed to this.
Wonga affordability complaints before administration
If you had loans from Wonga that you struggled to repay, perhaps having to borrow again because you couldn’t afford the Wonga payment and get through the next month, then your loan may have been “unaffordable”.
You can ask for a refund of the interest you paid.
Slow complaints handling
Wonga sends a statement of your account without trying to charge you for it, but it can take a while. If you are trying to piece together your loan history from your credit reports or bank statements, old entries saying “Quickbridge” are Wonga loans.
The Financial Ombudsman’s rules say a firm is allowed 8 weeks to reply to a complaint. This clock starts running when you put your complaint in.
In summer 2018 Wonga is struggling to handle all the complaints. Here is a typical message people are being sent:
We’re currently investigating high volumes of complaints. If we can’t respond within our 8-week timeframe, we’ll contact you to explain the delay and let you know when you can expect a response.
If Wonga hasn’t answered after 8 weeks, take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. Wonga will still be looking at your complaint and you could get an answer in the next few weeks.
Have you already had a refund from Wonga?
Wonga had a major refund program a few years ago. If you had a balance owing to them, this may have been written off at that point. They also made some small refunds in 2016 – out of the blue people had a letter saying they will be receiving £6.20 or £51 or some other random number.
You may still have a good case for your other loans being unaffordable – we have seen many people win affordability complaints after already getting a refund or a write-off. The more loans or rollovers you had before the one that was written off, the more you are likely to get a refund now.
Think of the write-off as being the first part of your refund.
Sometimes Wonga makes reasonable offers… but often it doesn’t!
Sometimes Wonga makes good offers, some of them very large:
- John was worried when he was told his case had been referred to their legal team, then a couple of weeks later he got a refund of over £10,000;
- in September 2017, Danny Boy was very happy to accept an offer of £11,934.
However, Wonga rejects some excellent cases, which are then upheld by the Ombudsman. Examples include: Rob got £3,000; Lou got £500; Mart got £6,455. So if your complaint is rejected, don’t assume it is a bad case and give up!
Making a random small offer
And sometimes Wonga offers to just refund on a few loans picked at random from the loans you had. When challenged they have no explanation for why they are offering to refund those particular loans, they just say that’s their offer. With these cases you can do a lot better by waiting for a decision from the Ombudsman:
- Wonga offered Tony £818 for just two loans – the Ombudsman said that all loans should be refunded – £4,800
- Ross had 60 loans from wonga over 5 years. Wonga only offered to refund one loan – £26. He went to the Ombudsman and got a refund on 54 loans – £4,650.
Sometimes refuses to pay out on loans after 2014
Wonga often refuses to pay out on loans after they changed their lending policy in 2014. It’s true that they made a lot more bad loans before that, but they are not getting all the decisions right now!
Many people are getting good refunds via the Ombudsman for these recent loans.
Don’t rush to accept an offer if it misses off a lot of loans
We have also seen people accept an offer from Wonga but then regret it when they realise it is only for three loans. If you are made an offer, sit back and think for a few days if it is good enough.
Could you lose a Wonga offer by going to the Ombudsman?
If you are offered some money but it’s a lot less than the interest you paid, you may be worried you could end up with nothing if you reject it and go to the Ombudsman.
So far we haven’t seen any case, from Wonga or any other lender, where someone who was offered a refund ended up with less by going to the Ombudsman.
Wonga are arguing about loans over 6 years
The Ombudsman’s rules say that complaints have to be made within 6 years, but there is an extra rule that says a complaint can be made later if you have only become aware of the problem within the last 3 years.
Wonga is refusing to pay out on loans over 6 years old. Other lenders have now accepted the ombudsman’s decision that they can look at older loans as people have only recently heard about these affordability complaints.
At the moment Wonga and the ombudsman are arguing over a few test cases and everyone else with loans over 6 years is just waiting until these test cases are resolved. I hope this will be soon!
If most of your loans are within 6 years and only a few are older, you may want to agree to drop the older loans to speed up your case.
Comments on this article are now closed.
See Latest news on Wonga refunds for what is currently happening and the comments there.
Sarah says
Hi
I received the following letter in response to my complaint. I am.due about 1000 in interest however they are only offering me interest back on one loan. Is this worth going to the FOS eventhough wonga are saying they migh5 not look at it after 6 years?
Further to recent correspondence, we are writing to confirm that we have investigated your complaint and our findings are set out in more detail below.
[standard stuff edited out]
In your recent complaint, you suggested that you were experiencing financial difficulties and we should not have lent to you. As such we have considered your position at the time and have found evidence that you:
• borrowed high loan amounts when compared to your stated income.
You have suggested that we acted negligently when providing loans, however, the UK courts will not generally consider a claim of negligence if the event happened more than 6 years ago. The dispute resolution rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority also state that complaints cannot be considered by the Financial Ombudsman Service if the complaint is made about something that happened more than 6 years ago, or if later, more than 3 years from when the customer should have realised there was a problem.
Given the above, we do not consider it appropriate to investigate your complaint about the loans sold more than six years ago. Furthermore, as this complaint relates to loans being unaffordable, we think it should have been clear that the loans sold more than six years ago were unaffordable by the time these loan accounts were closed.
Outcome
Based on the above, there may have been more that we could have done to assist you and so we have decided to uphold your complaint.
Additionally, we will also request for the redressed loan to be removed from your credit record. This may take up to 30 working days to be updated fully on your credit file.
We would like to offer £189.12 which is an amount equal to the interest and fees on the following loan:
Loan reference
Date
Interest and fees
000047427588
01/05/2012
£189.12
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have that were over 6 years old? Was there just the one loan under 6 years, because the one they are refunding is dated May 2012, which suggests to me there may be others within the 6 year period?
Sarah says
18 loans, from 13/12/10 to 01/05/12
Ben says
Hello,
My wife and I are complaining to Wonga about irresponsible lending thanks to this page. Without going in to too much detail we got trapped in a cycle of debt (familiar story looking at this site and others) using Wonga loans every month for ever increasing amounts (to cover the interest on the previous loan). It eventually came to a head and I contacted Wonga and arranged a payment plan, which they accepted and we paid off what was owed in installments.
I sent off the first letter template on the 3rd (for both mine and my wife’s account – from our respective emails used at the time). I had a response within a day acknowledging my complaint and stating it was being passed on to the relevant team, however my wife has had no such email.
My question is (apologies if this has been answered): When does the 8 week period for Wonga start? Is it when the first template letter is sent in asking for information (advising them of your intention to complain) or does it start when template two has been sent in?
If it start when template two has been sent in, how long should I wait for a response from template one?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First the lack of acknowledgement from Wonga to your wife. They seem to have had some email problems recently, I suggests she phones up to check they have received this.
If you followed the template letter above, then your Step one letter said you are making an affordability complaint and the 8 weeks starts with that.
But you sound quite well aware of when you borrowed … do you not know enough to write a Step two letter now? Just add on the bottom that this is as part of your complaint you sent on dd/mm/yy and you still want them to send a full statement of your borrowing and repayments.
Kelly says
Hello
I sent an email to wonga last week asking for a statement of my account.
They replied asking for details, email address date of birth etc which I provided.
This morning I got the email saying they are sorry I’m unhappy and will be investigating it and provided me with a reference number.
They haven’t sent me any statements but I was able to find a large majority of my loans through my emails over a two year period only two of which I’m missing figures. I had borrowed £23,000 from them over this period.
I have tried to figure out the interest from the emails but I’m not very good at this as some of the loans were topped up days later so altering the interest.
Should they still be sending me a statement?
I’ve had around 37 loans not including the top ups.
Thanks
Kelly says
Just a small update and a question
I got my statement this evening after calling up today. The lady I spoke to also said as well as requesting the statement I have a complaint open too.
Like I said previously I had an email acknowledging my complaint but I haven’t complained yet and I could do so until I had the statement.
So I’m a little confused by this as I only sent one email.
I have paid around £6800 in interest and fees in total
Have they take my request as a complaint? Do I just wait it out or send my complaint in now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send a full complaint in now you have that details, but describe this as additional info for your complaint dated dd/mm. So your 8 week time started running from then.
Annie says
Has anyone had any success with loans over 6 years old? Mine have been with the FOS since October and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Does the FOS have any powers to force them to look into them if they refuse?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Payday UK, Payday Express, the Money Shop are already paying out on older loans. Not Wonga so far.
An Ombudsman’s decision is binding. And it is up to the FOS how they interpret their ruled about what they will look at.
A lender could potentially ask for a judicial review but that is a high legal hurdle. The FOS has identified the issue clearly, have considered it thoroughly and given reasons for their decision, keeping the lenders informed. It would be VERY hard to argue that the Ombudsman has made an irrational decision here. Plus lenders won’t want this to go to the courts and lose it – that would mean a lot of publicity for these refunds which so far are not well known.
But by delaying the lenders may be hoping some of the borrowers give in and say Oh just consider the loans under 6 years old.
Charlotte says
Hi, I’m I the process of my complaint to Wonga and I have an adjudicator from FOS dealing with it. She has informed me that Wonga have confirmed I had 25 loans from 2014 to now, however having looked at my bank statements from 2012, I actually started using loans from them then. I have confirmed it’s fine for my adjudicator to share my bank statements with wonga (I’d already given them to her and she agrees the information is clearly there). I just wanted to post this here in case this hasn’t happened to just me and for others to check their bank statements if they can.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good tip, thanks!
Phil says
Hi. Great forum and information and I’m so glad I came on here, I’ve just submitted my complaint to resolver last night, who have notified me this morning saying it’s been sent to wonga. I had 35 loans with Wonga between June 2014 and May 2017. Most rolling over each month (paying it back then getting another one same or following day) ive worked the interest out I payed to be £4,584.40 so hoping for as close to that figure as possible. Will keep you updated and thanks again.
Charlie says
Hi. I had to take my complaint to the FOS and although the adjudicator has ruled in my favour and said I should be refunded Wong have not replied. As a result, my complaint has been forwarded to an Ombudsman to make a final decision. I was wondering if anybody else has had this and a possible time frame for a final decision?
Any input would be appreciated.
Charlie
Barney says
Yup, same boat here. Adjudicator gave Wonga until the 14th July to reply, they didn’t so my complaint was passed to an Ombudsman on the 17th July. I understand from the FAQs sent to me it’ll be at least a month (but probably longer) before my complaint is ruled upon and then another month after that before settlement (assuming the Ombudsman agrees with the Adjudicator!)
Kerry says
I’m In the same boat too, Wonga didn’t reply to either deadline so waiting on ombudsman to review the adjudicators decision.
Laura says
Wonga didn’t reply within the timescales set by the adjudicator for me either. However they have since come in with an offer whilst I’ve been in the queue for the ombudsman so hopefully you’ll all hear something soon too!
Barney says
Just heard from my adjudicator at the FOS that Wonga has now agreed with his initial assessment, while waiting for an ombudsman to look into it. Woo hoo! That means they will be issuing a refund for the last six loans (the largest ones) I had with them that I took out in 2011. The loans taken prior to this fall outside of six years, but I was getting tired of waiting so said they could ignore the oldest loans. The total refund is not insignificant, but as with others, for me it’s about getting these wretched things off my credit report, which they have also agreed to do. So, it’s taken roughly two years, but now had refunds from 1 Month Loan, PDUK, QuickQuid and finally Wonga. I’m elated and might now be able to move on with a fresh financial slate! Good luck to everyone still pursuing claims. It takes time and patience, but well worth it in the end :-)
Pamela mulligan says
I had 6 loans totalling to 3700 and interest alone 1300 I’ve been told by wonga they are not given me compensation I told them I took loans out to cover the other ones they say they looked at my income and that they say they can’t see anything to say I can’t afford it I still haven’t paid back the loan I have now can’t afford to. So I have forwarded my complaint to the financial ombudsman
James says
Hi Sara, firstly thank you for all the information on this website, it’s brilliant and I appreciate all your effort.
After reading through your payday loans section, I decided to email Wonga about 23 loans I had between late 2011-2014. I skipped step one as I had all the loan dates from my emails and credit history. Typically how long should you expect an acknowledgement email from them?
Also, what’s your advice about guarantor loans? I have taken one out with Amigo and rolled the loan over to double the amount despite being in very low income, would it be worth emailing them too?
Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well hopefully a refund from Wonga may repay your horrible guarantor loan…
The affordability rules are the same for all lenders. If your loan repayments are large compared to your income and you feel the loan was unaffordable, it’s worth complaining. They do record telephone conversations, but if you feel they made the wrong decision, complain! The loan also has to be affordable for your guarantor from their income – would it be? If not, they too should complain.
James says
Thanks for your reply. I will certainly look in to Amigo and see what they say.
Also Wonga didn’t acknowledge my email, do they tend to or just reply within 8 weeks?
Thanks again.
Ashley says
I have also complained to Wonga (26/06/2017) and they haven’t acknowledged my email yet either. Will follow this post with interest
James says
They acknowledged my email 10 days later, however its been over 3 weeks with no response to the complaint. Guessing they’ll be using up the full 8 weeks.
Lee says
I had my final response today. Exactly 7 weeks from initial compliant.
Ashley says
Hi Sara. Wonga haven’t replied within the 8 weeks so I am trying to get the details together to send to the Ombudsman. I have finally received my statement of account from Wonga but the details don’t match up with my bank statements. I’m going to send both to the Ombudsman but just wanted to check, do I send my full bank statements or filter the wonga loans so they can just see that…and not what I bought for lunch etc haha. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Full bank statements – they want to know if you were eating at Michelin Starred restaurants for lunch…
James says
Hi Sara,
Wonga upheld my complaint on 11 of the 23 loans and offered me £3400. I reviewed the loans and the other 12 were smaller amounts so I’m fairly happy with their offer. This was a few days shy of their 8 week deadline.
I would like to say once again thank you for your brilliant advice and wish everyone luck in their refund pursuit.
Kerry says
The adjudicator upheld my complaint and gave Wonga until the 29th June to respond. They didn’t so she has now given them until the 17th July but they haven’t responded so far. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how long does it usually take to be resolved or what are the next steps.
Aaron jackson says
Did the adjudicator inform you of there desicion straight away or did they tell wonga first?
Kerry says
They sent me an email with a copy of the letter that they had sent to Wonga
Barney says
Yes, I’m in the same boat, although Wonga have only exceeded the first deadline set by my Adjudicator (Friday 14th July). I have chased up with the FOS today, so will let you know what happens. I’m expecting a pretty long wait!
Kerry says
Thank you for that. I’ve not heard anything today so I’ve emailed the adjudicator to see what the next step is now. Here’s hoping they respond soon.
Good luck with yours
Kerry says
The adjudicator had now referred their decision to the Ombudsman due to wongas lack of a response :-/
Jampanda says
Hey all
I remember reading that some people had gotten a faster refund from Wonga by asking them to pay within a couple of working days after adjudicators decision. They did this by accepting a discount on their adjudicators decision calculation, so for example adjudicator told Wonga to pay 2000 and then let Wonga know that actually the person making the complaint would accept 1750 as long as it was paid out within a shorter time frame. Instead of the usual slow Wonga payment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Actually, Wonga aren’t that slow! Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.
Jampanda says
Ah ok
I’ve heard they go past the Adjudicators deadline often. Thanks for your hard work with this msg board and website BTW!
Natasha says
Hello, I would really like son advice if possible. I made a complaint to wonga 7 weeks ago. I took out a total of 61 loans between 2010-2017. I made the complaint using the complaints template and just included my own details. They have got back to me today offering me a refund of £47 on one particular loan in 2012. No reason as to why this loan was seen as unaffordable. Should I now send my complaint to the FOS ornwould this be pointless?? I’ve worked the interest and fees to be around £3000?!
TIA for any advice or opinions!
Natasha
Sara (Debt Camel) says
61 loans is a lot, it is likely to be a VERY good case. Send it straight to the ombudsman!
Natasha says
Thanks for the reply! Just sent it to the ombudsman! Any idea why Wonga would pick one random loan from 2012 and offer a refund on just the one?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no!
Rachel Burns says
Hi,
I have sent the first email off to Wonga requesting a statement of my account with them. In the meantime, I have checked my bank statements and worked out that between 2010 and 2013 I have paid Wonga £15,272 in total for around 50 loans I had taken out over the years. Can anybody help with a rough calculation on what the interest would be?
I have also done the same with Quick Quid, I paid out a total of £15,656 to them between 2012 and 2014, has anybody had success with Quick Quid?
Thanks for any help!
Rachel
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t work out what the interest is from the amount you paid them, even roughly. Have a look at the bank statements again and work out how much you borrowed. If you borrowed £12,000 and repaid £15,000 then the difference, £3,000 would be the interest and any charges you paid.
Some of your Wonga loans are over 6 years old – ex[pect Wonga to just refuse to refund on these loans. the Ombudsman will look at them but these cases are much slower as Wonga isn’t co-operating – some of the other lenders have already given in and are paying out on older loans.
Yes lots of success against QQ, but they are difficult to deal with as they often offer a low “goodwill” offer so don’t be fobbed off with one, just send your case to the Ombudsman. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/
Rachel Burns says
Thanks Sara, I will go back through my statements now and have a go at working it out. I will have a read through the link for QQ as well, and see how I get on with the emails I have sent. Am I right in thinking when I work out the difference, I add 8%?
Thanks for your help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No! The 8% is 8% per year… so it depends when you made each payments. This is a bit of a pain to work out, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/interest-payday-loan-refunds/, but you don’t really need to do it at all exactly. Just see what you are offered and how that compares to the interest you paid.
Lyndsey says
Hi everyone,
Once I have received my statement from wonga, what are the next steps to take? Do I wait for an offer or do I need to respond to the email?
Thanks ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you just asked for a statement of account? If you have, you now need to write a more complete complaint, see the step two template letter here https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/.
Dan white says
Hi, thank you so much for this forum. It’s awesome. I heRd an advert for a company that claims back money from so called lenders. I’ve done some extensive checking into my statements and found that I have paid £5277.02 on 51 loans from wonga from 2012 to 2014. Most of them are borrowing to pay back the Loan I had. Firstly shall I persue it? Secondly shall I do it myself or a company to do it for me (they charge 36% fees if they win the case)
Many thanks Dan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like an excellent case, repeat borrowing from the same lender over a very long period.
Definitely do it yourself. Not only does it save a lot of money but you will do a better job :) these sort of claims aren’t complicated but they need to be very individual, it’s not a “tick one of 4 reasons and the lender will give in” exercise like PPI. Your claim needs to tell your story – of course you could write it out and send it to a Claims Firm to forward but you have to do the work so why pay them?
In particular when it gets to the Ombudsman stage (which many good claims do, don’t be disheartened and accept a low offer!) having a claims firm in the middle slows things down and gets in the way. If an adjudicator at the Ombudsman writes something which misses the point, you will be able to spot this and respond, whereas the Claims Firm may have no idea.
Also sone if them are simply incompetent. We have had people here trying to sack a claims firm because they just sent a standard letter not giving any details of your circumstances, don’t reply to your queries, suggest you accept an offer of 500 when you paid thousands in interest, put your current details in the complaint, not the ones from when you were borrowing years ago, so the lender is saying they never gave you any loans etc. And one went bust, which just meant people had to start again after a delay of several months.
Dan white says
Wow. Really appreciate the extensive reply. I take all of the comments on board and will persue myself, I’ve already done the hard work of sifting through 4 years of statements. I’m going to call them today and cancel the offer of ‘help’ I have a 14 day cooling period. Thanks again
Phil says
Hi Sara
I sent mine through resolver, will this cause a delay ? I only started the claim just over a week ago using a template of here an they got to me asking for DOB, email etc which I gave them, few days later (today) got another email saying it’s being looked into now.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, Resolver aren’t a claims company that gets in the way. They just package up and forward complaints.
Lyndsey says
After finding your thread, I decided to write down all the loans I got from wonga between 2011-2014 the amount 51!! Sometimes borrowing twice in one month just to see me through or borrowing then paying off and the same day borrowing the same amount back.
I managed to get out of the spiral with wonga after the finally stopped borrowing to me in 2014 and said that under there new strict rules I wasn’t eligible and they would write of the Interest of my last load which they did in 2014. Do you think I have a case? For the remaining 50 loans I took out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes definitely – having had a refund offered for one loan doesn’t mean you can’t claim for the others. It sounds a very good case, so go to the ombudsman if you don’t get a good offer, don’t accept a refund on just a few more loans.
Lyndsey Strickland says
Hi Sara
Just a bit of advice needed.
As the other 51 loans with wonga which I’m still awaiting a response.
I also used 9 other company’s for pay day loans under similar circumstances, so I’ve complained to all of them as they were all took out around the same time to pay one another off.
I had one loan with Peachy, which I’ve been unable to pay back and had over £200 worth of charges and interest added to the original amount which has now been moved to a debt collection agency.
They have responded today with this offer..
Unfortunately, based on the above, we are not able to uphold your complaint as we are confident we carried out sufficient checks. However, as a gesture of goodwill, we would be willing to reduce your balance outstanding by £200.00, thus diminishing it from £369.93 to £169.93. Please be advised that this reduction equals to writing-off any penalties and fees applied to the loan and accepting back the principle amount only. We also advise that balance should be repaid with United Kash limited as they are the legal owner of the debt, but we will instruct them to reduce the balance per our offer.
Would you accept this in the basis I only had 1 loan with them, but multiple with other company’s which clearly showed I was expierancing finical difficulty having to use so many loan company’s or would you take this to the ombudsman?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much did you borrow? How much have you paid back to Peachy? To United Kash?
Lyndsey Strickland says
I borrowed £200 I’ve only paid £30.07 in total. The £200 there agreeing to write of is charges and interest they have put on the account.
So in theory they just want the capital amount back?
Mark says
Sent my first and only email 6 weeks ago to wonga. Just got a reply offering £6000 on all loans within 6 years but they say they are not required to look at loans older than that of which I calculated about £900 in interest.
Suzanne says
Personally I would take that. I went through FOS and still didn’t get the older loans as it can take months ( sometimes upto 6 month) so I asked FOS to disregard those on their own advice so if they have offered straight away and you are happy with the offer take it.
I first put my complaint in January and got my money from them 2 weeks ago because I had to send it to FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I just want to check that 6000 is all the interest you paid on the loans under 6 years. Sometimes Wonga only refund on some of those… If it isn’t, you could send the whole case to the Ombudsman, including the older loans as well.
If it is all of them, then you may well feel a speedy refund from the lender of 6000 out of 6900 is a pretty reasonable offer. But this is a very personal decision.
Mark says
I had eighteen loans within six years and they sent in their reply a list of all the loans and interest I paid. 8% interest and a tax deduction is all included in the figure. So yes I think it’s a fair offer and will accept
Sara (Debt Camel) says
nice to have a large complaint settled so quickly!
Kimberley Schofield says
If wonga reject my complaint, should I take it to the FO? If so could you point me in the direction of what to write please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Kimberley, have you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ ? That looks at how to decide whether to go to the ombudsman (yes if you have a reasonable case!) and how to do this.
When you get a rejection or a small offer, come back here and ask if you aren’t sure!
Shem says
Hi
I’ve just emailed wonga today, between sept 2011 and 2014 I had 42 loans with 57 top ups often topped up 5 times a month to almost 75% of my pay. Most loans were refunded on the same day as the previous was paid and never more than 28 days between for 4 years….I have estimated apx £3000 in interest and their £5.50 fund transfer fee, when they upped their criteria in 2014 I was ineligible for further loans – do you think I have any chance?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like an excellent complaint and you could get a lot back. If they only offer on some of the loans, come back here if you don’t know whether to accept or not!
emma says
Hi,wonga refused to refund me any money i took loads out almost weekly for 4 years im owed almsot £2000 they wernt big loans but i was on benefits at the time with a young child so this was my only income and i had to keep taking loans to get by each week.i explained this to wonga but they said i could afford the loans .ive contacted ombudsman ..do i have a good chance of a refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Regular borrowing for a long period – definitely a case worth taking to the Ombudsman! The loans may have been small, but if your only income was benefits they would still have been unaffordable.
There is more about how to take a case to the Ombudsman over here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/.
anon37 says
I received my account statement from Wonga, 18 loans in total but it does not tell the whole story as other Wonga reclaimers would also understand… There are start loan dates and end dates including how much. However it does not show which loans have been rolled over or extended. My bank account for that time shows a different story. For example I had a £1000 loan one month but it was paid in bits over 5 days into my bank account.
I’m presuming I had a fixed loan ie £700 but then topped up or rolled over £300 to get to the final £1000 value. How can I confirm the rollover can anyone in the same boat advise or help?
Last question, I was one of the people emailed in 2014 advising that I had been identified as one of the people previously affected by affordability issues previously. My last leftover loan I defaulted on was on a payment plan. At that point the remainder of the balance was automatically cleared and the default removed from my credit file.
Does this make my case stronger or more complicated? Ive sent of my second response and awaiting a reply now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some terminology (because it will help when explaining your case to the Ombudsman).
If the amount of a loan increased, this is because it was “topped up” by you taking extra amounts that were included in the same loan.
If the loan was “rolled” then this shows up on the statement as you repaying just interest at the end of the first month and repaying the capital plus another months interest the following month. Any loans that were not repaid in a month will have been rolled (unless they were paid late.)
So I suggest you look at the 18 loans and work out how many were topped up and how many were rolled, and for how many months. Your one line summary could be “I borrowed 18 loans, of which 4 were topped up, 3 were rolled for 1 month and 2 were rolled for 3 months.”
Next thing to look for is the gaps between the loans. Look at the end date of loan 1 compared to the start date of loan 2. Here it doesn’t matter that loan 1 was rolled. So your next sentences in your summary could be “In every case I had to borrow again in less than a month, and usually it was only a few days. Once I repaid a Wonga loan I didn’t have enough money to get through the next month without borrowing.
Finally look at the amounts borrowed. Were they the same, did they tend to go up, or were they erratic? If they were the same or tended to go up, this is worth mentioning.
So that is the simple summary of your case.
You can also use the statement to work out his much you paid in interest and charges. Completely ignore the last defaulted loan for this. Add up what you borrowed and what you repaid – the difference is the total if interest and charges.
Think of the the write off of the last loan as being the first part of the refund you may get – if you only had a couple of loans before, you may not get any more, but with 18 you definitely should!
If Wonga make you an offer, come back and ask if you aren’t sure how good it is.
anon37 says
Thanks Sara for the advice. Looking at bank statements its crazy as one one month shows 8 deposits into my account within one week but that all adds up to one loan, so definitely a top-up. Shame the wonga statement of accounts they send are so black and white and does not show top-ups or rollovers.
There were no gaps in 12 of the loans. ie. loan paid in full on payday and a larger amount applied for and accepted the same day. So effectively 2x loans in one month.
The others were taken out within a day or so of the previous loan being paid. All the loans increased month on month bar 2.
During the period of all my loans my bank account shows deposits and withdrawals for upto 3 other payday lenders and gambling site deposits. Would all these go in my favour?
Last of all i noticed that i failed to pay 2 of the earlier loans back on time and paid them late. However I was able to get more loans of wonga for bigger sums of money is that a sign of irresponsibility?
I have sent my letter off so awaiting a reply.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Very short or no gaps and loan amounts increasing is an excellent case. This is what you should concentrate on.
Gambling isn’t a problem for a claim, nor is it a positive, it is just a fact that a lot of your money was going there.
Making the odd payment a day or so late isn’t a reason by itself why a lender should have never given you another loan, but it is a factor they should have taken into account. On top of you repeated and increasing borrowing, and payday loans on your credit record – everything is pointing in the same direction, that you were in trouble.
anon37 says
Thanks Sara, Last point, I think I missed the most important pomit….. All these are 6-7 years ago. What are the chances of these being looked at and upheld. I’ve read reports that Wonga are being difficult on loans of this age and they end up going to FO where they are normally upheld.
Do you know many examples where this is right or any other advice?
I’m looking at a substantial amount if I can get these charges and interest refunded.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga are being difficult with older loans. As soon as they say no, send the case to the Ombudsman. The FOS is looking at these cases and has agreed they can be refunded, some payday lenders have accepted and are paying out, Wonga so far hasn’t and these cases are stalled. So it won’t be quick but there is a good chance of a good result in the end.
Hayley says
I complained about 11 loans over 7 months from Wonga, I received a letter in 2014 stating that the last loan has been wiped due to the redress of irresponsible lending and made my complaint on 8th June. Received a reply stating they will only be upholding one loan out of 11 as this was irresponsible but not the others. The one in question they have upheld was topped up 3 times in one month. Am I right in not accepting this offer and sending to the FOS? I don’t see how this particular one would be upheld and not the others with ever increasing amounts?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If loan amounts increased after the “one unaffordable loan” then definitely send it to the Ombudsman!
anon37 says
What’s the biggest reported payout from Wonga so far?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
From memory about 11k. But I don’t keep records.
anon37 says
11K is substantial!
There have been a few payday lenders go bust. Is there a chance some of the larger companies may do before refunding all the money? ie quickquid, wonga, pduk, pdexpress?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not unless there are hundreds of thousands of complaints. The large firms are very large, current complaint levels more annoying than terminal for them.
anon37 says
Been two weeks since my original Wonga complaint started i received my SOA after one week. sent letter afterwards awaiting a final decision now. Anyone else waiting after sending the letter for irresponsible lending? if so how long before a decision?
Lee says
Anon37 received my final response from Wonga this morning. Took exactly 7 weeks from initial compliant.
Lee says
My offer was £2486.10 which includes 8% on 22 loans
However I worked out a figure of around £3045 with 8% – but confused as told me had 52 loans with them in total. 22 upheld. As I mentioned on another page I calculated all my workings from bank statements. As Sara advised requested they now send me the SOA’s for all 52 loans they say I’ve had so can compare against my initial figures. As now thinking they must be wrong.
Anyway just wondered in the meantime if anyone has tried to counter offer a Wonga final response before going to the FOS and what the outcome was? I maybe trying to go down this route to squeeze my £560 difference if correct between my calculations and their final response to avoid it being with the ombudsman for months. For example asking them to settle with me at £2800.
Any shared experience would be appreciated.
anon37 says
Thanks for the info. It’s a shame they only upheld 22 of your 52 loans. Guess I got a few more weeks to wait out for a reply from them.
Anon37 says
Have you counteroffered now?
Lee says
Wonga counter offer didn’t work – final response means final response unless go ombuds man with them. Awaiting statement of accounts. But very tempted to accept Wonga offer as going to America in 6 weeks time and will pay 2 maxed out credit cards off and Very account balance. Money couldn’t of come at a better time.
Still have 2 – lending stream and payday express with adjudicator now.
Then – Piggy bank, Wage Day Advance, Satsuma, 247 Moneybox still within 8 weeks atm to here from.
Kelly says
Hello
Today is week 5 of my complaint, I called wonga up to check the progress of my complaint and she informed me that I will receive a letter this week as I hasn’t been uploaded as yet.
I’ve been offered around £3000 the interest I paid was £6816.09 obviously I’m not sure which loans they are paying back on yet.
Should I go to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it doesn’t sound like a good offer – the Ombudsman would usually add 8% per year since your repayments so a “full” refund could easily be 8000 or more. I suggest sending it to the Ombudsman.
Kelly says
Thanks for the quick response, the person I spoke to said the 8% was included in the total. I will take it to the ombudsman.
Ashley says
Today is 7 weeks since I emailed my complaint to Wonga and the only contact I have had from them was a holding email 4 weeks after my initial complaint. Do you think it’s worth me phoning to chase them or am I better to wait the full 8 weeks? Thanks
Ashley says
I just gave them a call and I’m not very happy! My original complaint was emailed to them on 26th June 17, I hadn’t heard anything by 20th July so I sent a chase email which was my original email forwarded with the chase at the top. They confirmed receipt of my complaint on 21st July and are now saying they didn’t get my original email, which they clearly did. But they are working the complaint from 21st July when they sent their reply. The orginal email was sent to the same email address and they can clearly see the time and date is was originally sent when I forwarded it! Is it right that the claim starts from when they bother to acknowledge it? Or is from when my first email was sent? Sorry for the rant! They were really unhelpful and wouldn’t even put me through to the actual complaints department!
Suowe says
Hi, I had an offer from Wonga via the Adjudicator at FOS, which I accepted on 2 August.
Ellen says
Hi there – i know this was a while ago, but i was wondering how long it took for you to have the funds paid? I accepted an offer via the adjudicator, he asked for my bank details 3 weeks ago and i haven’t heard anything back? I have emailed FOS several times but no one is replying, just wondering whats taking so long?
Thanks
Natasha says
I submitted my complaint to FOS on 17/7/2017 after wonga said they would only pay back 1/61 loans. I have received a letter today from the FOS saying they are in touch with Wonga, but also asking for a copy of my bank statements over the time the loans were taken out as well as a copy of my current credit report. Just wondering if this is normal procedure?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, this is now normal. It used to be up to the adjudicator to look and decide what they needed, now with so many complaints this has been streamlined and asking for this information at the beginning is now standard.
adambeatson says
Hi! I’ve only just seen you can get refunds from wonga ! Logged on to my wonga profile and no past history on there …. went over bank accounts and I’m shocked with myself the amount of times I took a loan … repaid a week later then borrowed again continually for about 30 weeks!
Ive added up what was paid into my account and it’s about 12000 over time… unfortunately I can’t see what I paid back as that came from an account I don’t have access to .
Loans ranged from 200 to 700 each time .
Generally I think If I work it out as it was 10 % interest each time ( borrow 200 pay back 220…..borrow 500 pay back 550) is it fair to say I paid about 1200 in interest over the year? This was in 2012 ….. are my figures roughly right and what would the 8% extra work out as … any comments would be helpful. So far all I did was send the email saying send me a breakdown etc .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not worth trying to guess this. Wait for the reply from Wonga, they do send loan details.
Karen says
I have just got my statement from Wonga 42 loans from them, ( between September 2011 and september 2014) most of them were for £1000 ( which was the max I could have) and each one was taken out as soon as the previous one was paid off, and sometimes twice a month, I am still in a state of shock that I paid them £7038.36 in interest and fees but without the 8 percent interest
I have just sent my email to them, I know I am in for a long wait and I have my fingers crossed that I get a bit of a refund
I wouldnt have known anything about a refund but thank you to this brill site I do now :)
Natalie W says
Hi everyone. Iv seen alot about these pay day loan refunds but never really thought of doing it myself seemed like a lot of trailing through papers thinking i wouldnt get anywere. Today iv actually sat and done it. I borrowed 11 loans in total between 2013-2014. Most loans were accepted on the day the previous was paid off sometimes twice in 1 month. I did receive a few emails from them after these loans about affordability criteria and ” i was a customer impacted as a result of these historical affordability issues” (10/10/14). I had my last loan repayment squashed so didnt have to repay (14/11/2014) and they were ammending my credit record (29/12/2014). These werent large amount loans but the interest added up (not including the final loan they squashed) was £1,056. I have emailed wonga customer complaints but i wont hold my breathe on getting a reply. Could it cause problems that i only ever used wonga no other companies and that the bank account i used had to be closed down so i have no statements. I do however have all emails from wonga regarding all loans and the emails i recieved from them (listed above). My name, address and email is all still the same. Do you think anything will come of this. I havent used wonga since the squashed that loan repayment.
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Could it cause problems that i only ever used wonga no other companies” no that makes your case simpler as one lender could see all of your borrowing.
“the bank account i used had to be closed down so i have no statements” it’s possible to get bank statements from closed accounts. No need to do this now, but just so you know it won’t be a problem.
This sounds a complaint worth pursuing – good luck!
Natalie B says
Hi I have just received my accounts statement from Wonga. I have also made a complaint which they are dealing with. What are my chances of receiving any money back as I took out 39 loans since April 2011 to sept 2014 range from £50 -£1000. And these loans where mostly taken out every week to pay back then had to get another to live off etc. In total for all 39 loans IV paid back Inc fees and interest over £13k.
Would you say IV got a chance of getting something back?
Regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like an excellent case – you may not get all the 13k back, but in addition 8% per year would be added on so you could potentially get a very large payout. If Wonga offer you a few thousand, don’t think that sounds great, because you could get a LOT more by taking this complaint to the Ombudsman.
Natalie B says
Thanks for the reply. So Wonga only have to pay back the fees and interest plus the 8% per year?
When I’ve deducted what I borrowed excluding fees and interest IV pay Wonga back over 7k. Would you expect a few grand offer or should I ref to ombudsman? And how long would the ombudsman take and would I need to pay anything to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you saying you have paid over 7k in interest and charges? That is the amount you repaid less the amount you borrowed.
If you are, then you can reasonably hope to get more than 7k from the Ombudsman – possibly more than 9k. It isn’t guaranteed of course, but this sounds like a strong case from what you have said.
Wonga have a habit of saying “we will only refund these 8 (or some other random number) loans” so you may get an offer of a few K. If you do, send it straight to the Ombudsman as you could get a lot more!
Abigail Thomas says
Hi Sara,
I have just been offered a settlement from Wonga (heard back from them on the day before their 8 weeks was up) and I just wondered if you had any idea how long it takes them to pay the monies?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Ross says
I’m the same, I agreed my settlement 1 week ago today anyone any ideas how long they usually take from the day I agreed? They said Upto 14 days but herd sometimes it’s quicker?
Thanks
Barney says
I got a positive result through the FOS, it’s been 16 days now and heard nothing from Wonga directly. Suspect 3-4 weeks if previous experience with other payday loan companies is anything to go by.
Nat says
Hi i sent a complaint to wonga via email and havent had no reply i was expecting an automated “thankyou for your email we will be intouch” reply but nothing. Did everyone else have this or should i forward it onto them again or maybe write to them
Thanks.
Rachel says
I sent mine off about 4 weeks ago and I didn’t get the automated reply straight away, it took about 4-5 days for it to come through to me.
Paul says
Hi sara,,
I had quite a few loans of wonga back in 2011-2012 week to week due to not being able to afford to pay the amount back with out it affecting my other bills and food. So i seen the advert on facebook about claiming back intrest. I pondered. And then decided il give them a ring. Rang them this morning saying i wish to make a complaint about them being irrisponsible lenders and how it got me i to a rutt. It lasted at least a year went from small to big loans (182) a week out my wages when i only picked up 210 a week. The way i got out of tge loop was i told them i couldnt afford to pay the lump sum and paid installment which i Kept to. I must of had atleast 52 loans, soon as they took the money out i was on the website replacing the money i lost. I asked they send confirmation of complaint. And asked for all the details of my loans i took out. The woman was very polite. And in all honesty. Ive never had a pro lem with there staff when i ring. My first loan was 25 paid back 33 then it went up and up. They never asked if i could afford to pay bk. Hope i recieve. Something bk.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
borrowing every week for a year suggests that Wonga should have realised you couldn’t afford to repay the loans – especially if the amounts tended to go up! Well done for complaining, if they come back with an offer in a few weeks and you aren’t sure it is enough, come back and ask what other people think?
Paul says
Hi sara, will do i will let you know the outcome, aint gunna take it lying down if they say no. Love the website btw.
Paul says
Hi sarah, ive had my confirmation. Letter saying they are sorry im not happy in the way they they treated me, just waiting for my account loan details, how much when, it dawn on me that i may have started late 2011. Hopefully under the six years margin. I remmember. Being annoyed in the fact of having to tell them to blok me from taking anynore loans as i was depressed and on a low income and in keep borrowing money off them it was affecting my health more, and more to the fact it was affecting my relationships with friends family and work colleagues, at one point i got so into a difficult position with them and had to borrow about 300 of my boss which didnt please him and he threatened me with the sack if i took out any more big loans, but by then id ran up debt with landlord and thats when i asked them to stop. The best feeling was when i paid them off after a hard half year. Which do u think is the best approach to get wonga to co-operate with complaints, ie phone email. They were very pleasant on the phone and so far cooperation. Has been quick. The reason i ask is if someone like me cant or don’t know how to approach them and choose to use outside agency which i didnt. Hope your well
Sara (Debt Camel) says
” i may have started late 2011. Hopefully under the six years margin.” well if there are one or two older loans you can just say to ignore them. It’s only if a lot of your complaint is about older loans that there is a problem.
“The best feeling was when i paid them off after a hard half year. ” taking back control – it’s a great feeling!
“Which do u think is the best approach to get wonga to co-operate with complaints, ie phone email. ” I think email is best because you have a record of what is said.
And you can take your time and think about something eg if they make you an offer. Sleep on it. or come and ask here. Over the phone, you might rush into a decision,
Also a lot of people don’t want to talk to a payday lender as they had bad experiences in the past.
Karen says
Hi after finding this site I used the template you made and sent it off to the payday lenders I had used. Already had an email back from Peachy offering my interest back! So Thank you so much! Fingers crossed the others are as cooperative.
anon37 says
Had my reply from Wonga,
You have suggested that we acted negligently when providing loans, however, the UK courts will not generally consider a claim of negligence if the event happened more than 6 years ago. The dispute resolution rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority also state that complaints cannot be considered by the Financial Ombudsman Service if the complaint is made about something that happened more than 6 years ago, or if later, more than 3 years from when the customer should have realised there was a problem.
Given the above, we do not consider it appropriate to investigate your complaint about the loans sold more than six years ago. Furthermore, as this complaint relates to loans being unaffordable, we think it should have been clear that the loans sold more than six years ago were unaffordable by the time these loan accounts were closed.
All my loans were 6-7 years ago but going to the FO as there is a few grand at stake.
Anyone been turned down by Wonga but successful via FO?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga so far aren’t paying out on loans over 6 years. The FOS is trying to talk them into it. Settle down and expect this one to be slow – although at some point (hopefully soon) there will be a resolution for these cases.
Laura says
Hi Sara I sent my complaint e-mail to wonga 7 weeks ago and I haven’t heard a peep, is it worth sending the e-mail again or waiting till after 8 weeks?
Ashley says
Defo resend it. I complained 8 weeks ago today. I hadn’t heard anything after 7 weeks so I called Wonga. They said their systems went down at the end if june/ beginning if July so they didn’t get any if the complaints from then. If you resend the complaint today, they will treat it as a new complaint so we have to wait another 8 weeks :-(
James says
I had a reply after 10 days acknowledging the complaint, after 4 weeks I had a response saying it was taking longer than expected. Currently on 6 weeks to the day and expect them to use the full 8 weeks so i would definitely ring them.
Andy says
Hiya I have recently contacted wonga about a refund. I first contacted them asking for a statement of all the loans I have had. To which they replied. From what I can work out I have paid aprox £1400 in interest.
I then sent a second email asking for a refund. I used a template of a letter I found on line. I sent it on the 16/8/2017. But I still havnt had a reply.
How long do they normally take to respond and realistically how much could I expect back if anything?
Many thanks
Andy
andy says
I had my reply from wonga. They have offered me 965 which I am more than happy with. They have e mailed me confirming amount and I have replied. So just got to wait for 14 days now. Thank you for all your help
Jenny says
How do I contact the Ombudsman? It’s now been 8 weeks… I have my statement and also have received a response to say they are still looking into this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The main payday loan refund page https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ has the details about how to send a case to the Ombudsman.
Andy says
Hi, I’ve just started the process. I borrowed about £20K from wonga between 2009 and 2014 – a total of 31 loans. Paid a total of £11k in interest and charges, quite a few rollovers too. I used the loans to battle my way through medical school. Ironically now I’m a qualified doctor and earning well wonga won’t lend to me as they deem me un-creditworthy! Wonga replied promptly to my request for a statement and I sent them my complaint on 18th Aug. I’ll keep you posted.
Andy says
Oops sorry, mis-counted. It was 41 loans. If I discount the 1st 5 loans and only add 8% interest since 2014 that still amounts to nearly £13k. I don’t think they will give that up without a fight!
Charlotte Gilsenan says
Hi guys, the adjudicator for my complaint has given wonga another week to respond to her assessment due to them having a backlog of complaints. Has anyone else had this? I just wondered if they did end up responding or if this will likely go to the Ombudsman. I made the initial complaint in April, so it’s taking a bit of time!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga are handling a LOT of complaints at the moment – can’t think why (innocent face). If they don’t reply in the week, they may still come back and accept the adjudicator’s decision when it is in the queue for the Ombudsman.
Charlotte Gilsenan says
Hi, Just a quick update, wonga have been in contact and offered roughly £800 for 6 out of 25 loans. I’ve asked the adjudicator if they will reconsider before i reject the offer (I’m assuming not) and im just waiting for a response….I’m hoping it’ll be resolved by the time I move house in October!!
Dave says
That happened to me . Wonga ignored the adjudicator , so she sent my complaint to the ombudsmen . They took 3 months to give me their decision , agreeing with the adjudicator that they give the interest on my loans back +8% on 14 out of 16 loans .
Mark says
Hi,
I used Wonga a LOT back pre 2012. I complained in 2015 under unaffordable criteria and they eventually upheld my complaint, making an offer I accepted. It only covered a few loans, to be honest I was so desperate for the money, to gamble, my head was turned by the refund. Is there any chance I could appeal to the FO, clearly I accepted the offer (not realising that it covered so few loans or what my rights were) I’m also well over the 6 month limit. They refunded me £2,200 and I reckon I must of had 5 times the number of loans they included, all rolled or instant reloans back to back months – is there any point at all in referring it now?
thanks
Also – Sara is there a donation option so we can send you thank you wine tokens?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, no chance of reopening this complaint.
if you would like to make a small donation to your local Citizens Advice (they are all individual small charities) that would be great!
rachael bailey says
Hi all
Im a bit late to the party with this but at least im here now!
I really need an opinion on my chances with Wonga. Between 3/8/11 and 13/11/14 they lent me 11,963 pounds in 57 transactions. All were paid off. Sometimes i borrowed 2-3 times a week. Is this irrisponsible lending? I used it once or twice in the beginning just to get by until my benefits went in, then it spiralled. My credit report was appalling before i borrowed from them, and now i have 57 searches on my credit report!
Is it worth doing, do you think i have a case?
Thanks for reading
mazdufc says
Hi yes absolutely follow the brilliant guidance on here and you should get lots of money back 57 loans is indicative of financial problems good luck
David says
Great news
Wonga offered to refund 3 loans. I rejected and it went to f.o who has now asked wonga to refund 26 loans.
Rose says
Is the 8 weeks to start from when they reply to the first email? I had statement of accounts from them last year but only emailed complaint off 2 weeks ago, got the standard reply last Wednesday of “We are referring the matter to our team of customer support specialists and they will contact you to offer a resolution or an update regarding their progress.” etc…do I count from the date of receipt of that email or do I wait for another email first from the CSS and go from that date?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The eight weeks started on when you emailed your complaint in.
Si says
Hi sara.
I took out 33 loans between 2011-2014 almost straight after each month bar a few. I roughly paid around £1400 interest from what it said on the statement they sent me. My very last loan with them was £1000 i lent but i couldnt pay that back along with the other payday loans i borrowed elsewhere at the same time, which meant me going on a debt management plan. In 2014 i still owed wonga around £1000 but this debt got wiped off as i think the company went bust or something. Do you think i could still have a case and recieve anything back? I have recently sent off my complaint. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you make any payments to the last debt in the DMP before it was wiped? Any idea how much?
Si says
I think I was paying them back through DMP for roughly at least 6 months maybe more . I think I was paying them back about £80 a month through DMP I’m not 100% though. I do remember the letter saying they wiped my debt an it was about £1000 I owed , obviously this would of been interest included to the original £1000 I lent.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So let’s say that last loan hadn’t been wiped. A typical Ombudsman’s award for the last one would be to reduce it to what you borrowed (£1000) less what you had repaid (say 6 x £80 = £480), so to about £500 – so that was really all that was written off. If you paid £1400 in interest on the previous loans, then this is worth a complaint, but the amount you get refunded will be reduced because of the write off you have already had.
Tom says
Is it just me or are Wonga refunding very few loans or none at all, only to be overruled pretty much on every occasion at the adjudicator or FO level?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That does seem to be happening a lot :(
Tom says
6 weeks today since my complaint went in with Wonga, looking at the response others are getting I’m not holding my breath. Even though two loans they provided me with were more than my monthly income (which I declared correctly on applications) and a further four exceeded my monthly income with the interest added!
Shannon says
Can say that I accepted with them directly last week. 7 out of 12 loans refunded on. 1 of the loans not picked had the interest refunded back in 2015 once regulations had changed. Other 4 were smaller loans with 2 at start of account and 2 after not using them for a few months.
85% of interest I paid was refunded, including the one in 2015, in total. I may have been able to get more from the FOS but thought this was completely fair refund given I did choose to borrow from them I’m not expecting a 100% refund of interest.
At first the loans seemed random but looking at it one was a flexible loan running for over a year and others had top ups. So they did pick the large or long running loans.
Shannon says
I will add they didn’t respond until last day of the 8 weeks but I expected that. I worked in a complaints department for a big energy supplier while they were getting alot of complaints and fines for their new system not working. I can only imagine Wonga is stretched to the limit with complaints and extremely busy. They are one of the longest and biggest pdl company.
Mike Seabrook says
I’ve had an offer from Wonga as I said in my previous comment . Does anyone know how long they have to cough up? Is there a certain time frame? Or will they drag it out on their terms as per usual?
Terry says
I got my money paid out earlier this month by Wonga. They took just under 7 weeks to give me an offer, quite good in my opinion as QQ took 3hrs under the 8 weeks which are allowed which I think was a bit cheeky lol. I accepted Wonga’s offer on a Thursday night and the money was in my bank by the Monday, so if that’s anything to go by then you’ll have your money very soon m8. I got £7k back from Wonga which included the 8% interest and just under £4k from QQ but they didn’t add the 8% (common practise by them from what I hear), so in my opinion Wonga have been very fair with their offer to me and QQ not so much but having said that I still accepted QQ’s offer.
Lee says
Terry I finally got my money from Wonga. I accepted offer of £2486 on 9th August, received money in my bank account on 24th August.
I also heard back from a smaller loan provider – Piggy Bank. I had 3 small loans with them interest calculated of £203. They offered £185 so I accepted cash in bank within 3 working days.
Natalie says
Hi
Just received my statement from wonga. There was a hell of alot more loans than i originally thought. 50 in total, 1 maybe 2 every single month over a few yrs its double the interest and
Fees i thought id paid too ? in my original email i asked for a statement and that i want to apply for all the interest and fees i paid to be refunded. The covering letter on statement says this…
Thank you for your email regarding your account.
We have now sent you details of your loans with WDFC UK Ltd.
As a responsible lender, we must make sure every single application we receive is individually assessed. We look at your repayment history and a wide range of industry data. A decision is then made based on a combination of factors…
It doesnt actually acknowledge my request for the refund. Do you think i should do another email stating i want to do this or do you think they would be looking into it with me mentioning in the 1st email.
Sorry my questions so long iv never done anything like this before so really unsure. Thankgod this is here x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Natalie, you are not the first person to be astonished by the number of loans you had or appalled at the interest you paid!
Wonga should look into your complaint now, but I think it’s a good idea to use the info you now have to write a fuller complaint letter, by using the Step Two template letter in https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ .
Wonga at the moment seem to be making low offers on just a few loans – if they do this to you and you aren’t sure if it is enough, come back here and ask what people think?
Natalie says
Thankyou i appreciate your help x
TobyT says
Good morning
Currently got a complaint in with Wonga. I received an email from them in 2015 saying they were writing off an old debt (with had been sold to PRA group) as I shouldn’t have qualified for it under their affordability rules. It was only 3 weeks ago I came across this site and using the templates on here asked them for SOA. To be fair got it within 5 days- 12 loans in 12 months increasing everytime totalling £1,640 in interest.
My question is – as they wrote off a balance of £300 in 2015 does this make my case stronger or weaker?
Any advice greatly received – good luck everyone x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It doesn’t change your case for unaffordable lending but it is likely to reduce the refund you get – think of the write off as having had the first part of your refund early, so the rest isn’t so big.
Lee says
I also had a redress in 2015 under Wongas forbearance programme on my last loan. But just had a refund last Friday from them for £2,486. So don’t worry get case in. Fact you had previous redress makes it stronger case really.
Kelly says
Hi
Wonga have sent me their decision, this is week 7 from when I got the acknowledgement of complaint.
They have offered £2,559.16 after tax the original amount is £3,386.95.
In total I paid around the £6000 mark maybe a bit more in interest.
I’m being refunded for 9 loans, 2 from 2011, 1 from 2012 and 6 from 2012.
I had loads from February 2010 to sept 2014. 19 of these loans were in 2010 and 22 of the loans were from 2011 to 2014.
So….. I’m unsure if this is a good offer, in the letter it states that the ombudsman won’t look at loans older than 6 years? Is this true should I take it to the ombudsman to get hem to look into the 13 loans from 2011-2014?
warren says
Hi guys i have a adudicater agree in my favour in my complaint saying two of my loans where unaffordable they had to the 22nd of auguest to reply to there findings i heard nothing from them so rang to see if they had heard from wonga. They said the person dealing with my case is off and wonga have came back with new information but didnt say what. Is this bad news? and does this happen alot and will it change anything? Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s quite common. Often the adjudicator simply reads the “new information” and doesn’t change anything. Sometimes the adjudicator will change something, but then you can comment on that.
Graham says
Hi all,
Just got to say this page is absolutely brilliant, plucked up the courage to write a half hearted complaint to wonga, accepted an offer from them on the 22/08 for just over 4K, totally ecstatic with the outcome, probably could have got more but was more than happy, do they get 14 days to payout on offer? They did say to me they aim to payout within 14 days!
Thanks again for all the help and advice from this page, now to send some other emails
Lee says
Congrats Graham just had my Wonga refund paid last Friday. Took full 14 days. Just phone them up to confirm they have your acceptance email and they have put your name on their internal refund list.
Lewis says
Hi guys, so yesterday, I received an email from the Final Ombudsman saying Wonga accepted his rulings in my case of mislending and they accepted to pay a refund totalling £2,759 and remove all entries to my credit report.
What is the next step? Should I call Wonga and ask when they are paying out the refund and also ask when I should receive the money?
Also does anyone know how long before these negative entries are removed off my credit report, just so I can keep a track on this.
Thank you to everyone on this site, my 7 month journey for a refund is nearly over!!
Dan says
Good news – well done!
You simply need to accept this via the adjudicator (their email to you will probably state that you need to let them know and confirm your bank details) – they will then send the acceptance on to Wonga. I put a time frame on my acceptance to the FOS for a Sunny loan which the adjudicator agreed was reasonable and passed on to Sunny – you could do the same.
After they have sent the acceptance on your behalf, I see no reason why you can’t contact Wonga to ask – it’s your refund so why not.
MrsT says
Just had a list of my loans from wonga and it just doesn’t tally up with my bank accounts, seems like some are missing! What should i do …
Also, do you get any other fees back aswell as the interest. On each transaction there is a fee column as well as a interest column, it looks like an admin fee of some sort?
Lee says
How much is the difference between bank statements and the statement of accounts provided? Any over 6 years?
Admin fees were £5.50 per loan
Just dealt with Wonga got a refund back of £2,486 last week. Hopefully can help you.
MrsT says
I think I’ve solved it, looks like some transactions were top ups but the document only show the final loan amounts paid so think its right.
So would you get the 5.50 back on each loan as well as the interest? Not all mine say 5.50 next to them some say more, probably default fees
AK says
The bigger amounts of fees are related to top ups. If you have a fee of £11 it means 2 rolls overs with 2 fees of £5.50 etc. I also received a statement from Wonga last night. Shocking! Already sent them a complaint. According to the statement I had 64 loans from them.
Jerome says
Hi,
Wonga have made me an offer after sending them an email asking them to send me a statement of all my loans, after recieving that i worked out that the total Interest I paid was £1886.57 and i also paid £493 in fees. Since working that out they have sent me an email offering £383 plus interest. I noticed they are only on a few loans where as in total I took out approx 70 loans some small to tie me over some big when I leant to much on a prev month. I feel like it’s wise to take the offer but could do with some advice on the matter. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you think you paid 1886 + 495 = 1381 in interest and fees? It doesn’t sound like 493 is a good offer… How long a period were these 70 loans over?
Jono says
Ahhhh I hate Wonga!!! (although I guess most of us do on this thread!) So the adjudicator reccomended that they refund the interest on 44 loans and the cheeky so and so’s have come back and offered refunds on 37 of them. So close! Question now..accept nearly £4k (It’s a good wad of cash!) or ride it out for a few hundred quid more. I know Wonga are playing the game here…just worried about how long it would take at Ombudsman stage from this point! What to do??
stu says
I would take the 4K but give them a date you want it deposited by, failing that go to the Ombudsman if you feel you can manage without it for several months.
Rosie says
Hi
I’ve accepted £2841 from wonga, sent my reply last Tuesday 29th but still haven’t had my money. Really hope it’s quick as I want to pay off another debt and have some left for my holiday in 2 weeks time.
They wouldn’t look at the loans over 6 years but have refunded on 10 loans, I don’t know how many I had to be fair, but I feel this is a decent refund when I wasn’t expecting to get anything back.
Karen says
I just called wonga and was advised they have 48 hours to deal with the acceptance then a further 14 WORKING DAYS to process the refund. Seems like a long time to wait :(
I am confident I could’ve got more through FOS but really need the money so I accepted on only 3 loans out of 22.
James says
Pretty ridiculous given their business is sending money within 15 minutes…
JoB says
Apparently you will receive an email when the refund has been processed advising that the payment would be in your chosen account in the next 3/5 working days.
I am currently awaiting my refund confirmed last Tuesday by email that they will make payment within 14 working days. I then called them Saturday as obviously sometimes mistakes happen and wanted to know how I would know that they had paid me etc. I was then informed about the second email with the 3/5 day wording!
So on that guidance in theory I should get the second email by this Friday if they are going to honour their timeline! Does seem odd how some people have literally had theirs received within days album others have waited the absolute max…..I guess it proves Wonga do what Wonga want to do!!!
Elizabeth says
Hi
Hopefully just a bit of useful info re my case with Wonga, for all others out there going to the Ombudsman. I originally complained to Wonga on 5th October 2016 (fortunately I had emails of all my loans so they didn’t need to provide this to me), 25 loans between Aug 2011 and Sept 2013.
They responded within 8 weeks, not upholding my complaint. I sent this in to the Ombudsman and received an Adjudicators decision in January 2017, upholding my complaint in that Wonga were told to refund loans numbers 4 through to 25 in total, + 8% per annum. Wonga refused this decision, so it was passed through to an Ombudsman themselves and a final decision on 21st February 2017.
Unfortunately, I am still awaiting this final decision. I have chased this up with the ‘Short Term Lending Team’ at FOS, and they have said that “Unfortunately, we are slightly over on our normal time scales for resolution but we are working hard to try and resolve your case as quickly as possible. We hope to be in touch with you soon with some further information”.
Good luck to all who pursue the FOS route, but sometimes this is not a quick resolution, time and patience is key.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you got the adjudicator’s decision pretty quickly but this wait is now weirdly long. Some cases just seem to get stuck in the system, for no reason that anyone can see. I suggest you start calling them every week!
Sarah says
I took out 46 loans. The interest alone over 3 years adds up to a staggering £17,621 25 and no im not exaggerating i had it checked and double checked!!! These where rolled over loans, top up loans, and a few late payments. I have put my complaint in and now just the waiting game. I have no idea what i paid in fees tho as not worked that out. Do you think i will get lucky and get a decent refund?? Or will i have to go via FOS??
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I know you double checked, but are you absolutely sure that that is what you paid in interest, not what you paid in repayments to Wonga? Did you get the numbers from Wonga or from your bank statements?
How long ago were these loans?
It’s really hard to tell what happens with the very largest complaints. Finger crossed you get a good result quickly – don’t accept a low one just because it sounds like a lot of money!
Gemma says
Hi everyone
I’m waiting for my refund from Wonga as awarded by omhudsman but can I just ask, do they pay interest up to the date of refund or just up to the date of the Ombudsman decision? I thought it was the former but they seem to be working on the basis of the latter
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It should be to the point they calculate the refund – but unless your refund is huge, a week or two won’t make much difference.