In 2018, when Wonga went into administration, people started asking isn't there some kind of guarantee system that would step in if Wonga fails? Won't the FSCS help? This has become more important every year since then, with most of the major payday lenders failing, including the Money Shop, QuickQuid, Sunny and Myjar. From 2020, other sorts of high cost lenders have also being failing, … [Read more...]
Articles about Wonga
Wonga used to be Britain's largest payday lender. It went into administration in August 2018. Around 400,000 customers had their affordability complaints upheld, but only receive 4.3p in the £ of the refund they should have had. The company was finally dissolved in December 2020.
Wonga – what happened during the administration
The administration of WDFC, the legal company who operated the Wonga brand, was completed in August 2020. The company was finally dissolved in December 2020. See Companies House records for details. Background to the administration - rising complaint numbers A payday loan is "unaffordable" if repaying meant you had to get into more debt, by borrowing again or getting behind … [Read more...]
Wonga – the adminstrators’ report – March 2019
The Wonga Administrators’ six month progress report to end February 2019 was emailed to creditors on 27 March 2019. The creditors include the so-called "redress creditors". These are the customers who complained to Wonga saying they were given unaffordable payday loans. Collecting outstanding loans When Wonga went into administration, the Gross Loan Book totalled £77 million. So far … [Read more...]
How many Wonga victims are there? 10k, 40k? More!
In February, Nicky Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Committee, said: It cannot be right that over 10,000 people who may have been mis-sold loans are just cast aside, especially as many will be vulnerable consumers. The Wonga administrators replied, saying: The total number of redress claims is currently more than four times the number you referred to in your press statement on 26 February and we … [Read more...]
How the Wonga administrators will handle refunds – the Proposals
The Wonga Administrators sent a letter in late October to some of Wonga's creditors with their proposals to handle the administration. These include: background on the events before administration; how to decide the payday loan affordability complaints that have already been sent to Wonga; and how to encourage other customers to submit a complaint. These Proposals were agreed by a … [Read more...]
Lessons to be learned from Wonga – 6 policy challenges
It's now a few weeks since Wonga went into administration. This seems like a good point to ask some difficult questions about the lessons from Wonga and what should be done to reduce consumer harm in future. Much of the media coverage has gone as follows: Wonga was the worst - then the FCA fined them and made them write off debts in 2014 and introduced good payday loan regulation in 2015. … [Read more...]
Wonga refunds – what happened before administration
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 … [Read more...]
Do a million need payday loan compensation?
On 2nd October 2014 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that Wonga had agreed to compensate an estimated 375,000 customers where Wonga's "affordability" checks are likely to have been inadequate. The common reactions were first that Wonga was being made an example of to warn other payday lenders and second that this was a huge number of refunds... But should many more people get … [Read more...]
Wonga write-offs for 375,000 people in 2014
Wonga is offering write-offs to 375,000 of its current customers because its affordability assessments have been inadequate. This was agreed with its regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and announced on 2nd October 2014. Wonga has agreed to make significant changes to its business immediately to try to prevent these problems happening in future. Who is being compensated? The … [Read more...]