The FCA announced on 26 February 2019 that Curo Transatlantic Limited (CTL) enters administration with Pre-Pack Sale.
CTL owns two brands: Wageday Advance (WDA), a mid-size payday lender, and Juo Loans, a small guarantor loan brand. It also owned Speedy Cash, which ceased trading a while ago.
KPMG has been appointed as administrators. They have said:
CTL was subject to a significant number of consumer redress claims arising from its historic affordability, creditworthiness and responsible lending practices. Over time, and with the number of claims increasing, the financial and operational burden of resolving them became unsustainable.
KPMG has set up the following page CURO Transatlantic Limited – in Administration which has a link to FAQs.
Contents
The background to the administration
Wageday Advance has been under increasing pressure from customers asking for payday loan refunds for unaffordable lending;
Since autumn 2018, it has been delaying and prolonging responding to customer complaints. In January I wrote Wageday Advance – delaying complaints and in financial trouble? which looked at why WDA was getting so many complaints.
In its year-end results, CTL’s parent company, the American subprime lender Curo, announced it had asked the FCA to agree to a Scheme of Arrangement which would cap its liabilities to pay refunds for unaffordable lending at c £18 million. See Wageday Advance proposes cutting the refunds it pays for details.
WDA had not been issuing loans for a week, with its website blaming technical problems.
The FCA has presumably rejected Curo’s proposed Scheme of Arrangement. I think this was the right decision by the FCA. To allow an authorised firm to restrict paying redress for past problems but to carry on trading would set an unacceptable precedent and be unfair to Wageday Advance’s competitors.
A “pre-pack” sale to Morses Club
The administrators have announced the sale of the CTL’s brands, systems, call centre, and online lending capabilities to Shelby Finance for c £8.5 million. Shelby are a subsidiary of Morses Club, they currently trade as Dot Dot, a very small payday lender.
50,000 CTL customers, including all Juro customers, are being notified that their loans have been transferred to Shelby.
You can check if your account has been transferred by logging in here.
650,000 other CTL accounts – many of which will be historic, with no current lending – remain with CTL.
What about refunds?
The liability for refunds for previous unaffordable lending will remain with CTL. The administrators say:
The joint administrators will now work to realise the remaining assets of the company and to then distribute the available funds to creditors.
Customers with affordability complaints that are upheld by the administrators will now be unsecured creditors. How much money will be available for refunds will depend on the assets the administrators can sell in addition to the £8.5m from the sale to Shelby.
WDA will stop paying any refunds immediately, including those that have already been agreed.
All WDA complaints currently with the Financial Ombudsman are being returned to the administrators to settle – on 28 February FOS confirmed this.
A new method for calculating refunds
The administrators say in the FAQs that, before going into administration, WDA developed a new method of assessing complaints and calculating compensation.
This is not the approach WDA was using in its complaint handling before administration – it is a new method. I expect that it was developed to try to be in line with FOS decisions.
I guess there may be some tweaks to it but it sounds as though the administrators think they have got the tool they need. They say:
Further details of this methodology will be provided in due course, and the Joint Administrators will seek to agree a claim calculation methodology with CTL’s creditors in the coming months.
Once the method is agreed, the administrators will apply it to people who have already made a complaint, people who complain now (see below) and probably to all other customers accounts who haven’t yet complained. If you have already had an amount agreed, I don’t know if the calculation will be applied to you – it may be the agreed amount will be used.
This will result in a list of the people who are the unsecured creditors owed compensation with an amount for that compensation. There won’t be any appeal from this – you can’t go to the Ombudsman.
After this, when the administrators have realised any assets, they will be able to divide the money that is left between the unsecured creditors. The administrators are saying that they expect you will get something but it will not be the full value of the compensation.
If you haven’t yet complained
I think the administrators will contact people who they calculate are due some compensation. But you don’t have to wait for this. You can put in a very simple complaint now by email complaints@wagedayadvance.co.uk and say you were given unaffordable loans and you want to ask for a refund of interest.
There is no point in writing a lot as the administrators are just going to run your loan history through their calculation tool.
Current loans
Loans from WDA and Juo still legally exist. You still owe the money. The lender going into administration does not change this.
If the loan repayments are affordable for you – so you can make them without having to borrow any more money – you should continue to make them.
But first check your balance!
Provisional balance adjustments
If you can login to your account, you may see that the balance owing has been reduced.
The administrators say:
the Joint Administrators’ have made provisional balance adjustments to reflect the estimated final position that they expect to reach, once they have been able to agree the approach with CTL’s creditors.
So they are assuming the method for calculating the refunds is roughly correct and that it will be agreed. And they have already credited some accounts with the refund that has been assessed.
These are provisional adjustments as they aren’t final until the methodology has been agreed.
If you have had a reduction, could you add a comment below saying how much?
Where the balance has been reduced to zero, there may be an extra amount of compensation that will refund that will you will later get a part of.
If there is still a balance left, you need to repay that amount. If you can’t afford the normal repayments, you need to ask for an arrangement to pay this.
My verdict – assuming the method calculates a fair amount for compensation, this seems a very sensible approach by the administrators. I hope it means people are not going to be chased to repay outstanding balances when they are actually owed compensation.
Communications from the administrators
I will try to keep this updated over the next few months.
Email from the Administrators on 4 March
On 4 March KPMG sent an email about the conduct of the administration. I don’t know who this has gone to – whether it is everyone that has complained or just the people WDA previously made an offer to.
A copy of this has been posted in the comment below by Tom on 5 March.
You don’t need to take any action following this email but if you haven’t got it, do check that it has not gone into your spam folder – otherwise you may miss later emails from the administrators which are more interesting!
It asks if you want to opt-out of some email communications. This won’t affect your refund if you do opt-out, but you are not going to get tons of emails from the administrators so I suggest you stay opted-in.
last updated – 5 March 2019
marty says
Rather disturbing the Fos adjudicator upheld my complaint as have been waiting over a year for an ombudsman to look at it and now this. So more wait. Fos have been poor
Christopher Aitchison-Knight says
If I’ve got a complaint about their inaccurate reporting to the credit bureau do you know who I should pursue this with now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The following is my best guess:
If you are told your account has been transferred to Shelby, complain to Shelby.
If not complain to WDA where it will be dealt with by the administrators.
Gareth says
If a lender goes bust what happens to data they have reported about you? Can you ask for it to removed from the cra’s as the company has no legal grounds to report and retain it any more due to them becoming insolvent. And breaching any contract they once had with you?.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Nice try. No.
There would only be grounds to remove the data if it is incorrect. The lender had a right to report the data at the time and going into administration doesn’t change that.
Nicki says
That’s great just got a redress agreed so probably won’t be getting any of that anytime soon if at all
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is my guess :(
Carl says
This is worrying news. Another lender collapsing and those of us awaiting recourse are now abandoned by the Ombudsman.
How many other lenders are going to follow suit when their overseas backers pull the plug?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The only other firms with “overseas backers” that are publically listed are QuickQuid where its US parent doesn’t seem at all worried about refund costs and Sunny, who made some muttering noises last year but not in their recent results.
Carl says
That’s reassuring, but we’ve still been let down by the FOS.
David D says
I fully appreciate your grievance, i’m following this topic as I have a WDA complaint lodged with them too so i’m just as miffed as the next person but I can’t see how it is the FOS letting anyone down here. They are in receipt of a mass amount of complaints and come round to them when they can, it isn’t their fault that in the interim a company has gone into administration, it isn’t the FOS fault that companies stall or use potentially (heresay) deliberate tactics to get out of adhering to rulings and legislation.
Personally, I have nothing but gratitude for the FOS service and that is further to having some complaints upheld and rejected. It is a free independent service, we should be grateful for any help they provide no matter how long they require to complete their action.
Lucy says
Just called up Wage Day Advance/Shelby on the usual number 0333 006 2000. They are advising for customers to call back after 2pm, as they will be able to provide an update on individual accounts and transfers.
Jon says
Furious about this. Waited over 4 months to get a final offer from WDA, then finally got it a week ago and agreed a decent sum, to arrive in 5-7 days. Now I probably won’t see any of it. So angry right now. This timing must be deliberate…
Sophie says
I’m in exactly the same situation.
I wondered if it was deliberate too.
J says
Me too. I thought it was a great offer last week, now I feel like I have been conned all over again. I think we are a few of many.
tom price says
likewise for me, the ombudsman awarded mine 3 weeks ago….
Sophie says
Just been put through to Shelby, who directed me to the administrator’s website and it says this:
I made a complaint against CTL before it entered administration – what happens to my complaint?
“Customers who have made a complaint against CTL prior to it entering into administration may have a claim against the CTL and will be contacted by the Administrators in relation to their potential claim in due course. This includes customers awaiting a response to their complaint, customers who have received a ‘final response letter’ from CTL with an offer of redress but have not returned it, and customers who have taken their complaint to the FOS. The Administrators will determine a process for agreeing creditor claims and will then contact relevant customers (including those who have already made a complaint), explaining what they need to do next in order to progress their claim.”
That specifies customers who have recieved an offer but not returned it. There is no mention of those of us that have recieved an offer and accepted it or am I misreading that?
The man I spoke to at Shelby seemed to think that if the complaint was closed prior to 25th (ie offer accepted and details sent to payment department) that it would be protected as a legal agreement but he wasn’t certain.
Even more confused than I was before now!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“the administrator’s website ” where is this ?
I don’t think the person you spoke to at Shelby knows anything about administration.
Wonga did not make any payments, even where a refund had been agreed and was in the process of being paid, after it entered administration. I expect the same to happen here.
In your case you DO have a claim against CTL, for the agreed amount of the refund.
Sophie says
To be honest I didn’t think he was making much sense from what you’ve said either lol
I don’t think it’s the administrator’s direct website, just the statements they’ve given re. the situation.
He directed me to FAQs on
http://www.kpmg.co.uk/curo
Pearly Girl says
Who is now the creditor – for DROs etc ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as I know, loans that have been defaulted are not being sold. If you don’t receive an email in the next couple of days saying your account is being transferred to Shelby, then it is probably staying with CTL.
All this should be clear by the end of the week if you phone up.
James says
so with refunds in general am I better taking an offer rather than waiting months for FOs and then the firm go bust and get nothing?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People with Wageday Advance complaints may not “get nothing” – we won’t know how big a percentage of the refund they might originally have got they will get paid in the end.
What is happening in the payday loan market is that the weakest players are going under. But every firm that goes under leaves an opportunity for others to get a larger market share AND (because they have more people applying to them) to be more fussy about who they lend to, so the market for the firms that is left is becoming increasingly profitable and less likely to go bust.
Also FOS is making concerted efforts to speed up complaint handling and to get the lenders to make better offers directly. I expect to see that paying off this year.
So I think you have to look at any offer on a case by base basis. If it’s reasonable but not brilliant, is it worth the delay in going to FOS?
Jon says
Seems like they won’t be able to take calls til tomorrow now as systems are still being given updated.
Is there any movement on the 6 years issue? I’ve been contacted by another lender through the final response to say they were considering those over 6 years based on my rationale for not claiming before. But quickquid and others are still discarding them without even a look… I’m worried about going to the ombudsman as I think there’s a high chance some of the smaller lenders with which i have loans over 6 years will go bust like WDA….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am hearing some generally positive noises about over 6 year loan cases starting to move…
Which lenders are you worried about?
Lorraine says
Sara,
I’m worried about Satsuma, Sunny & Uncle buck :-(
what are your thoughts or advice on this please?
Steve says
Ugh…just my luck that I raise an affordability complaint with them on Friday, and then they go into administration today…!
Will see what happens, if anything..! Am I better off setting up a repayment plan with them, or holding off and see what they say?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How good is your affordability complaint – how many loans have you had from them? How much interest have you paid on the loans that you have settled?
How much do you currently owe them?
Steve says
Well, not sure – 3 loans, two paid and one outstanding.
Loan 1: £150 paid back £180 (£30 interest) (6/8/18 taken out for one month, paid off on 28/8/18)
Loan 2: £180 paid back £263.91 (£83.91 interest) (3/9/18 taken out for three months, paid off on 3/12/18)
Loan 3: £250, plus interest of £172.76 (not paid yet) (8/12/18 taken out)
I think I have a good case as I had numerous late payments and defaults on my credit file when the first one was taken out, so they should have seen I was in difficulty then, let alone quick requests for further loans after I paid off the previous one…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, I don’t like trying to predict outcomes, but my guess is that if that case had gone to the Ombudsman, the most likely outcome is that you would have had the interest removed from the last loan so you only repay £250. This is because the gaps between the loans were very short and the loan amounts went up each time.
So your options here are to refuse to make a payment arrangement until you have a response to your complaint (I don’t know how much you will be pushed to make payments) or make a low payment arrangement now (say £20 a month?) knowing that by the time you get an answer to your complaint you probably won’t have paid more than the 3250 you borrowed.
Suzanna Walker says
1st six months of 2018 Curo (WDA owners) received 749 complaints
749 x £550 = £ 411,950 just for FOS to assess the complaint.
But FOS only upheld 56% which means that 44% were not bonafide complaints but still cost the company £181,258 . It surely must mean that making a bogus complaint only makes it more difficult for those who have bona fide complaints as £181,258 would surely have paid quite a few refunds. I suggest people think hard about making a complaint and if just trying it on is the only motivation you are not helping those with genuine entitlement to a refund.
Obviously the figures for the last six months of 2018 are not out yet but I guess they show a similar situation.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think suggesting that anyone who has a complaint tuned down at FOS did not have a “bona fide” complaint, perhaps even “bogus” and “trying it on” is entirely unfair and offensive. These things are not as black and white as you seem to think.
I will also point out that WDA could have saved itself 200k plus if it had paid out on what you term “bona fide” complaints directly and not made people have to take their complaints to FOS. This part is entirely within a lender’s control. But perhaps they are rejecting “genuine” complaints because they are trying to see what they can get away with?
Mark says
Well said Sara…..
marty says
I think if they just settled without the need for the Fos they would have saved money instead they buried their heads in sand and did not follow the rules stated by the Fos. I think my own claim is for less than the £550 they forced me to go to Fos with which is sad as their sole line was couldn’t help me as not within time scales.
Sophie says
Hi Sara (again!)
I accepted the offer from WDA and recieved confirmation from them on Thursday last week that they had passed my details to their payment department and the money should be in my account in 5-7 working days. It hasn’t gone in yet. Will them going into administration affect this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is VERY likely that you won’t get paid, sorry. What I expect to happen is that you are now an unsecured creditor and that eventually, when the administrators have sold all the assets, you will be paid at so much in the £. No idea what that percentage will be at the moment.
Iain123 says
I see CURO share price is currently down 7% on the NYSE. Strange, I would have thought it’d be up after getting out of payday refunds!
I don’t get all this. The parent company is a billion dollar company, why aren’t they honouring payday refunds? Why isn’t the company that bought CURO liable for payday complaints? Why don’t directors of other payday companies close down and reopen under a new brand, avoiding millions in payouts?
Surely QQ and Sunny are now closer to throwing in the towel?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I would have thought it’d be up after getting out of payday refunds!” but the board wanted the Scheme of Arrangement to go through because the UK payday loan market looked very profitable…
“The parent company is a billion dollar company, why aren’t they honouring payday refunds?” the legal structure means they don’t have to.
“Why don’t directors of other payday companies close down and reopen under a new brand, avoiding millions in payouts?” a pre pack administration must be in the best interests of creditors as well as the company.
“Surely QQ and Sunny are now closer to throwing in the towel?” If Curo had been allowed to have a Scheme of Arrangement, I would have expected other firms to start looking at one. But administration? There is no inc=dication from their recent quarterly accounts that they are in that much trouble.
Joseph says
Really disappointed but not surprised by this, had an arrangement to pay £950 but case was with FOS – Now will probably have to pay all the £950 back then wait a long time for a refund (if I get one). Feels very unfair
AJ says
Made a complaint in October. Have not heard back from them and now they gone into administration. Do I wait another few months for there reply or should I go straight to FOS. I had 10 loans with them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t now send a case to FOS. If you do, it will be returned to the administrators in the next month or so.
There is nothing you can do (unless you still owe a balance?), you just have to wait for what is likely to be many months before the administrators first decide if you have a good complaint and then know how much they have to pay out.
Worried customer says
I have a complaint outstanding with the fos. I have over 40 loans with wda.
Complaint was raised back in December after I eventually spoke with family about my mess.
I have not had a response.
Is it likely I will not get any refund? I am quite worried now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is likely that your FOS complaint will be returned to the administrators within the next month or so. (This isn’t FOS being difficult, under Insolvency law there is a moratorium on legal proceedings against a company once the company has entered administration.)
What Wonga administrators are doing is developing a way to determine how much of a refund these “returned complaints” and those still at Wonga will get. Then this will be reduced when it is known how much money is available to be paid out, so you may get paid “80p in the £” or “18p in the £”, this won’t be known for months.
Do you still owe WDA any money?
Iain123 says
One silver lining is this frees up FOS staff to deal with other payday lenders.
maggie says
My complaint has been with the ombudsman for 2 years!! against WDA because my loans are over 6 years old. I’m very angry about it as I had exactly the same issue with Wonga. I would take some kind of joy if I thought the people who made the most profit out of this would lose the most but unfortunately they never do! Good luck to everybody who still has claims to fight and I hope as many of you get the resolution you deserve as possible.
This was my last and biggest claim so time to move on and if anything comes then it’ll be a bonus.
Thanks Sara for your brilliant site and advice to so many.
Iain123 says
CURO shares down another 4%, and falling.
Anyone know why?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Someone sold some shares… sorry to sound flippant, but this just looks like noise. The share price has recovered most of the earlier drop.
fiz says
if i received a final response letter from wageday advance which I intended to send to FOS?? where do I stand
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t now send your case to FOS. If you do, this is going to be returned by FOS to the administrators in the next few weeks. The administrators will determine how your complaint will be resolved.
This will probably feel very unfair, but there is nothing you can do to change it. I will be keeping this page updated, so if you check back once a month or so, you will see if there is any progress.
fizz says
since the debt has gone to a debt collection agency, would there be a chance to get it removed from the debt collectors and get the negative remarks removed?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Has it been sold to a debt collector or just passed to a debt collector to be collected for WDA? How many previous loans did you have with WDA?
Jennifer says
I made a claim against wage day for interest and was given a final response letter2 weeks ago and an offer which I accepted, do you think I will lose that now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are only going to get paid a percentage of it and that after many months.
Paul says
Hi there
I took out a loan with wageday advance in January
Firstly should they have issued this loan knowing they were in a crisis?
Secondly my payment is due today and nothing appears to have come out my bank I’ve has no txt message that I would usually get or email (just the email from Shelby saying they had taken over)
Am I in a position to get the interest cancelled on this loan and just pay back what I borrowed?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“should they have issued this loan knowing they were in a crisis?” Yes. Their regulator was aware of their financial problems and allowed them to carry on lending. That argument will not help you.
“my payment is due today and nothing appears to have come out my bank I’ve has no txt message that I would usually get or email (just the email from Shelby saying they had taken over)” I suggest you ask Shelby why the payment has not been taken. This is probably an admin problem to do with the sale of the accounts. Your credit record should not show this as a missed payments and you should complain if it does.
“Am I in a position to get the interest cancelled on this loan and just pay back what I borrowed?” do you have a good argument that the loan repayments were unaffordable for you? HAd you previously borrowed from WDA, how many times?
Tim Harris says
I have just rang fos and been told my complaint logged with them 10 days can not be looked into as Wda have gone into admin
I have a current loan with them which they offered to wipe and compensate me . I declined the offer as I felt the offer was unacceptable..where do I now stand?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your complaint will be sent back to the administrators by FOS. You will be an unsecured creditor of WDA.
The administrators then have to do two things. First determine how large a refund should be calculated in your case. They may simply set this at whatever you were offered before, or they may be coming up with a new way – the Wonga administrators are developing a new way. Any new calculation will not be worse than what you have already been offered.
Second they need to divide up the available money between all the creditors, so you will only get a percentage of your refund.
BUT because you have an open balance, this should be wiped and only the remaining refund will be reduced.
Are you making any payments to this balance? If you are, you should probably stop now, as if you pay more off, then more of your refund will be reduced by the percentage being paid.
Kristym86 says
Bloody hell!! I am still waiting for my final response. Decided not to take it to the FOS yet. Probably no point now 🤷🏼♀️
So I have currently got just over £200 left to pay them. I pay back £9.92 per month. I get that I should still pay them but will I ever get any money back??!
I also out in a complaint to Wonga. Will we ever get anything back??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I get that I should still pay them”… possibly not…
CAn you say how many times you had borrowed from WDA before the loan you still owe? Do you know how much interest you paid
Kristym86 says
Hi Sara
Sorry been busy with work etc.
Right…
1st loan opened 26/05/2016 for £100 term of agreement 35 days. Extended it. Completed paying 26/08/2016. Think total amount paid was £173.60
2nd loan opened 26/05/2016 for £500 over 6 installments in which I am still paying. Balance as it stands £238.04.
From what I can see on both loans they did stop the interest when it went into arrears but there was some interest added.
As I said I’m paying £9.92 back a month.
Kristym86 says
Hi Sarah sorry not sure if you have seen my above post? Any tips?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much have you paid to the 2nd one? They were both opened on the same day?
Kristym86 says
Hi Sara sorry that was a typo above.
I took 2nd loan the same day I paid the first one back
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well as an affordability complain it isn’t that strong . Yes the second loan was larger, but as it was an instalment loan, your monthly repayments would have been smaller than for your first loan.
How much have you paid to the last loan?
AB says
Hi Sara, I spoke to WDA last week and WDA offered me a ‘reduced settlement’ figure, saving £150 and I had a week to decide what to do. I had an o/s complaint with them but it’s not that strong, don’t I feel stupid now for not just paying it off at the time!!! Do you think the administrators will likely be prepared to accept the lower offer simply to get the money in or will I have missed the opportunity now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No idea but I guess it’s worth a try. Phone them up tomorrow and say you want to accept the offer.
Keith says
Kinda at the same situation. I got a rubbish offer after six months of waiting. So Monday I got offered 65 pounds and I had been keeping an eye on wage day thinking it was gonna go. So I just emailed back saying yes I accept my redress. This was Monday . Then boom Wageday gone. Is it even worth me chasing this payment. Even so how would I do it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are now an unsecured creditor. You should get a small amount in the end but I doubt chasing it now will get you anything.
Bob Rooney says
The FOS is a joke. They are part of the problem because they have taken so long to deal with any of this stuff. There was a letter from the FCA about the six year cases in October and I am still waiting for my cases to be looked at five months later. The TSC had it right last week the FOS has abandoned people like us and they are not any better than the companies who preyed on the vulnerable to give these loans.
Sarah Harrison says
Received an email today saying Ed Boyle and I were appointed Joint Administrators of the Company on 25 February 2019. The Company formerly traded as a provider of short-term, high-interest consumer finance in the UK under two brands: WageDayAdvance and Juo Loans.
It is not currently possible to forecast the outcome of the administration, but we intend to write to you setting out our proposals for achieving the purpose of the administration by 25 March 2019.We are reviewing the affairs of the Company. If there are any matters relating to the Company and its management that you wish to bring to our attention,
James says
Sara,
Got an offer from WDA on 30/10/18.
Sadly I rejected this as I felt it should have been >£3k, not the £1100 offered. (Primarily due to historic loans.)
Referred this to the Ombudsman straight away but 4 months on my case has not been allocated and now this. Very disappointed in this but I appreciate many are in the same boat.
I do have a small outstanding balance with them, c. £200.
Is there any precedent or indication what type of % can be expected on refunds? Does the Wonga experience tell us anything about this? Also, is there any indication on whether those who have had offers from WDA will be viewed more favourably by the calculations when these are devised?
Email from Curo went into my junk mail, nearly never knew about this at all.
Thanks, disappointed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you don’t make any payments to the £200 balance!
“Is there any precedent or indication what type of % can be expected on refunds?” No. Sorry this depends entirely on the assets the administrators can sell and the number of refund complaints.
“Does the Wonga experience tell us anything about this?” No. And their % payout isn’t likely to be known for many months anyway.
“is there any indication on whether those who have had offers from WDA will be viewed more favourably by the calculations when these are devised?” I would expect your existing offer would be the minimum you would be allocated, but that’s all.
James says
Thanks, Sara.
If I got my existing offer at this point I’d be relatively delighted in the circumstances. Appreciate it could be a penny in the pound but the timescale is galling to close this out harnessed with WDAs initial delay tactics and the FOS not picking up the case in time.
J
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I do understand how frustrating this is. Realism suggests that if FOS had approved more cases faster last autumn, WDA would have been in administration well before Christmas. The real problem here is not FOS but the systemic lack of a compensation scheme to reimburse customers such as the FSCS.
James says
Appreciate it is maybe an ‘easy target’ to lament the FOS. From my own experience it seems they have went for the low hanging fruit and focused on the strongest, most recent claims as they are the easiest to resolve. This creates a twin problem for customers like myself… Firstly delays the time to resolve and secondly these claims are often going to be higher value so it is more keenly felt.
It seems some lenders cottoned on quick that a blanket policy of challenging historic claims was their best way of minimising their liabilities. From memory WDA (deliberately one assumes) took their full 8 weeks, then said it could be another 8 weeks for a FRL. If this front end shenanigans and delay of payments etc from the lenders could have been stamped out a lot less complaints would have perhaps landed at the FOS door. In turn, this would have enabled them to work more freely. Just my thoughts on the whole chicken and egg scenario with the issue of volume.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I will say that if FOS had wanted to go for the easy route, it would simply have rejected the over 6 year loans as being outside its jurisdiction. But I do think FOS are under-resourced at the moment. And yes they should have made the 6 year decision faster.
tom says
Hi Sarah, also got an email from KPMG as below
This email is being sent to inform you that Ed Boyle and Howard Smith were appointed as Joint Administrators of Curo Transatlantic Limited, which formerly traded as WageDayAdvance and Juo Loans, on 25 February 2019
You do not need to do anything further upon receipt of this email
A report on the events leading up to the Joint Administrators’ appointment and on their sale of the business is available to view at: http://www.kpmg.co.uk/curo
tom says
Page 2
Dear Mr Price
CURO Transatlantic Limited – in Administration (the ‘Company’)
High Court of Justice
No. 001418 of 2019
Registered Number – 04179322
Joint Administrators – Howard Smith and Ed Boyle
Ed Boyle and I were appointed Joint Administrators of the Company on 25 February 2019. The Company formerly traded as a provider of short-term, high-interest consumer finance in the UK under two brands: WageDayAdvance and Juo Loans.
The Joint Administrators completed a sale of the business and majority of the assets of the Company on 25 February 2019. A memorandum setting out details of that sale is available to view at http://www.kpmg.co.uk/curo, together with formal notice of appointment. If you require a hard copy of either of these documents please email documents.curo@kpmg.co.uk.
It is not currently possible to forecast the outcome of the administration, but we intend to write to you setting out our proposals for achieving the purpose of the administration by 25 March 2019.
We are reviewing the affairs of the Company. If there are any matters relating to the Company and its management that you wish to bring to our attention, please email review.curo@kpmg.co.uk.
A guide explaining your rights under insolvency legislation in respect of administrators’ fees and expenses can be found here.
If you would prefer a copy be sent to you please email documents.curo@kpmg.co.uk.
tom says
page 3
Following the implementation of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, it is now possible for a creditor to, at any time, elect to opt out of receiving further documents relating to the insolvency proceedings.
lease note that opting-out will not affect your entitlement to receive dividends should any be paid to creditors. There are also certain documents that opted-out creditors will continue to receive. These are detailed in the opting-out notice that is available to view and download on http://www.kpmg.co.uk/curo (the ‘Portal’).
If you wish to become an opted-out creditor, please download, sign and date the opting-out notice and send it to opt-out.curo@kpmg.co.uk. Please note that there is also an opting-in notice available to download and print on the Portal, should you wish to opt back in to receiving regular correspondence at any point after opting-out. If you have any queries relating to opting-out, please email opt-out.curo@kpmg.co.uk.
Throughout the course of our appointment, pursuant to Rule 3.39 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, creditors will be invited to consider whether a creditors’ committee should be established, provided sufficient creditors are willing to be members of the committee.
In order to enable creditors to make an informed decision, a guidance note on the formation of a creditors’ committee and the role of a committee member has been published and can be found here.
tom says
Page 4
Please also note that the Joint Administrators are required to produce six monthly progress reports. All progress reports during the proceedings will be loaded on the Portal http://www.kpmg.co.uk/curo and will be available to you for viewing and downloading within one month of the reporting period ie. one month after every six month period, for the duration of the administration.
Sould you require a hard copy of any report or other document currently, or in the future, available on the Portal you should email documents.curo@kpmg.co.uk.
We also intend to establish a customer services centre to deal with any other queries you may have in relation to the Company, in the coming weeks. We will notify you once this is established and provide you with details to contact the customer services centre.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks for posting this Tom.
This is all standard administrator stuff. No-one getting this email needs to do anything at the moment.
If you “opt out” your complaint will still be considered. in the same way, but you will get fewer emails in the next few months. I don’t think you are likely to get that many emails anyway, so if it was me I would do nothing and stay “opted-in”.
One of the next emails you get will be asking whether a “creditor’s committee” should be established and whether you would like to be on it. You can safely ignore that too!
Joseph says
Hi Sara,
I’ve read a few times you saying don’t pay any remaining balance you have with WDA, and I have one for about £900, but wouldn’t this turn out really negative for you if you just didn’t pay? Currently on a repayment plan for £80 a month. Credit score, debt letters etc could all come flowing in if you surely didn’t pay
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How good is your complaint against them? how many previous loans did you have?
Have you tried logging into your account and seeing what the balance is? Because the FAQs now say the administrators are applying “some provisional adjustments”?
Joseph says
All i get when i log into my account is: “For customers with outstanding loan balances: Your outstanding loan(s) remain with CTL and your account has not transferred to Shelby. The Joint Administrators will contact remaining CTL customers over the coming weeks. In the meantime, please view the Frequently Asked Questions page on KPMG’s dedicated website:”
I can’t click on anything else
John says
Just a quick question Sarah.Would cura be allowed to open another payday lending company under a different name in the uk .I understand it might be morally wrong .But businesses (some anyway) don’t necessarily see things that way. Ive been made redundant three times in my life by supposedly bankrupt companies that somehow get around the situation and start up again .Under a different name with miraculous cheaply obtained assets. Just wondered if financial services have different rules to caterers and building trade (my ex employers).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
a) the FCA would spot that and they would find it hard to get authorised.
b) I doubt Curo directors will feel like going on holiday to the UK, let alone opening a new business here…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have updated the article above with more details from the administrator’s FAQs.
Anyone with a balance owing to WDA – can you try logging into your account and seeing if you have had a “provisional balance adjustment”?
TS says
I had the same email as others mention above on 4th.
I did complain some time ago but they didn’t uphold the complaint, does this then mean that the administrators are going to reassess my complaint and I could still be entitled to a refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long ago was your complaint? did you send it to FOS?
TS says
It was just over a year ago, but I didn’t send it to the FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s interesting. it sounds as though the administrators may be intending to include you in the group of people they will run their refund calculator for. But I am guessing here!
Maggie says
If the FCA would’ve accepted the scheme it would haven’t mean we’d (those who were lent to irresponsibly) all have a smaller portion of the refund amount owed to us, but now… administration is worse!! We’ll be lucky to get 2p in the £. Should have raised my complaint years ago! Curo and Shelby are the only winners! The FOS are a waste of breath- about time they were regulated and audited too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m not sure what you are trying to say. The administrators have sold much of the business to Shelby for £8.5m. Curo were only proposing to put £18m into the pot for refunds in a scheme of arrangement. If you only get 2p in the £ now, that suggests you would only have got 4p in the pound under the Scheme of Arrangement…
I understand how frustrating this is, but the only way you could have got a decent refund is to have complained earlier, as you said. All you can do now is wait and see what the refund turns out to be. It may be more than 2p in the £.
Iain123 says
Did WDA make decent refunds to complainants last year?
Surely other companies must be thinking what’s the point? With an unknown number of complaints expected this year, and future years, with no time limits and FCA ruling 6+ years can be looked at I’m surprised more companies are closing. Are they gambling they’ll be last ones standing?
Iain123 says
×Not ckosing
John says
I got an e-mail from the ombudsmen DEPARTMENT last week telling me my compla against wda was not upheld.Interesting because it’s been 8months with them(as with six other pdls) but nobody contacted me in any way prior to them looking at case. They can’t of looked at my bank statements or credit reports as they’re with another (quick quid) case .whilst my pda case was small fry compared to the others .This appears wrong to me.Have other people had similar story??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi John – can you look at the email again? Are you sure it isn’t saying that the complaint is being sent back to the administrators to handle? FOS can’t legally make any decisions on these cases after administration – it’s not FOS’s fault, it is what insolvency law says.
John says
Yes you are right it does say that.To be honest I have bigger fish to fry so wont bother as even if I won case most I could have received £200 and with probable payout 25p in £ or less would be wasting my time.Just a bit worried about lending stream(38 loans) sunny(31) and 118118(3) .8 months waiting even to be given adjudicator. Hopefully will be picked up before long .As for quick quid I have an uneasy feeling about them as waiting three months on final decision starting to feel ominous.Thank you for your helpful site its changed my views enormously .
Robert says
Got an email from Shelby Finance today. After acquiring my account from WDA, they found that they hadn’t performed credit checks when giving me my loan. They’ve offered to write off the rest of my loan (£80) My first victory, and a small one, but it’s still something.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good to hear that Shelby are looking at the accounts they have taken over, not just trying to collect them. Shocking that your application wasn’t credit checked.
Had you had previous loans from WDA?
Tom says
Hi sarah, i have a loan with WGA that id on a tepayment plan but i am considering compalining for irresponsible lending, but my loan has been passed on to shelby after the adminstration change…so would i have to complain to WGA or shelby? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much did yoiu borrow on this last loan and how much is still owed on the loan? How many previous loans did you have with WDA before this defaulted loan?
Tom says
I borrowed 500 and owe £960, i had one loan with them before and this is the 2nd loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask Shelby. Normally you have to complain to the original lender, but this is an odd situation. It will be a good result for you if interest can be removed on this loan so you only repay what you borrowed.
David D says
Apologies if this has already been covered in the above; I had a complaint lodged with WDA which was yet to hit the 8 weeks mark, so obviously now I know I’m not getting a response from them but will this be handed over to the relevant parties accordingly or should I chase it?
the 8 weeks deadline is the end of next week.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 8 week deadline is now meaningless. You are unlikely to get any response by that time and you now cannot send a complaint to the ombudsman.
“will this be handed over to the relevant parties ” no handover is needed. The administrators are effectively running WDA including their complaints department so they already have your complaint.
You just have to wait I am afraid. There is nothing you can chase.
David D says
Thanks for the info, I thought so, but wanted to check.
Steve says
I put my complaint into WDA about a week before they went into administration; since then they’ve stopped calling chasing payment for overdue payments. Should I call them to set up a payment plan/find out the status of my account, or just wait and see? I currently owe £380.45 to them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It isn’t to your advantage to make any repayments here as getting the balance written off may be your best hope of a good result to your complaint.
Can you log into your account? if you can, has the balance changed?
Steve says
Sorry Sara, I didn’t realise you had replied!
I can log into the website, but it doesn’t show my account. It just says “For customers with outstanding loan balances: Your outstanding loan(s) remain with CTL and your account has not transferred to Shelby.
The Joint Administrators will contact remaining CTL customers over the coming weeks. In the meantime, please view the Frequently Asked Questions page on KPMG’s dedicated website:”
Can anyone else see their account when logging in?
Alice Cowan says
I sent a request for a list of loans to lending stream back in July 2018. It escaped me to check for a response amongst the list of lenders the same request was sent to.
Is it late to refer this matter to FOS please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have 8 weeks from their Final Response … if you haven’t had one, then it’s not too late.
James says
I had a payment arrangement of £50 a month with WDA before administration. Would this still apply or would my account become defaulted as a result of them going into administration?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this the only loan you had from them? How much did you borrow on this last loan and how much have you paid to date?
James says
I had one loan previously but as soon as that was paid I took another one for £700. I made one payment but then had to enter into a payment arrangement. Since then I received an arrears notice 2 days before the administration and with the interest currently frozen I believe I owe about £900. I am anxious that this will default and I have no way to afford a £900 up front payment
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you haven’t already, I suggest you send in an affordability complaint. See article above for how to do this. If that is upheld, you would only have to repay what you borrowed, no interest. AND any negative markers on your credit record would be deleted. There are no downsides to trying for this, it is a simple email to send, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
I can’t guess what the administrators policy is going to be on adding defaults. But with interest frozen it would be very foolish of you to try to borrow your way out of this by borrowing elsewhere. There isn’t much you can do except sit this one out. With a payment arrangement of only £50 a month, WDA may well have added a default at some point anyway.
James says
Is it likely I would have to pay this back all at once though?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s HIGHLY unlikely the administrators are going to demand you repay the lot at once when you have a payment arrangement set up. They would rather the £50 a months roll in with no problem.
Jordan says
I find it strange that they can get away not paying the customers they owe money but the customers that owe them money still have to pay.
Phil says
(I know I’ve described this before but wanted to go into a bit more detail, sorry if I’m repeating certain points).
I have had a default and current outstanding balance from a loan with WDA –
I have sent the simple letter as advised, but I’m concerned that part of what makes my affordability argument so strong is the failure to complete credit checks and check account information. I’m not including that am I running the risk that they won’t review that aspect of my complaint? Should I send over a more detailed argument including bank statements and credit report?
I also believe the default was unfairly issued but haven’t included this in my email either – again just the simple one as described above.
Is there any idea on how long they take to reply? I had been seeking written contact from WDA months before they went into administration to no avail. As yet I’m yet to receive any confirmation or real personal acknowledgement from the administrator other than the email explaining the administration.
I’m extremely keen to get the default marker removed from my credit report, and want to settle the balance, but it’s difficult to achieve when you can’t have dialogue with them.
Tried calling too to see if it would help but all they did was a read a text saying they were in administration and couldn’t help any more.
Just a bit concerned that now the normal 8 weeks rule doesn’t apply etc that it’s all just a bit up in the air.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Should I send over a more detailed argument including bank statements and credit report?” well you can if you want, but I think it’s VERY VERY unlikely anyone will look at them. The administrators have to find a simple, automated way to assess complaints. If a human has to look at each complaint, including bank statements and credit records and think about them, the cost of doing this would be so large there may well be no money left to pay any refunds at all.
“I also believe the default was unfairly issued but haven’t included this in my email either” you could send them a separate email about this with the title “THIS IS NOT AN AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT”. And emphasis how you had been trying to get WDA to look at this for months.
Phil says
Brilliant, will give that a go.
Thanks again!
Andy says
I was paying WDA through a DMP but cancelled this when I made my affordability complaint- I’ve not had a response due to the administration.
Without going into detail, im now going through a process where I need to demonstrate that I am financially stable- this is my only outstanding debt and to be honest I want to just pay it and get rid. Will this continue to be reported on my credit file or will it be marked as closed as I literally have no way of paying them and no way of contacting anyone to resolve. It’s extremely frustrating.